Mikey Campbell
Hilton Worldwide on Monday announced plans to roll out an aggressive overhaul of its tech infrastructure that will let guests use their mobile devices as hotel room keys, choose rooms from a floor plan map and check-in to properties around the world.
According to Hilton, the digital check-in and room selection service will be available through integration with the company's Hilton HHonors iOS app at more than 4,000 properties by the end of 2014.
In addition to choosing exact rooms by looking at a digital hotel floor plan, guests will be able use their iPhone or iPad to purchase upgrades and make special requests like delivery of amenities prior to arrival. The enhancements are slated for a staged launch, with new technology and services becoming available every six to eight weeks.
The first stage — check-in and room selection — is scheduled to roll out by the end of this summer at domestic Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites. DoubleTree by Hilton and Embassy Suites Hotels in the U.S. will gain compatibility later this fall, while worldwide availability is pegged for the end of 2014.
As for the smartphone-as-room key initiative, Hilton is looking to introduce the technology at certain U.S. hotels starting next year, but expects a majority of its properties to boast the functionality by the end of 2016.
"Travelers can use their smartphones as boarding passes to get to their seats on an airplane, so it is only natural that they will want to use them as a way to enter their hotel rooms," said Hilton Worldwide President and CEO Christopher J. Nassetta. "We have spent the past few years testing a number of different options to make this vision a reality, and we are developing proprietary technology that is safe and reliable for our guests to use, and cost-effective for our hotels to install."
Starwood Hotels already piloted an iPhone-based room key program in January that relies on Bluetooth proximity technology. The tech Hilton is using for its digital room key deployment is not known, though it can be assumed a similar Bluetooth-based model will be adopted given the wireless protocol's ubiquity.
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20 Comments
Yeah, nothing could go wrong with that. Nope.
As for selecting my room on my iPhone, fine with me.
But as for opening the room door using my iPhone, I prefer a pass on that one.
I like those room cards !
Yeah, nothing could go wrong with that. Nope.
The door locks would still have magnetic card support since not every hotel guest would have a compatible smartphone.
Those door locks probably have some sort of mechanical master key override anyhow, just in case the electronic lock mechanism fails.
[quote name="JoshA" url="/t/181597/hilton-to-roll-out-digital-check-ins-smartphone-room-keys-in-new-tech-push#post_2570438"]As for selecting my room on my iPhone, fine with me. But as for opening the room door using my iPhone, I prefer a pass on that one. I like those room cards ! [/quote] And just like sporting events/museums with novelty tickets the hotels will start giving out novelty keycards. My guess is the keycards aren't going away and they'll still be available as a backup option.
I think that's great news! And it would be really cool if Passbook could do that so you don't have to install an app for that (of course for each hotel chain you'd have to install your own app so that's get inconvenient and tired soon, at least for the one who travels rarely) I'm all for this. I'm using a Kevo at home and am quite happy with it, and especially for hotels, I always need to double check if I have my card in my wallet before closing the doors as many hotels request you put the cards (or any credit card sized one) into the power switch. But think of this: You'd book the hotel and the room online, you'd not even have to queue up at the reception anymore. More than a welcome convenience after say a long flight.