Case Study: DanCenter Scales Remote Check-Ins & Housekeeping with igloohome & Breezeway

Overview

DanCenter, a trusted vacation rental company with over 65 years of experience and a portfolio of 28,000+ properties across Northern Europe, sought to modernize guest access and streamline housekeeping operations. By deploying more than 6,000 igloohome Smart Keyboxes, and integrating them with Breezeway’s leading property operations platform, DanCenter is transforming its check-in process into a fully remote, automated experience. This collaboration reduces operating costs, improves coordination of cleaning and maintenance, and elevates guest satisfaction across its vast network of vacation homes.

Challenges

Prior to adopting igloohome, DanCenter required guests to travel to regional offices to collect physical keys. This created:

• Queues and wait times during peak seasons.

• Staffing costs for key handovers and office coverage.

• Rigid key handover schedules inconvenienced guests with delays or plan changes.

• Operational barriers: maintenance and cleaning staff shuttled between offices and properties to pick up/drop off keys, wasting time and fuel.

• No method of on site traceability with accurate and detailed logs.

Solution

DanCenter partnered with igloohome in 2022. Over the course of their partnership they have deployed over 6,000 smart lockboxes across their vacation rental portfolio. 

With the new key lockboxes, each guest receives a time-sensitive PIN code that activates only for the duration of their stay. No permanent codes are shared, and all pincodes expire upon the end of the guests stay. This significantly mitigates unauthorised access risks. Furthermore, guests can arrive directly at the property—no office visit required. Additionally, in the event of an emergency a new temporary pin can be generated ensuring reliable access.

Every time a pin is used, correctly or not, an attempt and result is logged on the lock, these activity logs provide a detailed audit trail in the event of a missing key for example. This helps property managers to track down missing keys by knowing which guest used it last and when. 

“Our guests no longer need to spend time queuing at a local office, they can simply arrive at their holiday home and start their vacation right away. This saves thousands of key handovers every year, significantly lowering our operational costs while also cutting CO₂ emissions from unnecessary driving. It’s a win-win for guest satisfaction and sustainability.”

- Bjørn Roos Rasmussen, Product Operations manager at DanCenter.

DanCenter also used Breezeway to coordinate nearly 2 million cleaning, inspections, and maintenance tasks across its wide and distributed portfolio. Similar to challenges of letting in guests, these operations required physical key pickups at the office increasing time and fuel spent per job.

DanCenter, Breezeway, and igloohome collaborated on an integration that provides Bluetooth unlock capability inside the Breezeway interface for registered staff. Instead of managing or distributing PINs (always available as a backup), authorised staff would tap to unlock the igloohome Smart Keybox via Bluetooth—fast, reliable, and functional even with limited connectivity.

Through the Breezeway app, staff are able to:

• select assigned task/property

• trigger secure Bluetooth unlock of the igloohome Smart Keybox

• retrieve keys to access property directly.

In addition to bluetooth unlocks, igloohome’s algoPIN generation technology works completely independent of wifi. This means that whether wifi is available or not, property managers can always generate a new time based credential for guests or staff to let them in.

“Property access remains a critical challenge for hospitality operators of all shapes and sizes in 2025. It’s often the first touchpoint and first impression. That’s why integrating smart lock technology directly into operational workflows is so impactful. We’re proud to be the first global partner to integrate with igloohome’s new line of Bluetooth Low Energy locks, bringing seamless, secure, and automated access management into the heart of property operations with Breezeway.”

- Peter Andruszkiewicz, VP of Partnerships & Strategy at Breezeway

Operational & Cost Impact

By eliminating physical key handovers and the need for office-based key management, properties can save costs while enhancing convenience. Each unit typically experiences 25 turnovers per year. Traditionally, every turnover requires a physical key handover, and a trip to the regional office costing about EUR 25 each time. That alone amounts to EUR 625 annually.

For every turnover, technicians and housekeeping staff must visit the regional office to collect keys. Eliminating this step allows them to operate in a much more efficient manner enhancing the experience. 

Given that a smart lock costs just EUR 150 per unit, it pays for itself very quickly—within 3 months, and continues to generate savings year after year.

Cost & Savings Breakdown

Results

With remote, automated check-in/out access and integrated housekeeping workflows, DanCenter can now:

• Operate fully remote check-ins across thousands of properties in different locations.

• Support portfolio growth without having to increase staffing costs at the same rate. 

• Reinvest savings into more guest experience enhancements.

The ability to remotely provide access without hampering staff bandwidth is extremely valuable to growth plans. Additionally, reducing the barriers for access without compromising security is paramount for a growing portfolio. With igloohome and Breezeway, DanCenter was able to create value for guests as well as optimize operations. 

“This use case highlights how innovation and technology enable companies to scale. With the implementation of smart keyboxes, the outdated approach of traditional keyboxes using the same code is a thing of the past. Further integrations through partners like Breezeway bring automation to every aspect of property management—secure and scalable”

- Rafael Frankow, General Manager Europe at igloohome

About Breezeway

Breezeway’s award-winning operations and guest experience platform helps thousands of rental managers increase operational efficiency, eliminate manual work, and boost service revenue. With our mobile app, tailored checklists, and automated workflows, managers have confidence every property is guest-ready. Guest communication has never been easier with our Messaging, Guide, and Assist products. Powering over 65M property care tasks, Breezeway’s purpose-built solution drives team efficiency, reduces manual labor, and enhances employee satisfaction with our integrated Payments solution.

About igloo

igloo, the parent company of igloohome, is a global leader in software-first access control technology. Driven by the mission to build A World Without Keys, igloo’s innovative platform combines retrofit-friendly hardware and integrated enterprise software, enabling properties and communities to manage and scale access reliably, online or offline.

Serving over 3,000 businesses across the US and globally, igloo has shipped nearly a million units, helping businesses automate access, safeguard assets, and elevate the resident and guest experience. 

igloo is dual-headquartered in Singapore and Austin, Texas, with eight regional offices worldwide. For more information, visit https://www.igloohome.co.