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Hotels turning guests’ smartphones into room keys

NEW YORK — Starwood Hotels and Resorts yesterday became the first chain to let guests unlock their room doors with their phones. The feature is available only at 10 Aloft, Element and W hotels but will be expanded to 140 more properties in those brands by the middle of next year.

NEW YORK — Starwood Hotels and Resorts yesterday became the first chain to let guests unlock their room doors with their phones. The feature is available only at 10 Aloft, Element and W hotels but will be expanded to 140 more properties in those brands by the middle of next year.

The new programmes are helping to speed up the check-in process for busy travellers or, in at least one case, letting them go straight to their rooms by using their smartphone to unlock doors.

The innovations are still being tweaked as hotels scramble to catch up with airlines. Passengers today use their phones to check in, select seats and as a boarding pass. Hotels envision a similar relationship, with guests ultimately ordering poolside drinks via an app.

Hilton Worldwide is the only other hotel chain to publicly acknowledge plans for mobile room keys — which it plans to roll out at the end of next year at some of its properties in the United States. The company would not say how many hotels would be included, except that the service would be available at four of its brands: Hilton, Waldorf Astoria, Conrad and Canopy.

“Guests want this because it makes their lives simpler,” said Mr Mark Vondrasek, who oversees the loyalty programme and digital initiatives for Starwood. “The ability to go right to your room gives them back time.”

Other hotel companies are finding other ways to streamline the arrival process. Last year, Marriott International began allowing guests at 330 of its North American hotels to check in through an app. By the end of this year, the programme will be live at all its 4,000 hotels worldwide. When a room becomes available, a message is sent to the guest’s phone. Traditional room keys are pre-programmed and waiting at the front desk. A special express line allows guests to bypass crowds, flash their IDs and get keys.

At Hilton, a similar check-in programme will be available at all its 4,000 properties worldwide by the end of the year, with one added feature: Guests can use maps on the app to select a specific room.

However, those who like personal interaction can still opt for a more leisurely check-in, and hotel companies said the move was not about cutting jobs.

“If you’re at the end of a long day, you might want a little less of a chatty experience. But if you’re showing up at a new resort, you may want to know what the pool hours are,” said Mr Brett Cowell, vice-president of information technology at Hyatt, which is testing permanent keys for frequent guests at six of its hotels.

The push is not only about avoiding frustrating check-in lines. Hotels are also trying to get more travellers comfortable with using their mobile apps to interact and make purchases such as room service.

Switching to smartphone room keys will not be easy. Starwood’s app communicates using a Bluetooth data connection. Each hotel room needs to have a new lock that can communicate with phones.

The top 15 hotel companies have more than 42,000 properties worldwide, with a combined 5.2 million rooms, said travel research firms STR and STR Global. Many hotels have made updates over the past few years, but they remain the minority.

Mr Bruce Craven, who spends about 100 nights a year on the road, travels regularly between his California home and New York, where he conducts executive training programmes and teaches at Columbia Business School. He has been testing Starwood’s smartphone room key since March.

“If you’re travelling all the time, little things can take on a symbolic importance,” Mr Craven said. “This is one less thing I need to think about” AP

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