Tracked, transparent, stress-free: Tracy on Ailo’s keys breakthrough

Keys touch almost every part of property management – renter handovers, supplier access, inspections, and more. But they’re often a hidden source of stress, thanks to disconnected legacy software that never quite fits the workflow. Lost keys lead to wasted hours, mounting costs, and awkward conversations no one wants to have.

Keys in Ailo takes that stress away. They’re built into projects, so they sit naturally alongside inspections, vacates, and repairs. Property managers can check keys in and out, reserve them ahead of time, see a full history of where they’ve been, and manage it all on the run through the app.

For Tracy Martyn, Property Investments Team Leader at Ray White Northern Coast, it’s the difference between chasing paper and having certainty in seconds.

Before Ailo, Tracy’s team relied on paper sign-in sheets. Legacy systems leave property managers chasing scraps of paper or trying to reconcile different logs – a process full of gaps and human error.

“The most frustrating thing was the tracking of the keys. You had to rely on people really filling those out correctly… and then trying to chase them around”.

Now, the process takes moments. “You just pick up your phone, search the property, take a photo, put in a little bit of crucial information that takes five seconds, and check them out. It’s really, really quick and easy. There's a full record of it. It’s lovely!”

Her three-word summary? “Tracked digitally, clear and transparent, streamlined.”

The real breakthrough for Tracy is that keys aren’t bolted on as another task – they’re part of the natural workflow.

Other tools treat keys as an afterthought – a separate app, another login, another manual step. Ailo puts keys where they belong: inside the workflow.

“It eliminates any mistakes and miscommunication. With routine inspections, the staff simply again take a photo, we know where that’s gone… if there’s a contractor at the house and we’re doing an inspection, simply change that over, give it over to the contractor, sign those out, and we know that when they come in, it’ll all be reconciled and closed”.

That visibility has reduced stress across the team.

“Our inspections agents don’t have just one set at a time, they’ve got seven or eight at a time, and that is stressful, she says.

“With Ailo now, you know exactly what keys you have. You know exactly where they are”.

The impact shows up daily. When a contractor borrowed a set of keys recently, Tracy didn’t need to dig through the logs.

In another case, a renter’s son arrived at a property without keys while the tenant was an hour away. Tracy authorised a friend to collect them, ID checked her, and logged everything digitally. The tenant was notified immediately, and again when the keys were returned just half an hour later. “It was really quick and simple and easy.”

Tracy also sees Keys in Ailo as a competitive edge in conversations with investors. When her team takes on a new management, they photograph and log every key, and owners receive a copy.

She remembers the embarrassment of once being handed the wrong keys by another agency. “With Ailo that would be completely eliminated because there are photo records of exactly what keys you have at any given time”.

When asked what would happen if Ailo keys were switched off tomorrow, Tracy doesn’t hesitate: “I would be on the phone to you and I’d be saying there is no negotiation. Turn it back on!

Her pitch to other agencies is simple: “Ailo give us accountability for keys, which saves us time and stress.”