RemoteLocks by EdgeState

Automation 

In order to make a Kiosk that allows a person to book and checkin from a Kiosk, BookingCenter had to make the interface act fast.  Thus, we have tested the interface to support a two minute event time between the time a booking is made for an arrival 'today' and having the PIN code in the door ready for your Guest.  And we support a one minute event from the time of the booking to be able to provide the Guest with the PIN as part of their Self Checkin communication via their Mobile device, Kiosk, email, or SMS message.  

The RemoteLock Access Guest is always created on the day the booking is created if the Room is assigned and if the Room has a RemoteLock assigned to it. If the booking has no Room assigned (common in hotel operations), then BookingCenter will not request the PIN until the booking is due to checkin - and at that time we will request the PIN from the interface. This reduces complexities in the RemoteLock extranet area (https://connect.remotelock.com/).  If a booking is made for an arrival of 'today' then the Access Guest and PIN is made immediately.  

For a simple bookings where your Guest does not change Rooms during their stay, the Guest has a clear understanding of what to do and a single PIN to remember. If they are moving from Room to Room during their stay, each Room's Lock will be provided a separate PIN for that lock, which the interface provides automatically.

*note: when you buy the interface from RemoteLock, they sell a number of 'Access Guests' set in your contract.  Each Access Guest is a 'future or active booking' that BookingCenter generates a code for.  Once you hit the maximum contracted for, the system begins to over-write older Access Guests.  For smaller properties who won't have many bookings, or properties that only assign rooms close to the arrival date, 300 is possible, we have found.  For properties with more than 20 rooms, or who always assign rooms during the booking process, we'd recommend at least 500.  Do the calculation for your busiest season - how many bookings will you have that are booked (confirmed, unconfirmed, or active, not cancelled) at any time where a room has been assigned?  That is the number of Access Guests you will need to have contracted for to avoid disruption.

*note re: connectivity to Locks not wi-fi enabled.  RemoteLock offers locks called "ReadyPINs" that can work off-line in areas where Wi-Fi access isn't provided.  You could have a  series of different locks, but only locks that are 'contactable' via the RemoteLock service can be issued 'dynamic' codes from the PMS interface. Locks can operate in one of two modes--Online or Offline. Online mode requires WiFi connectivity for full online functionality as documented here.  Offline Mode works without internet connectivity, yet temporary guest access can still be granted via ReadyPINs.  During the ‘Register device’ -> ‘Configure WiFi’ setup, a customer can register their lock in Offline Mode lock. After entering the lock’s serial number, name and location, select Offline Mode on the Configure WiFi Mode step. This will enable ReadyPINs in the RemoteLock software and inform the system to not expect the lock to connect over WiFi.  This 'ReadyPIN code' can then be manually entered into the Room(s) in the PMS where this guest access ReadyPIN code will be presented.  The Room for this particular ReadyPIN lock will not be mapped in the PMS to RemoteLock, so that the 'hard-coded' message will be displayed when Self Check-in occurs for this specific Room.  Other Rooms(s) that are mapped between the PS and RemoteLock will then be issued dynamic codes, as those Locks can be reached via wi-fi.  To create a ReadyPIN, a lock must have ReadyPINs enabled (seek assistance from RemoteLock if needing support). If one registered a lock in Offline Mode to begin with, ReadyPINs will be enabled by default. If not, navigate to your lock, then select Settings to enable ReadyPIN. Once ReadyPINs are enabled, you will see the ‘Add ReadyPIN’ option on the Dashboard, Access User List View, and within your lock’s Access section. In the pop-up window, enter your guests name, email (if you want to email them the ReadyPIN after creation), starting date & time and ending date & time.

When working with locks powered by batteries, conservation of power is critical. Thus, if you wish to extend the life of your batteries, you likely won't set Locks to query the 'service' each hour, rather each few hours.  If BookingCenter creates an Access Guest nd provides a PIN from the interface, it may not be downloaded yet to the lock.  That is OK, as if a Guest comes immediately from making a booking, having their Room assigned, or Key / PIN created by the interface, the door handle being 'jiggled' (ie, moved up and down) will force a wake-up and the Lock will retrieve the code immediately.  Thus, your Guest may have to enter their PIN twice, as the 1st time may be rejected, but by the by the 2nd attempt, the Lock will have downloaded the Access Guest and the PIN will work. If you don't like this power conservation technique you will either have to wire the locks directly to power (which will consume more power from the electricity grid) or replace batteries more often.

