Step by step
Set up door locks and ID checks
Connect your lock system so that Kila makes each guest's door code at check-in and cancels it at check-out, and read passports and ID cards into the guest register with a scanner.
With your lock system connected and live, Kila makes each guest’s door code when they check in, sends it to them, and cancels it when they check out. With an ID scanner, the desk reads the guest’s passport or ID card into the guest register instead of typing it.
Not available yet
Reading a passport or ID card with a scanner works today. Door locks work only with a real lock system connected and live: on a live Kila there is no test mode, and Kila says “Test mode runs on Kila’s demo site only. Connect the lock system and switch it to live, or give keys by hand.” Until yours is live, give keys by hand. TTLock cannot go live yet: “Kila’s TTLock app is not connected yet”. Checking Kenyan IDs against the national register is not live either: Kila says “Checking IDs with the register is not live yet” and “Check the ID by sight.” The pictures on this page come from Kila’s demo site, where Kila’s simulator answers for the locks and the register: “Kila’s simulator answers as the lock system would: nothing is sent to it.”
Choose the lock system
On Hotel › Door locks and ID, under Lock system, choose yours (1): TTLock, Nuki or a Card encoder (Kila Desk Bridge), with its account or token, and the Mode Live. Kila describes each one. A card encoder needs Kila Desk Bridge on the desk computer: “Needed for card encoders and network printers; not for TTLock or Nuki codes.” On Kila’s demo site there is also a Simulated lock system and a Test mode.
Say how keys work, and save
Set the Keys at check-in (“Codes made (one is usually enough)”), the Grace after check-out time (“Minutes the key still works”), the Digits in a code, how to Send the code to the guest by (SMS, WhatsApp, email, or Not sent: the desk gives it) and a Line added to the guest’s message. Press Save (2): Kila says Door locks saved. SMS and WhatsApp are in test mode: Kila keeps the message in its log and it does not reach the guest’s phone. Send the code to the guest by starts on SMS, or email without a phone: choose Email, or Not sent: the desk gives it and give the code at the desk (Show the code on the folio).
Give each room its lock
Under Rooms and their locks, press Test and list locks (3). Kila says The lock system answered and lists the locks it found; on the demo site, “Test mode, no real lock: 30 simulated locks, one per room.” Choose each room’s lock, or press Match by name when the locks are named after the rooms, and press Save locks: Rooms saved.
Switch on the ID checks
Under Guests’ IDs, switch on ID scanner at check-in (“An MRZ scanner in keyboard mode needs nothing else; a serial one connects in Chrome or Edge.”). Check Kenyan IDs against the register (“Only with the guest’s consent, read to them and recorded. Only whether the name and number match is kept.”) works once the service under Through is connected to Kila; until then Kila says “Until then the desk checks IDs by sight: Kila gives no test answers to a live business.” Press Save ID settings: Guest ID settings saved.
At check-in, scan the ID
In Check in, under Passport or ID card, press Scan and pass the document through the scanner, or type or paste the lines at the bottom of the passport (the back of an ID card). Kila checks every check digit and fills the guest register: Read, check digits correct (5). Where the register check is live, a Kenyan ID also gets Check with the register: read Kila’s words to the guest (“You may say no; the desk will then check your ID by sight.”), tick The guest agreed and press Check. On the demo site it answers in test mode, such as Matches the register (test mode).
Check in: Kila sends the door code
Door codes to send (6) is how many codes Kila makes on your lock system. Press Check in: Kila says “1 key on the way.” and sends the code to the guest the way you chose; by SMS or WhatsApp it stays in Kila’s message log for now. Without a live lock system the field is Keys given: hand the keys over yourself.
See the keys on the folio
On the guest’s folio, Keys shows each code, its room, until when it works and how it was sent: Working (7). On the demo site it also says Test mode: no real lock. Show the code shows its digits (Kila logs it), and Send the code again sends it again: “Code sent by SMS.” Another code makes one more: “1 more key on the way.” To stop one code, press Cancel this key (“The code is taken off the lock.”), say Why? and press Cancel the key. The folio also keeps the ID read and the register check. At check-out Kila cancels the keys: “1 key cancelled.”
The guest lost the code or gave it away
Link to this section: The guest lost the code or gave it awayPress Replace on the folio’s Keys: “Every code of this stay stops working and new ones are made, for a lost card or a code given away.” Say Why? and press Replace. Kila says “Old keys cancelled; 1 new key on the way.”
The scanner reads the document wrongly
Link to this section: The scanner reads the document wronglyKila says which part is wrong, such as “Wrong: document number, whole line. Scan it again or check the document by eye.” Scan it again; if it still fails, check the document by eye and type the details yourself.
The guest says no to the register check
Link to this section: The guest says no to the register checkDo not tick The guest agreed: press Cancel and check the ID by sight, as Kila’s words to the guest say.
- Check a guest in: the room, the guest register and the deposit.
- Check a guest out: the bill, and the keys cancelled.