GDU Ninja Update 43 - Remote Access Door Locks
How do they work?
At a specific time e.g. 12:00pm an Email and/or and SMS/Whatsapp will be sent to customers, and this will allow customers to walk up to a hotel room and open a door with smartphone (using a digital key stored on their phone) or a simple PIN code.
Who will use this?
Smaller Properties who dont have, or dont want, a fully manned reception and/or night porter. Two of our customers have used the words 'It gives us our lives back', presumably because they are not called back to the property at 02:00am because a customer has arrived off a late flight.
We suspect that it will move more slowly into medium sized properties as they take away non-productive work tasks and reorientate staff in other areas, for example turning receptionist into Sales Agents to sell Dinner Packages/Late Checkout etc instead of going through the process of checking in a guest.
Can i use my current door locks?
You will need to check with your supplier, some can retrofit a smart lock solution over the existing old magnetic card type locks, but it is quite likely you will have to invest in new door locks in most cases if your existing solution is quite old.
What should i look out for when identifying a door lock supplier?
Any smart door lock solution system should (in our humble opinion!!) not force any of your customers to download an APP.
All the evidence seems to indicate that the best solution is to send an email or SMS to your customers with the door opening instructions (e.g. an old style 4-digit PIN) or a link to a digital key option, which simply opens the lock by clicking a button on their mobile phone without the need to download an APP. Let’s face it, it makes sense, are any of your customers going to download a specific APP once just to open a door??!!
For remote access to work it MUST be connected to your PMS platform, so whichever door lock supplier you use will need to know the customer details and when to send the opening instructions to that customer.
Which Solutions does GuestDiary.com connect to?
In October 2025 GuestDiary is completing connections to;
Onity Door Locks (marketed by https://thekccgroup.com/)
Wieldy https://www.wieldy.co.uk/
Salto https://saltosystems.com
Can i connect the GuestDiary PMS to my 'door card cutting machine'?
This is not a development we have considered at present because the value to the hotel is limited. In simple terms its as quick to code a key directly on the card cutting machine as it is to open the PMS and code it from there. We see limited value in this, as it can already be done using existing equipment/setups at the hotel reception.
How much does this cost?
This varies hugely from one door lock supplier to another. The cost from GuestDiary is €3 Per room/per month with a minimum fee of €49 per month to enable and support any door lock integration. There are no setup fees from our side, however some door lock suppliers may change a setup fee separate from GuestDiary.com.
