This Article is From Jul 30, 2014

Smartphones to Replace Room Keys at Hilton Hotels

Smartphones to Replace Room Keys at Hilton Hotels
New York: Forget high-tech credit-card like hotel keys. By the end of 2015, guests at Hilton hotels across the world will be able to access rooms with their smartphones.

The idea moves around the ability to use a mobile device to check in and choose a specific room based on a hotel's digital floor plan.

This will also help guests who may lose key cards or leave them in the room.

"Hilton Worldwide will begin installing the technology required to let phones unlock doors, letting guests skip the usual line-waiting and check-in process and head straight for their rooms," an announcement read.

"We have spent the past few years testing a number of different options to make this vision a reality. Now we are developing technology that is safe and reliable for our guests to use and cost-effective for our hotels to install," Christopher J. Nassetta, president and chief executive officer of Hilton Worldwide, was quoted as saying.

The technology will work through the Hilton "HHonors" app for iOS and Android.

Information on how the smartphone keys will work is vague at best.

Hilton expects to have the smartphone room keys in the US by the end of 2015 and globally by end of 2016, the announcement added.
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