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I have a really old house, that uses skeleton keys and mortise locks. I have two rooms that I use for airbnb, and I have a key for one, could possibly get one for another.
The problem for me is that the key also allows locking and taking the key - I don’t want guests to leave the room and lock the door. If I had modern doors, I would put bathroom type doorknobs on them that allows locking from the inside. But, It is impossible to change the doorknobs and locks.
Also, I am concerned about ruining my beautiful doors by screwing into them hotel style chains. I will do it if everyone here advises it, tho.
Once every 30 reviews someone mentions not being able to lock their door as a negative.
How do you do it, when it is a shared house? What do you advise?
What is wrong with them locking the room and taking the key? The difficulty in getting another key? Look into getting a portable/travel door security lock they can use when they are inside the room. Amazon has some. And, I have a lock to lock them out of my house but not to lock me out of their room. No one has complained but I am planning to adding a privacy lock for guest to keep me out.
Perhaps a flip lock would work for you. It attached to the door jamb, not the door. Especially if your jambs are painted, not stained you could easily remove the lock later, refinish the surface and look just like old. I just installed mine this morning. Thanks for the reminder.
I have a room in my home, I live here and also host a couple of uni students…
My house is my home, and no, there are NO locks on the bedroom doors, I have never seen a private home that has locks on doors… bathroom and toilet of course they have
People need to understand that if they book a private room in a private home it is different to a hotel
We have been going backwards and forwards over this question for the past 6 months or so. Oddly, it’s only since we started doind Air that I’ve though about it … when we were a “proper” B&B, I never considered it as I was in and out every day cleaning anyway …
Like you, it wouldn’t be easy to put a lock on our door and we have decided against it. I wouldn’t even put it into my listing - as susanne1 says, it’s my home, not a hotel!.
I do not have a lock on the bedroom door that guests use, it’s an old door with an old handle, I like it and I’m leaving it that way. However, I rent out the upstairs of my home,–they have a private bedroom and bathroom up there, my office up there has a closed door which states “Private Office, No Guest Access Please”. I make it clear in my listing and while they are here, that I do not enter the upstairs unless there is need for maintenance. I’ve never had anyone voice complaint over not being able to lock the bedroom door. I took off the doorknob with locking feature to the bathroom door as guests were constantly locking themselves out, and I was having to go up with a screwdriver to get it open. No one has complained about not being able to lock the bathroom door either. Then again, I literally keep the key to my house in a basket on the front porch, asking guests to leave it there as they come and go to prevent it from being lost. I live in a little town with virtually no crime.
I would not ruin those doors either! Just mention it in your listing, and if you have any printed material in the room, mention it there also, describing your reason for not putting locks on the doors! One of every 30 guests mentioning it isn’t too horrible in my opinion, I doubt it’s affecting your bookings. Let it slide. Personally, I would hate as a guest to see charm and character of a home changed to something more hotel-like.
No locks as mine is 400 years old but I do have locking slides or
hook and eye fasteners on the guest side of all the doors. No one
has yet complained in 30 years!
My condo is modern, so I have no structural issues with locks. I never thought about bedroom door locks until one guest told me another one (strangers to each other) had taken sodas from their refrigerator. I’ve also had guests leave the outer door unlocked, exposing all of us to theft. So I put new knobs with the button-turn type lock. I have a spare key to each lock, of course, and it’s a good thing because just last week a guest accidentally locked herself out of her room.
Thinking further about it, although there are, of course, locks on hotel doors, guests there know that they don’t really have any privacy since cleaning staff are able to come in and out at will. So what is actually the point of the locks? I suppose keeping other guests out?
If it’s a question of privacy and guests don’t want to be disturbed when they are, ahem, resting, you could have one of those cute door handle cards with “zzz” on one side …
The simple hook and eye fastener also sounds like a plan, except that I wouldn’t like not to be able to open the door from the outside in an emergency. Suppose a guest - god forbid - had a heart attack?
Oh dear, so many possibilities, I think I’ll just leave it as it is!
For what it is worth, I do have a lock on the door. But it’s a padlock. The main reason for that is that the door is intended to be “soundproof”, so adding an internal lock would compromise the soundproofing.
To be clear, there’s a sliding bolt on the outside, and you put a padlock through it. There’s also a sliding bolt on the inside.
Anyway, if they lost the key, I would either get the locksmith to reverse-engineer another key, or (more likely) buy another padlock.
Personally, I think having a lockable door is a very good thing in the context of an Airbnb rental. If I was renting a room, I’d be strongly in favor of it.
omg this is exactly why I don’t give my guests keys. They constantly lock themselves out. I had one guest lock herself out and then go to dig around in my room looking for keys while I was out walking my dog. They do stuff like this, then I have to run home to help or share where my secret key hiding spot is.
I already have a camera in my living room. If they don’t feel safe they can just book an entire apt somewhere else.
We let a room in our family home and do not have locks on the doors. I had a guest once who decided not to stay because of this and gave me a one star review for everything because I refused to refund her there and then. As I pointed out to her, we are letting strangers into our home and there has to be an element of trust on both sides.
Hi,
Your idea of bathroom type knob seems a good one. Don’t just presume it’s not possible to change the doorknobs and locks. Professionals in this field has got all kinds of solution, even for yours. Check for credible window and door services who might help you in this matter. Check for the best door services from review sites like the window and doors company reviews available at Ontario window reviews.
I find your requirement quite genuine. And for the chains, even I don’t prefer. But I guess there is no harm in compromising the beauty of your door for more sturdy and lockable ones .
haha,… how is a foolish, it’s simple, everyone use room door locks. But some people use traditional locks which are operated by a manual key and some people are used electronic door locks which are operated by key cards like RFID door lock, electronic cylinder door lock, and keypad lock, these locks come under electronic locks.
