Unattended rental means the customer handles the whole rental on their own: finds an available product, books it, pays, gets access and returns it, with nobody there to meet them. It works when five parts fit together: the booking, the payment, access, the condition check and a plan for when something goes wrong.
For you, it means you can rent out while you are closed, and you no longer have to answer the phone and hand out keys. Here we go through what an unattended rental looks like step by step, what tends to go wrong and how to get started one product at a time.
What does the customer need to handle the whole rental alone?
Five parts, and all of them have to be there:
- Booking. The customer sees what is available and chooses the location, product and time on their phone.
- Payment. The customer pays straight away, by card (or Swish in Sweden), before getting access to anything.
- Access. The customer gets a code to a digital lock when the rental starts.
- Condition. The customer takes photos of the product at pick-up and at return.
- A back-up plan. The customer knows who to contact, and you can solve problems remotely.
If one part is missing, the rest falls apart. A booking without payment means chasing money. A payment without a code means the customer phones you anyway. A code without a condition check means you do not know who scratched the bucket.
What does an unattended rental look like, step by step?
Take Exempelhyran, a business in Viby, Sweden, that rents out trailers and a few machines from a yard with no staff at weekends.
Friday evening. A customer needs a trailer for a trip to the tip early tomorrow. They open Exempelhyran’s booking page on their phone, see that the trailer is free from 07:00, choose the time and pay by card. The confirmation arrives by e-mail, with the address and instructions.
Saturday 07:00. The customer arrives at the yard and opens the booking. They start the booking, confirm they are on site and go through a short condition check with photos. Then the code to the lock appears. The code is valid for a limited time window, and it can only be fetched while the booking is under way.
Saturday morning. The trip to the tip takes longer than planned. The customer extends the booking themselves, if the trailer is free afterwards, and pays the difference.
Saturday 12:00. The customer puts the trailer back, takes photos of it, locks it and ends the booking.
Monday morning. Exempelhyran sees in admin what happened over the weekend: which bookings were started and ended, and whether any check has an issue with photos.
Nobody had to answer the phone, and no key changed hands.
How do the locks work without internet?
The locks do not rely on a connection. With code locks from igloohome, for example, the codes are generated on the server and then work directly in the lock, which runs on batteries. That is why they work on a trailer, in a storage unit without electricity or at a sauna by a lake.
Each code belongs to a booking and is valid for a limited time. You see the locks’ battery level and a log of which codes have been created and for which booking. So the log shows when a code was generated, not every time the door was opened. Read more in digital code locks for rentals.
You do not need locks on everything. Fit locks to the products you want to rent out unattended, and keep renting out the rest as you do today.
What do you do when something goes wrong?
This is where unattended rental wins or loses the customer’s trust. Decide in advance what you will do in the most common situations:
- The code does not work. Usually the customer has typed it wrong or is outside the time window. Sometimes the battery is flat. If you can create a one-time code from the booking on your phone and read it out, it is solved in a minute. Change the batteries in good time when admin shows they are low.
- The customer does not turn up. Let the booking be cancelled automatically if it has not been started a set time after the start time, so the product becomes free for someone else.
- The customer is late back. A late fee stated in your terms and a reminder to the customer is usually enough. Late returns should be at the top of your screen, so you have time to warn the next customer.
- Something is damaged. The photos from pick-up and return show whether the damage was there before. Follow it up as an issue on the booking.
- The customer has no signal. The code is shown in the booking, so the customer needs internet on site. Check the coverage where your products are, and say in the instructions that the customer should bring a charged phone.
Also put up a sign by the product saying how to start the booking and who to contact. It answers most questions before anyone calls.
Which products suit self-service?
Products that are easy to understand, can take some wear and can be checked with a few photos. Ask yourself three things about each product:
- Can a new customer use it with short instructions?
- Does damage show up in a photo?
- Is the risk reasonable compared with what the product is worth?
Trailers, storage units, venues and simple machines often pass all three. If a machine needs a walk-through, or is expensive and delicate, you can keep handing it over yourself. You decide product by product.
Start with staff if you like, and switch on self-service one product at a time when it feels safe. Exempelhyran started with its trailers and kept the mini excavator staffed.
How does the customer find the right place when nobody is there?
Put everything in the booking: the address, a map, a photo of where the product stands, how the lock works and what applies at return. Send a reminder before the rental starts, by e-mail or push notification. That cuts questions more than anything else.
Write the instructions for someone who has never been there, on a dark November evening. If it says “the trailer to the left of the gate”, it had better be exactly there.
How do you get customers who have never rented unattended to trust it?
Tell them how it works before they book. Write three short lines on the product page: that they book and pay on their phone, that the code appears in the booking when the rental starts, and who to contact if something goes wrong. People who know what will happen on site are more willing to book.
Also be clear about what applies at return. A customer who knows they should photograph the product and end the booking will do it. A customer who does not know leaves the lock open and drives off.
Checklist before you switch on self-service
- The customer can book and pay on their phone, in the evening too.
- The lock is fitted, and you have tested a code for real.
- There is mobile coverage where the product stands.
- The instructions include the address, a photo, how the lock works and the rules for returning.
- The condition check has five points, with photos.
- Your terms say what late returns and damage cost.
- Automatic cancellation is switched on for bookings that are never started.
- You know how to create a code remotely.
- The sign with contact details is up.
In Qonnecta, the booking, the payment, the code in the booking, the condition check and issues all fit together in one system.