August is hoping Airbnb, Homeaway hosts will use their smart locks

August Lock is getting into the homesharing industry, making the process of checking in an Airbnb guest a bit easier.

Airbnb has done what it can over the past few months to make checking in plain and simple. For example, the company built out a new tool that lets hosts spell out check-in instructions within the app, all in a simple flow, to make sure guests have all the info they need at their fingertips.

But that hasn’t solved the biggest problem of all: the key.

For one, people don’t often have a lot of interest in meeting strangers, especially when they’re fresh off a plane or road trip. Secondly, it’s annoying to block out that time (sometimes getting off work) to go hand off a key to an Airbnb guest. And then there’s the matter of getting keys copied or re-tooling your smart lock to temporarily offer a stranger access.

That’s where August comes in to play.

August lets Airbnb and Homeaway hosts link their accounts to August. When a guest books at their home, August will generate a smart code that lasts for the duration of the stay and no longer, letting the guest easily check-in and come and go without the host having to babysit the process.

Guests will receive their pin code and instructions via email.

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Hosts simply need an August Smart Lock and Smart Keypad to start letting technology do the heavy lifting. To get hosts more interested in the deal, August is running a deal right now for 25 percent off the Smarter Hosting Bundle, which includes an August Smart Lock, August Connect Wi-Fi Bridge and August Smart Keypad.

This, coupled with other startup services like Handy, should make becoming an Airbnb host as simple as tapping a few buttons.

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