Skip to main content

Smart Phones as Room Keys

Image
By
Starwood introduced a “Smart Check-In” pilot program in February 2010, allowing selected Starwood Preferred Guests (SPG) to skip the Front Desk and use their SPG cards as room keys. This pilot program provides guests an option of skipping the Front Desk during their stay. Today, InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) introduced a similar pilot program at the Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago O’Hare and the Holiday Inn Express downtown Houston. In these two locations, guests may choose to use their smart phones as room keys (as demonstrated in the embedded video). Here is how it works:

• Guests opt to participate in the program by registering through e-mail or at the Front Desk.
• On the day of arrival, the room number as well as a secured link will be sent to the registered guests’ smart phones via text messages.
• Guests may then open the door with the secured link.

Even though IHG plans to introduce this “mobile-key” concept to more properties, guests may still choose between the smart-phone key and the traditional keycard options. As a manager, how do you evaluate this smart phone practice as a company’s mobile strategy? As a customer, how do you use your smart phones when you travel?

References:
U.S.A. Today: http://tinyurl.com/linchikwok09202010
The embedded video was brought to us via http://innovationcenter.ihg.com/
Labels:

Comments

  1. Sara HwangSeptember 21, 2010 at 6:23 PM

    I like the idea of using ones mobile as a room key. The only idea I do not like is skipping the front desk and knowing/ talking to the workers (guest interactions). In some ways I feel less of a security at times if I was a worker in some unexplainable. But I think it is a great idea of not going through the hassle to wait at the front desk and check in. Especially if you are coming in late or in a rush.

    HPM 321
    Sara Hwang

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Luxury vs. Millennials and Their Technology: The Ritz-Carlton (By Julia Shorr)

By
Embodying the finest luxury experience, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC has been established since 1983. In 1998, Marriott International purchased the brand offering it more opportunity for growth while being independently owned and operated. They are known for their enhanced service level as the motto states, “Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen”. The luxury brand now carries 97 hotels and resorts internationally and is attempting to keep the aspects of luxury while keeping up with the trends of the technologically improving generations. The Varying Demographics of the Target Market The Ritz-Carlton’s typical target market includes: business executives, corporate, leisure travelers, typically middle-aged persons and elders, and families from the upper and upper-middle class section of society .   This infers a large range of types of travelers in which all are similar in that they are not opposed to spending extra for the luxurious ambiance. However, with
1 comment
Read more

The challenges of SB 93 (California Senate Bill No. 93) will impose on the employers and their human resource management team (by Brittany Schaffer)

By
The COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020, and it has caused massive changes within a short period of time. One of the most rememberable effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was that businesses had to come to a complete halt, forcing them to lay off employees. California's unemployment rates went up.  Now that the stay-at-home orders have lifted, people start to come out. Businesses are now reopening, looking to rehire their laid-off employees. Before the pandemic, employers had the option of recalling only a certain number of laid-off employees they would want to rehire based on employees' job performance. That option had been changed after Governor Gavin Newsome signed into law - Senate Bill 93, which went into effect on April 16th, 2021. The California Senate Bill No. 93 (SB 93) According to SB 93, companies in specific industries, mainly the hospitality industry, have the obligation to provide job opportunities in written form to qualified employees being laid off due to COVI
Post a Comment
Read more

Want to win in future competitions? Invest in data-driven decisions now

By
Speaking of the permanent changes in the hospitality industry, many people will probably agree that demands for “bleisure”/“work-from-anywhere” travel and contactless self-service will continue to grow in the near future. Not everyone, however, realizes that data-driven decisions will become a key driver for growth in the industry, which has already affected how we do business now.   Automatic service enables businesses to capture more operational and consumer data for business decisions   One advantage of using automatic service comes from its ability to spontaneously capture and store real-time operational and consumer data for additional analysis. In the old-time when businesses still relied on workers to serve customers, operational data were collected usually through careful book-keeping, documentations, and observations; consumer data through market research were often limited to their perceptions, behavioral intentions, or past experience.     Now that automatic service is provi
Post a Comment
Read more