The Future is Here: Mobile Check-In & Digital Keyless Entry for Hotels are Reality

As technology continues to improve many routine processes, we all look forward to improvements that make life easier and experiences more enjoyable when it comes to traveling. Travelers for business and leisure alike dread the antiquated check-in process at hotels. While there have been small steps to improve this, it has remained a tedious, unpleasant experience that feels like a never ending series of questions with demands for ID’s, credit cards that ends in finally obtaining your key. Only to find later this key does not work, is demagnetized, or you come to misplace it.

Hotels today are making big efforts to move away from tasks like this, and provide more convenient processes for their guests. This is especially true in light of new competition from AirBNB, HomeAway and VRBO, which offer more travel options than ever before.

Mobile check-in and digital keyless entry are slowly beginning to transform how guests check-in and customer satisfaction ratings are climbing and expected to soar as this takes hold. Case in point, a recent JD Power study on hotel satisfaction found that while only 3% of guests take advantage of online or mobile check-in, check-in/check-out satisfaction is highest among these guests. And, those mobile check in/out adoption numbers are expected to spike in coming years.

Acuant recently partnered with OpenKey, the industry standard for universal mobile key technology, to provide mobile key access to hotel guests. With the OpenKey app, hotel employees can easily generate and manage mobile keys for their guests. All guests need to do is download the app onto their smartphones. Then they can use their mobile devices to check-in securely and access their rooms without having to visit the front desk. Independent hotels across the country have implemented OpenKey’s digital keyless entry solution with confidence in the security of the underlying Acuant technology.

Acuant’s ID verification capabilities allow guests to check-in securely through a mobile device, take away the paperwork and credential handling and make the check-in experience a seamless one. The OpenKey app notifies hotel employees when a guest has checked in and Acuant’s ID authentication guarantees that only verified guests will have access to their rooms, which allows for convenience without sacrificing security. Guests can also use their smartphones to access hotel amenities such as pools, spas and fitness centers, where a room key would be cumbersome.

By relying on better technology, hotel staff will spend less time at the front desk and more time creating personalized guest services. Guests will feel empowered and enjoy the freedom of self-service check-in and digital keys. No lines, no paperwork, no keys to lose- traveling just became a lot more pleasurable!