The New Hotel-Room Key: Your Smartphone

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Craig Karmin, The New Hotel-Room Key: Your Smartphone. Wall Street Journal, Jan 27, 2014.
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB20001424052702304856504579339130820876304

Quote:

(a) Guests may "walk past the check-in desk and enter their rooms by using a smartphone as a room key. The boutique hotel brand {Aloft Hotel) from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc plans to offer this feature at two hotels, in the Harlem neighborhood and in Cupertino, Calif., before the end of the quarter.

“Guests at these properties will receive a message on a Starwood app containing a virtual key, which will unlock the door with a tap or twist of their phone through the use of Bluetooth technology.

(b) “Not everyone is so sure. Past attempts to use technology to streamline the check-in process have had mixed results.

“Robert Habeeb, president of the First Hospitality Group, which is the owner of 55 hotels in the US, says he pulled out check-in kiosks at two of his Holiday Inn hotels after finding that most guests ignored them. He found that many travelers will sacrifice speed or ease to talk with a staff member and ensure their room has the right view or location, or to try for an upgrade. Other guests may still want to be greeted when they arrive.

"’The hotel front desk is a bit a like a bartender,’ Mr Habeeb says. ‘It can be an interaction people enjoy.’

“Hotels have never been known for being in the forefront of technology. The industry is often a laggard, in part because many hotels are owned and managed by separate companies, making investments in technology more complicated.

My comment: There is no need to read the rest.