A lock on a holiday apartment lives a harder life than the same lock on a home. Twenty different people use it in a season, none of them gently, most of them in the dark with a suitcase in the other hand. Choose hardware for that, not for a family who has used the same door for fifteen years.
Use, not brand, is the deciding factor
Three things wear out a rental lock:
Volume. A front door in a busy let is operated many times more often than a private one, and every one of those is by someone unfamiliar with it.
Inexperience. Guests do not know your door. They will push when they should lift, turn the key the wrong way first, and force the handle before ringing anyone.
Climate. Salt and airborne sand get into everything near the front. Terrace doors take direct afternoon sun. A door that closes perfectly in February can bind in August.
What to fit on the entrance door
A cylinder that matches the exposure. If the barrel projects past the handle plate, fit an anti-snap one and have it sized properly to sit flush. What that actually means is worth five minutes of your time.
A correctly measured cylinder, full stop. More locks fail from being the wrong length than from being the wrong brand.
Keys that exist in sensible numbers. Two sets in the property, one with a local contact, and a written record of who holds what. Not eleven keys accumulated over six years.
What to fit on terrace and patio doors
These are the doors guests actually break, because a sticking patio door invites force.
- Make sure the multipoint mechanism is adjusted before the season rather than during it.
- Keep tracks and rollers clean on sliders: the dust here is relentless.
- Check that the door can be locked from outside if guests use the terrace as an exit.
A patio door that needs lifting and shoving is a complaint waiting to be written. Mechanism work is usually adjustment rather than replacement, if it is caught early.
Key safes
Treat the box as hardware, not as an accessory. Buy a solid one, mount it where salt spray and direct sun do not reach it if you possibly can, and service it each season. A corroded key safe is the single most common cause of a guest standing outside at midnight.
Smart locks: an honest assessment
They solve real problems: no key handover, codes per booking, no lost keys. They also introduce a battery, electronics and firmware into a hot, humid, salty environment.
If you fit one, insist on a mechanical key override, and make sure your local contact knows where that key is and how to use it. Keep the batteries on a calendar rather than on hope.
What is not worth the money
- A high-security cylinder on an internal door nobody can reach.
- A heavy lock on a flimsy frame. The frame fails first, every time.
- Different keys for every door on the property. Keyed-alike cylinders cost less than the goodwill you lose when a guest cannot work out which key is which.
The maintenance that pays for itself
Once a season: clean and lubricate every cylinder with a proper lock lubricant, check and adjust every terrace door, service the key safe, change its code, and count the keys.
It is two hours of work. It is also the difference between a quiet summer and the call at eleven at night that starts with an apology. If you would rather have it done for you, it is straightforward to arrange between bookings.