As the demand for digital access solutions grows among travelers and residential renters, businesses in these expanding sectors find these technologies advantageous. The ability to manage new sites efficiently and remotely, without the burden of costly 24/7 front-desk operations, offers significant commercial benefits.
City Pop, a provider specializing in short-term furnished apartment rentals, has embraced this trend. Their properties, located in metropolitan areas across Europe, including Zurich, Berlin, Prague, and Milan, initially used an RFID access-card system. However, as their ambitions expanded, manual credential management proved inadequate, prompting the search for a more scalable solution.
Portfolio of Serviced Apartments
To enhance their property management, City Pop integrated a card-less, mobile access system throughout their serviced apartments, using Aperio® wireless locks paired with the Incedo Pro access management system.
These contemporary wire-free, battery-powered Aperio escutcheons are installed on both apartment doors and select common areas. Pawel Gawor, CEO of City Pop, stated, "We were looking for a future-proof, reception-less access solution that could scale with our growth across Europe." By synchronizing the access system with the booking system, City Pop eliminates the need for manual staff involvement in distributing entry permissions.
Manual Staff Handling
The decision to utilize the Aperio E100 Wireless Keypad Escutcheon allowed City Pop to retrofit buildings
The decision to utilize the Aperio E100 Wireless Keypad Escutcheon allowed City Pop to retrofit buildings without damaging doors or running wires. The integration with Incedo Pro and its centralized automation offers real-time, remote management of access permissions.
This digitalization facilitates flexible accommodation options, ranging from monthly stays to nightly rentals, across key locations in Germany, Czechia, Switzerland, and Italy. City Pop continues to expand its implementation, with over 2,500 doors currently managed by ASSA ABLOY's solution.
Smartcard Management Infrastructure
City Pop's adoption of the ASSA ABLOY solution aligns with their sustainability objectives. Without the need for physical keys or smartcard infrastructure, the company reduces plastic use. Additionally, eliminating round-the-clock reception minimizes unnecessary staff travel since access is managed remotely.
The wireless Aperio locks, powered by standard batteries, consume significantly less energy than comparable wired devices. Moreover, the ASSA ABLOY Signo Readers, positioned at strategic points like elevator and exterior doors, operate on an Intelligent Power Mode (IPM), contributing to a 41% energy savings compared to models lacking IPM. "With Aperio wireless locks and Incedo Pro, we now have a fully digital, mobile-first access experience for our guests with no need for staff on-site," Gawor further elaborated.
Travelers and residential renters increasingly prefer the convenience of digital access. These solutions also offer commercial benefits to businesses operating in these fast-growing sectors: it becomes faster and more cost-efficient for them to roll-out new sites and to manage access to them remotely without the need for expensive 24/7 front-desk operations.
City Pop is one short-let furnished apartment rental provider operating in both these sectors. Their growing portfolio of design-led properties covers European cities such as Zurich, Berlin, Prague and Milan. They previously relied on an RFID access-card solution. However, manual handling of credentials created a major challenge to achieving their ambitions. They needed a scalable alternative which would simplify access management and enable their business to grow cost-effectively across international boundaries.
Portfolio of serviced apartments
For this reason, they adopted card-less, mobile access across their portfolio of serviced apartments – installing Aperio® wireless locks integrated natively with an Incedo Pro access management system. Doors to City Pop apartments and some common areas are equipped with these contemporary-styled wire-free, battery-powered Aperio escutcheons.
“We were looking for a future-proof, reception-less access solution that could scale with our growth across Europe,” explains Pawel Gawor, City Pop’s CEO. Integrating access with the booking system automatically distributes entry permissions to customers without manual staff handling. Guests can arrive at convenient times without any need for a reception check-in and have a choice of secure mobile access via the City Pop app or a PIN code to enter directly on the Aperio escutcheon’s keypad.
Manual staff handling
Choosing to standardize locks with the Aperio E100 Wireless Keypad Escutcheon gave City Pop the ability to retrofit buildings without wiring or door damage.
In addition, because reservations software is also integrated with their Incedo Pro system, City Pop automates centralized, real-time, and remote control over time-limited access at multiple sites dispersed around Germany, Czechia, Switzerland, and Italy. Digitalising access in this way gives them the flexibility to offers apartment stays by the month or, at an expanding number of locations, from one night and up. Their ongoing ASSA ABLOY installation project now totals over 2,500 doors… and is still growing.
Smartcard management infrastructure
Choosing this ASSA ABLOY solution also contributed towards City Pop’s sustainability goals. With no key or smartcard management infrastructure, they use less plastic. Eliminating the need for a 24/7 reception reduces unnecessary staff travel: they manage access remotely.
City Pop have also limited their energy use: wireless Aperio locks are powered by standard batteries and draw much less power than equivalent wired access devices. In addition, ASSA ABLOY Signo Readers, installed at external doors, sliding doors, elevators, and some high-traffic interior doors, have an Intelligent Power Mode (IPM) which saves 41% in energy compared to equivalent readers without IPM. “With Aperio wireless locks and Incedo Pro, we now have a fully digital, mobile-first access experience for our guests with no need for staff on-site,” adds Pawel.