A unique PIN is used for each Access Guest (ie, each Booking) and BookingCenter will only de-activate this PIN if the property ‘Revokes Guest’ (see Manual Lock Management below) or cancels the booking.  Otherwise, the PIN will not be altered either by edits that add or remove days to the booking.  The delivery of the PIN code is done via the 'merge' element we support in our Letters area called %%remote-lock-pins%%.  If this merge element is used in a SINGLE ROOM booking (ie, there is no Room move, all nights in the same Room) than the PIN will be delivered with only the PIN, such as:

If this merge element is used in a MULTIPLE ROOM booking (ie, there is a Room move, so the system has requested and saved a PIN for each Room move) than the PIN will be delivered as an array so the guest knows which Room has a PIN to be used for those specific dates and times, such as:

The Arrival time on each booking is 15 min after the booking's arrival time for additional days in different rooms.  Thus, if the arrival time on the booking is 3 pm, if a Room change occurs, the next door's arrival time (even if multiple rooms will be included) will be 3:15 pm for each day's room change.

The Departure time for interim days (only a consideration if a Room move is required) is 15 mins later than the arrival time in the new room.  Thus, in the example above, if the Arrival time for the 2nd Room is 3:5 pm, then departure time will be set as 3;30 in the original room to give the Guest 15v mnionpites of over-lapping access between the 2 rooms to move their belongings.  The Departure time is relevant only until the last day, as the booking governs what is set as the Departure time of the final day.

If a Booking already has an Access Guest created because it was either manually created or the arrival date of 'today' made the key (as evident in the LockState extranet or 'View Key'), and then you edit the booking to a later arrival date, the Access Guest won't be updated until you either EDIT the booking and Save it, or else Check-in the booking.  Either of these events will update the key with the new arrival/depart info.  Basically, you don't need to worry about this as the check-in event will update automatically.

Any operator can View, Revoke, and Create keys manually.   Notice that each page on the Booking, at bottom, has a 'RemoteLock' option. Click on "Remote Lock".

Clicking the RemoteLock link opens a new window called 'RemoteLock' where the following manual actions can be enacted: Create, Revoke and View Keys.

• Create Key: You can click this at any time to override the interface and create an Access Guest for the booking.  Clicking tis button will create an Access Guest and a PIN for the Lock.  Upon success, you will see a message:and the system has now make an Access Guest with this PIN from the arrival date and time of the booking to the depart date and time of the booking.
• Revoke Key: Only click this if you wish to override the interface and delete an Access Guest that was created, as it will remove the Access Guest and the PIN from the Lock.  Upon success, you will see a message:and the Access Guest and PIN for the Lock will have been deleted by the interface.

• View Keys: When clicking View Keys, you see the details of the Key on file with the interface, such as:. This shows that there is an Access Guest for room 304 with a PIN that is working from Aug 10 at 3 pm to Aug 11 at 11 am.

NOTE: If a property clicks Create Key at the same time the automation is firing, the RemoteLock will get confused and err on one of the events, usually the first one received, so be patient and try not to do this 

If you edit an Access Guest in your RemoteLock extranet area (https://connect.remotelock.com/), then edit the booking in BookingCenter, BookingCenter will over-write the settings you saved in your RemoteLock extranet area (https://connect.remotelock.com/), so proceed carefully.

OAuth Permission Inside RemoteLock Giving BookingCenter Permission

You will begin by logging into: https://remotelock.bookingcenter.com/auth/login/. 

You will need to enter your Site ID and password (not always the same as a User ID and password to login to MyPMS).  You can view this info in the Setup | Settings | Site Details area.  And alter your Site ID password, if needed.

 After logging in, you are presented with this 'call to action": Authorize.  Here you must click 'authorize' to request that BookingCenter be allowed to manage requests to your RemoteLocks.

Afterwards, you will be presented with: where you will need to enter in your RemoteLock user name and password to complete the connection.  Upon success, the connection will be 'authorized' and BookingCenter can now map the Rooms and Locks together.

Mapping Locks to Rooms

Before your property is able to use the RemoteLock interface you must map each of your RemoteLock locks to to a room in BookingCenter.  To do so log into the setup area and navigate to PMS → RemoteLock mapping.  There you will see an interface with all of your available  locks on the left side and a pull down on the right side where you can choose a BookingCenter room.

To map a room to a lock simply pick the room you want mapped via the drop down

Lock to Room Mapping complete