When you program a card, AERO X offers the possibility to choose between two different types of card: Guest card or User/Staff card. The basic version of AERO, instead, does not let you choose the card type, and all the cards are programmed as User/Staff cards.
The possibility to choose the card type is strictly connected with the possibility to define two types of doors (which is another feature of AERO X not included in the basic version of AERO) and is detailed in the Adding a door page: Guest rooms (rooms dedicated to host a customer in an exclusive way - typically the bedrooms) and Utility rooms (external gates/doors, gymn, offices, SPA, conference rooms, ...).
Guest rooms and Guest cards are dedicated to hospitality use cases.
The Guest card is convenient for the hotel guests, because you can set
the check-out time, you can quickly create copies of the card (in case
more persons need to access the same room) and it offers the guarantee
that the last Guest card programmed, when presented to the room lock,
automatically disables any Guest card previously programmed for the
same room.
The main features of the Guest card are:
AT LEAST 1 GUEST ROOM
The typical use case consists in selecting one Guest room (the bedroom) and, if it is the case, some service/utility rooms.
When you program a Guest card, you must select at least 1 Guest room (the doors configured as Guest room display the bedroom
icon).
You can select up to 4 Guest rooms for the same Guest card (to manage suites or similar configurations).
There is no limit in the number of utility doors that you can add into the selection.
Doors that have been configured as "pre-selected" will be automatically included in the selection, but you can de-select them.
CHECKOUT TIME
For any card you program you must specify the end validity date, but for Guest cards you specify also the check-out time of the last day of validity. By default it is at 12:00, but you can change it.
Your guests will not have access to the room beyond this time.
AUTO CHECKOUT OF PREVIOUS GUEST CARDS
The last Guest card programmed for a guest room, when presented to the room lock, automatically disables any Guest card previously programmed for the same room. In this way, you have the peace of mind that once a new guest accesses a room, the previous guests will not be allowed to access the room even if their card had not yet expired.
GUEST CARD COPY
In case more guests share
the same room (e.g. a family) and they need more than one card, once you have programmed the first Guest card, it is possible to quickly program one or more copies of that Guest card. All the copies will have the same settings of the first Guest card.
You can find the "card copy" function starting from a guest card or a guest room:
Important: you shall not create a new Guest card for the other guests, because in this case only the last one created would work (see AUTO CHECKOUT OF PREVIOUS CARDS).
OVERRIDE PRIVACY BY DEFAULT
When you program a Guest
card, the option DO NOT DISTURB defaults to “OVERRIDE PRIVACY”.
If
one of the guests inside the room has activated the PRIVACY function of the lock, the Guest card will be anyway allowed to open the lock (override privacy).
It is possible to change this option and choose “DO NOT OVERRIDE PRIVACY”. In this case, if someone activates the PRIVACY function inside the room, the card would not be allowed to open.
User/Staff cards are typically programmed for the staff of a premises or, in general, for users that need access to any combination of rooms but not necessarily in an exclusive way as it is the case for the hotel guest.
For this reason, User/Staff cards are quite different from Guest cards:
NO LIMITS ON ROOMS
It is possible to open any list of doors, wihtout limitations or distinctions between guest rooms and utilities.
NO CHECKOUT TIME
User/Staff cards expire at 11:59 PM of the last day of validity.
NO AUTO CHECKOUT
User/Staff cards do not have an auto-check-out mechanism, because they are not designed to access a room in an exclusive way.
NO COPY
The system does not allow to create an exact copy of a card for a User/Staff card and for this reason it is not available a button to make a copy. However, if a User/Staff card shall be programmed in a way similar to an existing card, it is possible to start programming from that card, and most of the settings will be inherited automatically.
You can start a Program card inheriting from an existing card in one of these ways:
DO NOT OVERRIDE PRIVACY BY DEFAULT
DO NOT DISTURB option is set by default to "Do not override PRIVACY". It is assumed that when a guest switch the PRIVACY on, an ordinary User/Staff card shall not override his privacy.
However, it is possible to change this default setting, and choose "Override PRIVACY", so that card for emergency situations can be programmed.
Single guest room
This is the standard case, where for the guest of the room it is required to program a Guest card.
Guest room A and B connected
If A and B are assigned to different guests individually, a guest card for A and a different guest card for B shall be programmed. The connection door shall be closed.
If A and B are assigned to the same guest (family - group of persons) a guest card that operates both A and B shall be programmed. The connection door shall be opened (in office state) by the staff.
Guest room A and B with a common entrance
If A and B are assigned to different guests individually, a guest card for A and a different guest card for B shall be programmed. The common door shall be set open (office) by staff.
If A and B are assigned to the same guest (family - group of persons) a guest card that operates C shall be programmed. Single doors A and B shall be set open (in office state) by the staff.
