We're already well into 2025 and I'm finally writing this Winter Editions post. Hopefully one day soon I will have more time to write on this blog, but for now I still have a lot of things on my mind that I want to build into FreshBuzzer over the coming months and years.

Lets take a look back then and see what is new since Summer '24!

This time we'll start with the most boring feature, the one that nobody can see: Reliability.

While the service has been rock solid since the start - with less outages than your Facebook, Google and whatelse you have - there is always a lot of work going into keeping it that way. FreshBuzzer moved to a bigger server, swapped out the database and replaced a few internals for easier maintenance in the future. It was sure a lot of work, but nobody noticed. No downtime, no service disruptions, nothing broke - that's how I like it!

Now the real features then, and they all center around Secure Access Codes.

Most importantly FreshBuzzer now has an integration with Seam which is a platform that manages access to smart devices. Most interesting for FreshBuzzer are smart locks from various vendors such as August, Yale and Schlage. If your property is on the Plus plan, you can link assign your smart lock(s) and access codes for your bookings will be synced to your lock(s) automatically. If you're already using a Host Management System (HMS) they will likely offer this as well, but if you're connecting directly to lets say Airbnb, this will come in super handy.

Another new feature is Random Access Codes which aligns well with the smart lock integration. Usually short-term rental (STR) bookings will be configured with the last 4 digits of the guest's phone number as the code. However, while convenient it does pose a small but real security risk. Anyone knowing who is staying at your place might know that person's phone number as well and could easily guess to code. With random access codes, each booking receives a totally random code - good luck guessing that! Enable random codes for even more secure access.

Lastly we have One-time Access Codes which have been requested quite frequently and rightly so. They are super handy when you want to give access to e.g. a delivery driver. You don't know exactly when they come so it is difficult to limit access just based on the time, but they'll only drop off your package once. So once they did, you could disable the code - or use a one-time code and don't worry about it being reused somehow. Configure your Secure Access Code for one-time use.

If you'd like to stay up to date with all new developments, have a look over on the announcements page as well as future blog posts! And as always don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback, ideas or comments!

Do you like FreshBuzzer and would like to support this service?! Please tell your friends and family so they can sign up as well - thank you. Done that already? Fill out our testimonial survey which takes maybe 2 minutes and is an immense help - thank you again!

Cheers,
Axel