Keys and handovers for guests at your holiday home
Thinking of leaving a key under the mat for your visitors? Think again. Plan ahead for the best way to pass keys to your guests, and for a regular inventory check between bookings. If you live nearby you’ll be able to handle these practicalities yourself. If this is not an option then you may be able to get your cleaner or a friend who lives locally to be of service in exchange for a small fee. This means a little bit of work on your part to communicate and co-ordinate, but keeps you in control and in the know.
If you choose to employ a property management service they will almost certainly offer to manage key holding or offer a meet and greet service. Look for a good quality company which is recommended by other owners – both ‘Meet and Greet’ services and property management companies are listed in our Property Services Directory. Make sure that people at the company speak English and lay out in a contract exactly what they’re going to take care of for you.
You have a few options for handing keys over to your guests. If you live in the area, you can arrange to meet guests and hand over the keys yourself. If this isn’t the case, consider the following:
- Having a contact in the area
If you have someone in the local area that you can trust, then give them a couple of sets of keys. They can meet your guests at the property and welcome them in person. This is a nice way to start their holiday, but then you will be relying on your contact to be available.
- Posting the keys
A lot of owners post keys to guests by recorded delivery. This option involves minimum fuss and it usually works very well, but sometimes things can get lost in the post or not arrive on time. It’s a good idea to leave a set of keys left with someone in the local area as a back up.
- Keeping the keys at the property
A more high-tech solution is to leave the keys in a locked box secured to the wall of your property. You can buy these boxes with combination locks, and then just send your guests the code to open it. This is very convenient, but you would need to be happy that the keys were entirely safe and you probably won’t be able to change the code after guests leave. It’s a good idea to have a back up with this method too.
As you’ll be sending your keys out to a lot of people, some basic security measures are a sensible precaution. Never hand out your keys until you have full payment in cleared funds, don’t feel obliged to give your keys to anyone you don’t trust. Don’t write the address or unit number on the key ring and have extra locks like bolts and chain locks as well as your key lock on the door.
What if someone gets locked out?
Make sure you have a spare set of keys to hand in the area as a back up – your set won’t be much use if you’re a plane ride away. Have a phone number which guests can call 24 hours a day in case they do lock themselves out. Check with your property management service or contact in the area about this.
