How Domicile Manages Guest Check-ins with Keycafe

Business travellers are always looking for a seamless experience when checking into accommodation for their work trip. Being able to offer self check-in through an automated key exchange service ensures guests can easily check-in no matter what time they arrive. 

By using Keycafe’s key management system, Domicile has minimized staff costs, reduced fob duplication and key loss, and automated their access communications. Arriving guests simply enter the access code they received via email or text at the Keycafe SmartBox in the lobby and pick up the keys for their stay.

About Domicile 

Domicile provides corporate travel and leisure accommodations that are built to go beyond the cookie cutter experience of hotels and offer a more natural and homey stay for travellers. Their curated and fully furnished premium apartments are built for both long and short stays that are in professionally managed locations near city centres and corporate offices. Domicile is currently in Seattle and Bellevue, Washington, with multiple locations in both cities.

With just about every amenity a guest could desire, Domicile’s modern apartments are fully furnished with large kitchens and have high-speed wi-fi and smart TVs, ensuite washer and dryer, and grocery delivery. Each location has comfortable community spaces along with state-of-the-art fitness centres, with one even featuring a bowling alley. Using high tech solutions like Keycafe to manage guest check-ins, service requests, and other aspects of a stay, Domicile has 24/7 guest and concierge support.

How Domicile Offers Self Check-in with Keycafe

Domicile is committed to providing the best possible accommodation experience for corporate travellers, meaning that every aspect of a guest’s stay must be smooth and seamless from check-in to check-out. By using Keycafe, Domicile is able to provide self check-in, allowing guests to arrive at their accommodation at any time and be able to comfortably check themselves in. Domicile sends guests a unique access code which they simply enter to pick up their keys at the Keycafe SmartBox located in the Domicile accommodation’s lobby. 

Domicile simply sets up scheduled accesses for guests so they can only pick up the keys during the dates of their stay. This offers the functionality of having a 24/7 front desk while making it so there are no lines for guests and they can get right into their apartment as soon as they arrive. Domicile is effectively able to automate access to their apartments without having to invest in and install smart locks for all of their doors.

Keycafe has other helpful features for guest check-ins such as photo ID verification and real-time photo check-in, allowing Domicile to collect images of guest documents and verify their identity before they pick up keys. Keycafe’s 24/7 support team is always available via phone, email, or chat in multiple languages, so Domicile can focus on every other aspect of providing a great stay for their guests.

Domicile’s Favourite Keycafe Features

1. Ownership of Support 

Guest experience is everything, and fast-acting support is essential when things go wrong. While key exchanges with Keycafe are usually seamless, there are times when guests or staff members forget to take the key out and accidentally close the bin. For Domicile, being able to remotely release keys with the click of a button enables them to be fully in control of support 24/7.

2. API Integration 

With SmartBoxes across seven buildings, Domicile deals with an average of around 25 check-ins and checkouts per day. To deal with these more efficiently, Domicile’s dev team has integrated with the Keycafe API to build customized real-time reporting of all the guests coming and going for the day and pushes live updates each time a key is picked up or dropped off. This reporting allows housekeeping and guest services teams to turn rooms more efficiently saving staff time and improving the guest experience.

3. Profiles for Employees

While Keycafe has been vital in providing self check-in for Domicile’s guests, it has also helped their internal operations by being able to create specific profiles for employees depending on the access they need. Domicile is able to give a housekeeper access to only the couple of keys they need to clean a room, and ensure managers have access to all keys in the system. Profiles also help Domicile see who last picked up a key, so they can easily track them down if the key is needed elsewhere.

“One of the best ‘features’ has been the customer services and the response time to any issues that may come up. We have called all hours of the night and emailed throughout the day to troubleshoot or order new products and it has all been seamless and great.

To sum it up, I have truly enjoyed working with Keycafe. Not just the products, but the people as well.”

Connor Girard, Guest Services Manager at Domicile

How Domicile Integrated Keycafe to Optimize their Workflow

Keycafe not only offers a seamless experience for Domicile’s guests, but also for Domicile themselves. By integrating Keycafe’s API into their workflow, Domicile has been able to optimize their workflow and get rooms cleaned when guests check out early. Having staff profiles to see who currently has which keys has helped cut down on time spent looking for keys, with Domicile always knowing who picked them up last.

Thanks to Keycafe, Domicile reduces employee liability when it comes to exchanging and storing keys. Rather than leaving staff with the responsibility of organizing key exchanges, keys are stored in a known location that can always be accessed by the right staff members with access changes possible at a moment’s notice. With Keycafe’s smart key lockbox and key management software, guests can freely check in and out at any time, and Domicile and its staff have been able to spend more time on improving the guest experience and less time organizing key exchanges.

Find out more about Keycafe’s connected key locker and key management platform.