Hyatt has become the first hotel chain to offer room keys through Apple Wallet, on iPhone and Apple Watch. This new feature allows guests to open their room with their smartphone or connected watch. For now, just half a dozen establishments are experimenting with this technology in the United States, before it rolls out countrywide.
Last spring, during its most recent developers conference (WWDC), Apple announced that it should soon be possible to unlock your hotel room door with your iPhone. Now this has become a reality, thanks to this first collaboration with Hyatt.
And the whole process is extremely easy for users. From the World of Hyatt mobile app, guests can add their room key to Apple Wallet as soon as they make a reservation. If you're fuzzy about Apple Wallet, it's an iOS application that allows you to group together various loyalty cards, coupons, tickets and so forth. Note that this operation requires an iPhone running iOS 15 or an Apple Watch running watchOS 8.
Once the guest is checked in and the room is ready, the room key is immediately activated in Apple Wallet and can be used from there at any time. At no time can it be activated without the guest being checked in and assigned a room. From then on, all the guest has to do is bring their iPhone (or Apple Watch) close to the door lock and it will open thanks to contactless technology (NFC). The key will then be deactivated when the guest leaves the hotel.
The idea is to be able to provide access to a guest's room without a physical key, in a secure way, but also to provide access to various common areas, usually accessible via a dedicated pass, such as gyms, swimming pools or even elevators.
According to Hyatt, this solution is also a guarantee of security and privacy. In the future this technology should be available at all Hyatt properties worldwide.
