Your Hotel Key Is the Smartphone You Already Own

As hotels ramp up their keyless-entry game, you may never touch a metal—or plastic—room key again.
We’ve all been there. That moment when, after an endless day of meetings or exploring, we trudge up to our hotel room, eager to take a shower and sink into a freshly made hotel bed, but just as we approach the door, we realize we can't find our room key. We frantically search our wallets and pockets several times over before at last giving up and heading back down to the front desk to have them issue us a new one.

This frustration is exactly what the recent advent of digital hotel-room keys is seeking to eliminate for hotel guests. With a digital key, instead of keeping track of a plastic key card, or an actual old-school key, guests only need to pull out their smartphone to enter their hotel room.

Citing such guest convenience, and undoubtably a cool factor as well, several major hotel brands are rapidly rolling out smartphone keys, via branded mobile apps, that will work for thousands of hotel rooms across the world.

Each brand’s app has its own set of technological bells and whistles, as well as its own pitfalls, but it’s clear that checking into a hotel may never be the same again.

Starwood Hotels kicked off the smartphone-as-a-room-key trend last year by announcing that select W, Element, and Aloft Hotels would be testing the technology via the Starwood Preferred Guest mobile app, available on the App Store and Google Play. SPG members are first required to register their device through the app. On the day of their stay, guests will receive an ｕpdate on when the hotel room will be available along with a room number. Once the room is ready, guests can skip the front desk, head directly to the room and open the door with the phone via a Bluetooth connection. (The app has since been ｕpdated to also work with Apple Watch.)

This summer, Hilton Hotels introduced their own Digital Key program which they are testing in 10 Hilton Hotels. Much like SPG's Keyless Entry, Hilton's Digital Key works only through their loyalty program app, HHonors, available on the App Store, Google Play, and the Windows Store. But unlike Starwood, Hilton allows guests to select the room they want via the app's mobile check-in function, which offers a digital floor plan for guidance.

"Just like you choose your seats on an airline, you get to choose the room you want," Geraldine Calpin, senior vice president and global head of digital at Hilton Worldwide, told Condé Nast Traveler. Hilton's Digital Key also uses a Bluetooth connection between the guest device and the door lock, but Calpin said guests don't need to wave their phone in front of the door with Digital Key. Rather, guests push a button on the screen and the door opens. This means guests can open the door when they are within five feet of the door. It also means guests can open the door from inside the room, while, let's say, waiting in bed for room service.

Using a smartphone key also eliminates the dreaded demagnetization of the plastic key card, which typically happens when its magnetic strip gets too close to your phone.

As for security concerns, Calpin insists the digital key is "highly secure," more so than a plastic key card. "The Digital Key will only work with your phone, with your reservation, and the room you chose when you checked in with the app," she said. But it's probably a good idea to make sure your phone is password protected, at least during your hotel stay. Network issues—both cellular and Wi-Fi—are also a concern, especially if guests can get onto the networks. Calpin said Hilton has been testing Digital Key for months without any significant problems. There has been some teething issues, but she said, "It's working better than we thought."

Currently, Hilton is evaluating the results of the pilot program but starting next month, they plan on rolling out digital keys en masse with a goal of having 250 hotels ready with digital keys by early next year.

And other hotel brands are close to rolling their own smartphone keys as well. Marriott International offers both mobile check-in and mobile check-out via their Marriott Rewards app, as well as Apple Pay. Their mobile keys are expected to debut later this year. Hyatt Hotels is testing their own Hyatt Mobile Entry app in several locations right now, as well as offering guests who prefer a physical key the option to print a key at a kiosk in the lobby through the Ask Hyatt app. (Marriott is testing key kiosks as well.)

InterContinental Hotel Group, which includes brands such as InterContinental, Holiday Inn and Hotel Indigo in their portfolio, told Condé Nast Traveler that they are still in the "testing phase" with a smartphone key program. Meanwhile, SPG Keyless Entry can now be found in all W, Element, and Aloft Hotels worldwide.

Source: http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2015-09-09/your-hotel-key-is-the-smartphone-you-already-own
Image Source: http://media.cntraveler.com/photos/55ef3e204cb36d1b2f0e5cff/master/w_1024,c_limit/hilton-digital-key-smartphone.jpg

Vocabulary Words:
1. Trudge - (verb) Walk slowly and with heavy steps, typically because of exhaustion or harsh conditions
2. Eliminate - (verb) Completely remove or get rid of (something)
3. Rapid - (adj.) Happening in a short time or at a great rate
4. En masse - (adv.) In a group all together
5. Kiosk - (noun) A small open-fronted hut or cubicle from which newspapers, refreshments, tickets, etc. are sold

Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think all hotels should use a digital key as hotel room entry?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a keyless entry?
3. Is the old fashioned lock and key more secure than a digital key? Why do you think so?
4. What lock system do you follow or use at Kangwon Land (i.e lock and key, plastic key car, etc.)?
5. Are there hotels in Korea that adapts a digital key as entry to hotel rooms? Tell me about it.