Stay codes: private details, only for the people who are there

Your guest page is meant to be shared. It's on the QR sign by the door, in the booking message, maybe on the welcome card. That's what makes it useful. But it also means the link can outlive the visit: last month's guests still have it, and so might anyone they forward it to.

So some things shouldn't be on a page anyone with the link can open. Door codes. Key safe numbers. The alarm code. The gate code at the campsite, or the members' door at the co-working space.

How it works

Mark details as private and they move behind a stay code, a short number you send with the booking. On the guest page, a Stay code tile takes care of the rest, and if guests ask Otis instead, he offers an "Enter your stay code" button right under his reply. The right code unlocks the details on that phone.

Otis plays along. If someone asks him for the door code without having entered the stay code, he won't share it. He points them to the button instead, and if they can't find their code, he offers to let you know.

A new code for every stay

At holiday homes and B&Bs, tap New stay, pick the guests' dates on the calendar, and they get a code of their own. It keeps working until the end of the day after they leave, then stops. Setting up the next booking while someone's still there? The people staying keep their code until they go.

Keeping an eye out

Attempts to enter a code are noted, along with roughly where they came from. If one connection keeps guessing (12 wrong codes in a day), it's blocked for a week, and you'll hear about it unless you've switched off alerts for suspicious activity. You can block a connection yourself too, straight from the stay code card.

Otis saysI'm very good with secrets. I'm a bell, not a gossip.