Photo courtesy of Hilton Worldwide
Hilton Worldwide announced last week that it would be allowing guests to access their rooms via their smartphone at select brands in late spring of 2015.
Hilton, which already allows for Hilton HHonors members to check in and choose their exact room through the HHonors app at five of its U.S. brands, has gone a step farther now. Simply hold your smartphone up to the door lock and your room unlocks.
It's an extension of travelers using technology more and demanding an easier check-in these days.
In fact, the success of Hilton's room selection option was one of the reasons why Hilton decided to move forward with mobile access to guest rooms. Since the launch of room selection in July, more than one-third of eligible guests have already used the service, and more than 90 percent said they were either "satisfied" or "extremely satisfied" with the option and would use it again, via guest surveys.
"Given the success we've had with it, this is really the next step," said Dustin Bomar, vice president of digital acquisition at Hilton Worldwide. "If guests want the ability to be able to walk straight to their rooms without going to the front desk, we want them to have that capability."
"It's us providing the guests the opportunity for choice in their stay and how they want to experience the hotel with us," he added. "We want them to have choice and control to make it whatever kind of stay they want it to be."
Hilton will begin pilot testing mobile room access at 10 U.S. properties in early 2015. The service will be enabled at all U.S. properties at Conrad Hotels & Resorts shortly after testing. Rollout will continue across the U.S. properties of Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts and Canopy by Hilton starting in summer 2015. Hilton plans to deploy the technology at 11 of its global brands by the end of 2016.
For both hospitality companies and guests, technology has become vital.
"It's critical to us," Bomar said. "We're making huge (investments) on digital from a consumer experience standpoint. We want people to be able to interact with the hotel any way they want to through any of the digital channels we have available to them. We're really giving unprecedented access to the hotel and to customizing their stay."
Bomar said Hilton Worldwide has invested more than $500 million over the past seven years in technology, allowing the company "to really set the stage for what we're rolling out with now."
And while having the capability to deliver such a service is something in itself, the fact that Hilton can eventually offer mobile key entry across such a broad portfolio really has the company excited.
"To be able to do these things at scale took a lot of work and a significant amount of investment, but it's definitely paying off now and it's been really well received," Bomar said.
In addition to allowing guests to enter their doors via a smartphone soon, Hilton will also allow for mobile check-in and room selection globally at more than 4,100 properties by the end of November, one month ahead of schedule.
Frequent travelers and Hilton HHonors members like Bomar are welcoming the developments with open arms.
"When straight-to-room (mobile entry) starts rolling out, that's going to be a game-changer for sure," Bomar said. "That's me talking from a frequent traveler standpoint."
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