Self check-in for Airbnb: smart locks, key boxes and the rules in Belgium and the Netherlands

Self check-in means guests can get into the home without the host being there, using a key box, a smart lock, a keypad or building staff who are available around the clock.¹ It suits most flats and houses run for owners, as long as you pick a method that fits the building, give every booking its own code and keep a second way in for when the first one fails. What self check-in does not change is the paperwork: the guest register in Belgium and the Netherlands, privacy law and fire safety still apply when nobody meets the guest at the door.⁸¹⁰¹⁴

In this guide

1. What self check-in is, and when it fits
2. The options compared
3. Sending codes and instructions
4. Guest registration when nobody meets the guest
5. Privacy: ID copies, cameras and lock data
6. Fire safety: a lock must not trap anyone
7. When it fails: lockouts, flat batteries and lost keys
8. Worked example
9. Building rules and the owner’s consent
10. Questions people ask
11. Sources

What self check-in is, and when it fits

On Airbnb, self check-in is both a way of working and a listing detail. Guests see which method you use before they book, and Airbnb names self check-in among its top 10 amenities, one that guests often filter their search for.³ Checkout instructions are visible before booking too, while the detailed check-in instructions stay hidden until 48 hours before arrival.² Airbnb also notes that self check-in may not be available in all countries.²

Self check-in fits when arrivals are spread out, when you manage more units than you can meet guests for, and when the building allows a box or a new lock. An in-person welcome still makes sense for homes with complicated equipment, or where you must see an identity document and have no reliable remote way to do that.

The options compared

Airbnb defines the main methods this way: a smart lock opens with a code or an app and is connected to wifi, a keypad opens an electronic lock with a code, a lockbox is a small safe with the key inside that opens with a code, and building staff means someone is available 24 hours a day to let guests in.² A key exchange shop or a locker in a nearby business is not a separate category on Airbnb; it goes under “other”.²

We found no official or independent price data for these devices in Belgium or the Netherlands, so the table leaves cost out. Get quotes from a locksmith or supplier for the specific door, because the door and the building often decide what is possible.

Airbnb’s advice is a unique access code for each booking guest.³ A code that stays the same for months is a key you can no longer take back. Give cleaners their own codes too, as the turnover cleaning system recommends. And remember that a wifi lock can be offline but still usable: it opens with codes it already holds, but new codes cannot reach it.⁵

Airbnb’s smart lock integration

Airbnb can connect one compatible smart lock per listing and send each guest a unique code that is only active during their trip.⁴ That feature is only available for listings in the US and Canada.⁴ Airbnb adds that hosts connected through a third-party property management system may be able to use its smart lock integration to send codes to Airbnb guests.⁴ In Belgium and the Netherlands, that is the realistic route to automatic codes: the lock’s own app, or a PMS that links bookings to the lock.

Sending codes and instructions

Add your check-in method and instructions in the arrival guide of the listing editor.² Airbnb’s resource centre suggests explaining where to find the lock, keypad or lockbox and how to open and close it, with photos for clarity.³

Good instructions name every door in the order the guest meets it, say exactly where the lock or box is, explain how to lock up when leaving, and say what to do if the code fails. The wording and timing of the full message sequence are in the guest message templates. Send codes through the platform’s messaging, so the trail stays with the booking.

Booking.com

Booking.com has a key collection feature in the Extranet, under Property, Policies and then Key collection, where you choose how and where keys are collected and can add an alternative check-in option as a backup.⁷ Guests see it in the “Getting into the property” section of their booking confirmation, on their My Reservation page and in the app.⁷ Booking.com says the feature may not yet be available for every property type.⁷

Guest registration when nobody meets the guest

This is the part beginners skip. Self check-in changes how you collect guest details, not whether you have to.

Belgium: the traveller register

A federal law of 1 March 2007 requires every traveller to be registered by the operator of the tourist accommodation, or someone acting for them, on the day of arrival.⁸ A traveller is anyone of age, and any unaccompanied minor over 15; the operator is defined as every professional operator of a tourist accommodation.⁸ We found no official guidance on when an occasional private host counts as professional, so ask your region’s tourism authority or a lawyer if you are unsure.

The register records the operator’s enterprise number, a unique running number, the arrival date and the traveller’s name, place and date of birth, nationality and the number of the identity document shown, plus the names of minor children travelling with an adult; the departure date is added within 24 hours of departure.⁸ The operator checks the details against the identity documents the traveller must show, and makes the register available to the police on request.⁸ The royal decree that implements the law allows a paper or electronic register, and the data must be kept for seven years after the traveller leaves and then destroyed.⁹

The law does not say how to check a document when you are not there, so any remote method has to respect the copy rules in the privacy section.

