Smartphones Open Hotel Rooms at Luxury Properties But That Should Be Just the Beginning
Photo Credit: OpenKey, a seller of door-locking technology to hotels, markets to independent properties and provides add-on features. OpenKey
Skift Take
Hotels have years to go before guests will routinely be unlocking guest room doors with their mobile apps. Even then, it could be just a gimmick unless hotels make it part of a broader guest-experience enhancement.
While Marriott and Hilton pour millions into proprietary operations technology, independent hotels and smaller chains don’t have the same deep pockets. But especially at luxury properties, where customers expect their lodgings to keep up with the Joneses, showcasing tech savviness is a must. And it all starts at the guest-room door.
At the end of 2014 and into early 2015, several large brands, including Starwood (pre-Marriott), Hilton, and Marriott, announced large investments in mobile tech. To trace one company's progress, Hilton introduced its Digital Key technology at the end of 2014.
Reserved solely for Hilton Honors members, Digital Key theoretically allows guests to head straight to the hotel room via a mobile app, bypassing the front desk and using their phones for access.
It should be pointed out that properties sometimes promise a bypass of the hotel front desk with digital check-ins but in reality a visit in the lobby is still required.
As of August 2017, Digit
