Playbooks for modern hosts
Long-form, evergreen guides on smart locks, Home Assistant, turnover automation, and the operational systems behind a rental business that runs itself.
Featured
How to Set Up Staykey for Your First Rental
A complete, start-to-finish walkthrough of getting your first short-term rental live on Staykey — signup, property setup, booking import, and sending your first guest link. With and without smart devices.
Airbnb self check-in: the complete 2026 setup guide
Self check-in is the single biggest quality-of-life upgrade for an Airbnb host. This guide walks through the hardware, the message templates, the access-code automation, and the edge cases that trip up new hosts.
Browse by topic
Getting Started
1 guideOnboarding playbooks for new Staykey hosts.
Smart Locks
4 guidesBuying, installing, and automating smart locks.
Home Assistant
3 guidesRunning Staykey with a local Home Assistant hub.
Airbnb & VRBO
2 guidesBooking platform integrations and workflows.
Operations
4 guidesTurnovers, cleanings, and scaling past 10 units.
Comparisons
5 guidesHonest head-to-heads against other access platforms.
Getting Started
1 guideSmart Locks
4 guidesAirbnb smart lock requirements: what actually passes host standards
Airbnb doesn't publish a simple checklist for smart locks, and hosts get burned by assumptions. Here's what's actually required, what's strongly recommended, and what will get you a low rating or an insurance headache.
Matter for Airbnb hosts: what it is, what it does, and what finally works
Matter is the cross-ecosystem smart-home protocol everyone's excited about — and, until recently, the one Airbnb hosts couldn't actually use for locks. Here's what Matter is, what it does well, what it still doesn't do, and why Home Assistant's recent passcode support matters.
Switching from RemoteLock, August, or PointCentral to Staykey: a no-downtime migration guide
A step-by-step migration playbook for hosts leaving RemoteLock, August Access, Operto, or PointCentral. How to keep every active booking covered, what hardware transfers, and what you'll notice on day one.
The complete guide to smart locks for Airbnb hosts
Which smart lock should you buy, how do you install it, and how do you automate the access codes so you never send a guest a code by hand again? A practical guide for Airbnb and VRBO hosts.
Home Assistant
3 guidesHome Assistant for Airbnb hosts: the complete guide
What Home Assistant is, why it fits short-term rentals, what you can automate (locks, thermostats, garages, noise sensors), the hardware you need, and where Staykey fits on top.
How to automate Airbnb locks with Home Assistant
Step-by-step: run Home Assistant on a hub, pair a smart lock, and let Staykey rotate per-booking guest codes from your Airbnb calendar — local-first, no app for guests.
Local-first smart home for vacation rentals: why it matters
A local-first smart home keeps your rental's locks and automations running through internet outages, avoids per-device cloud fees, and keeps guest data on hardware you own.
Airbnb & VRBO
2 guidesAirbnb self check-in: the complete 2026 setup guide
Self check-in is the single biggest quality-of-life upgrade for an Airbnb host. This guide walks through the hardware, the message templates, the access-code automation, and the edge cases that trip up new hosts.
How to send check-in instructions that actually get read
Most host check-in messages get skimmed, lost in a group chat, or ignored until 9 p.m. when the guest is standing outside. Here's what the top hosts do differently — with templates, timing, and the one structural change that fixes most support tickets.
Operations
4 guidesHow to automate the thermostat between guests
Set the thermostat to an eco setpoint at checkout and a comfortable one before check-in — automatically, from your booking calendar. Here's how to cut energy bills between stays.
How to send guests door codes automatically
To send Airbnb guests door codes automatically, link your booking calendar to a system that generates a unique code per stay and delivers it through a guest portal. Here's how.
Vacation rental cleaning checklist (with the automation layer)
A practical, room-by-room cleaning checklist for short-term rentals — plus the specific pieces you should automate so you stop relying on the cleaner's memory, and the ones you should leave human.
Automating turnovers: from checkout to check-in
A practical playbook for automating the most stressful part of hosting. What to automate, what to keep human, and how to run a back-to-back turnover without panicking.
Comparisons
5 guidesBest short-term rental access automation tools (2026): an honest roundup
An honest, fair roundup of the leading short-term rental access automation tools — RemoteLock, Seam, Operto, PointCentral, lock-brand apps, DIY Home Assistant, and Staykey — and who each fits.
Staykey vs DIY Home Assistant: build your own access automations, or buy the layer on top?
Staykey runs on Home Assistant. So when should you roll your own access automations versus run Staykey on top? An honest build-vs-buy comparison of effort, maintenance, and cost.
Staykey vs the lock's own app (August, Schlage, Yale): when free is enough
Honest comparison of running your rental on a smart lock's free native app — August, Schlage, Yale — versus Staykey. When the free app is genuinely enough, and when it isn't.
Staykey vs RemoteLock: which access platform for short-term rentals?
An honest head-to-head: RemoteLock's cloud access platform vs Staykey's Home Assistant-based, local-first approach. Pricing, lock support, reliability, and which host each one fits.
Staykey vs Seam: smart-lock API platform vs turnkey host product
An honest head-to-head: Seam's developer-facing smart-lock API vs Staykey's turnkey, Home Assistant-based host product. Who each one is built for, pricing, reliability, and ecosystem.