The Netherlands: the visitor register

Anyone who provides overnight accommodation in the Netherlands must keep an ongoing visitor register and give the information to the municipality on request.¹⁰ The duty comes from the Criminal Code, and the municipal by-law (APV) often requires it too.¹⁰ The register records at least the main guest’s name and place of residence, the dates of arrival and departure, and the type of identity document shown.¹⁰ The details vary: the municipality decides what the register must contain and how long you keep it, so check with each municipality where you manage a unit.¹⁰

Privacy: ID copies, cameras and lock data

The register asks for details, not copies. The Dutch government’s business portal is explicit: you may not make or keep copies of guests’ IDs, even temporarily, and you may not record their citizen service number (BSN).¹⁰ In Belgium, the data protection authority says no paper or electronic copies of an identity card may be made except where the law prescribes it, and that needing to identify someone does not mean you must take a copy.¹¹ Record the details the register needs and do not keep passport photos in your inbox. Smart lock entry logs are personal data too; settle who sees them in the data clause of the management agreement.

Cameras and noise monitors

Since 30 April 2024, Airbnb does not allow security cameras or recording devices that monitor indoor spaces, even if they are switched off.⁶ Exterior cameras are allowed, but their location must be disclosed in the listing description, and they may not cover outdoor areas with a greater expectation of privacy, such as an enclosed outdoor shower or a sauna.⁶ Noise decibel monitors, which measure sound levels without recording audio, may be used indoors if disclosed and not placed in bedrooms, bathrooms or sleeping areas.⁶

National law adds its own conditions:

• Belgium. According to BeSafe, the federal interior ministry’s site on the camera law, a camera that films the entrance of a home or its garden must be declared to the police through aangiftecamera.be, recorded in a register of processing activities and marked with a pictogram; only a private person filming the inside of their own home for personal purposes is exempt.¹²
• The Netherlands. The Dutch data protection authority says a camera at home may in principle only film your own property, not a neighbour’s house or garden and not public roads such as pavements or parking spaces.¹³

Fire safety: a lock must not trap anyone

Every tourist accommodation in Flanders must be able to show a positive fire safety certificate.¹⁴ In Toerisme Vlaanderen’s explanation of the fire safety standards for small room-based accommodation, all windows and doors on the escape route must be open at all times or openable from the inside without a tool; a lock that needs a key is not allowed, while a panic bar or a thumb-turn cylinder is.¹⁵ Larger accommodation falls under other annexes, and Brussels, Wallonia and the Netherlands have their own rules, so check the standard for your unit before you change a lock. In practice, choose a lock that opens from the inside with a handle or thumb turn, never one that needs a code or key to get out.

When it fails: lockouts, flat batteries and lost keys

Every method fails eventually. Airbnb’s help pages make a useful distinction: a backup code helps when a smart lock is offline but still usable, while a backup entry method, such as a key box on the back door with a physical key inside, is for when the lock itself is not usable, for example because the batteries are dead or the keypad is broken.⁵ Airbnb shares that backup entry method with confirmed guests only when they tell Airbnb during their stay that they cannot get in.⁵

Set up four things before the first guest:

• A backup that does not share the weak point. A mechanical key in a key box backs up a battery lock; a second battery lock does not.
• A battery routine. Check the level at every turnover and replace on a fixed schedule.
• A named person on call who can reach the unit at night with a key.
• A written lockout procedure, with the message for when something went wrong ready.

Change codes after a lost key, a departing cleaner or any doubt. If a guest damages a lock, the claim steps are in guest damage and insurance.

Worked example

Building rules and the owner’s consent

A key box on a shared facade, or a new lock on a common door, may need the co-owners’ association. We found no official rule on key boxes as such, so read the statutes and ask the syndic or VvE board first; how associations can restrict letting is in the rules guide. Agree with the owner in writing who pays for the lock and who holds the master codes and keys, so the owner can change every code without you when the contract ends.

Questions people ask

Sources

All sources checked 2 October 2026.

1. Airbnb Help Centre, “Self check-in”
2. Airbnb Help Centre, “Add check-in and checkout instructions to listings”
3. Airbnb Resource Center, “How to provide self check-in for smooth arrivals”, Dated 31 August 2026
4. Airbnb Help Centre, “Connect a smart lock to Airbnb”
5. Airbnb Help Centre, “How smart lock backup codes work”
6. Airbnb Help Centre, “Restrictions on security cameras and other devices in homes”
7. Booking.com for Partners, “Setting up the key collection feature”
8. Justel, FOD Justitie, “1 maart 2007. Wet houdende diverse bepalingen (III), articles 141 to 147”, Consolidated text, in Dutch
9. Belgisch Staatsblad, “27 april 2007. Koninklijk besluit betreffende de registratie en de controle van reizigers die verblijven in een toeristische verblijfsaccommodatie”, Published 18 May 2007, in Dutch
10. Business.gov.nl (Netherlands Enterprise Agency, RVO), “Visitor register for overnight accommodation”, Page checked by RVO on 16 December 2024
11. Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit, “Praktische toepassingen (elektronische identiteitskaart)”, Belgian data protection authority, in Dutch
12. BeSafe, FOD Binnenlandse Zaken, “Vaste en tijdelijk vaste bewakingscamera's”, Published 30 March 2026, in Dutch
13. Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, “Cameras in your own home”, Dutch data protection authority
14. Toerisme Vlaanderen, “Brandveiligheid in logies”, In Dutch
15. Toerisme Vlaanderen, “Toelichting bij de specifieke brandveiligheidsnormen in bijlage 2”, Version 2023.1, in Dutch

We check every figure against the sources above. Spotted something out of date? Email systemen@hostproacademy.com with the guide title.