As technology develops, accommodation providers have the opportunity to pave the way in guest convenience and streamlined guest experience. One of the exciting developments is Mobile Keys, and the recent announcement of Apple facilitating standard hotel keys through the Apple Wallet. At Altitude, we are always looking into exciting hospitality technology and how we can incorporate this to help properties best serve both guests and staff.
What are mobile keys?
Door lock mobile keys are very similar to the RFID door, a guest will open the app and then select to activate the key and tap their phone on the door lock. The lock at this point will initiate a BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) connection and exchange the encrypted key which is similar to what’s inside the RFID card.
Your existing doors can easily be upgraded to enable mobile key technology from many different lock providers.
What are the benefits of Mobile Keys?
At Altitude we believe its choice, but the multitude of benefits include: contactless check-in’s and access, no lost key cards, automatic key updates (for example when extending stay), secure, monitored access and much more. Modern hotel guests expect to be able to use mobile keys in some form.
What does Altitude do?
Altitude’s Guest App is a powerful tool for guests and staff, it saves time, makes check-in easy and more. We focus on helping operators elevate their guest experience, while enabling automation and simplification of back of house procedures.
Altitude Cloud integrates with the major key providers, these services provide the core systems for integrating into the mobile key solutions. Altitude already integrates with the following providers:
Altitude is also expanding our connected mobile key providers throughout 2022.
Do I need to download an app?
Yes, currently there is no way for a mobile device to enable the encryption (security) to activate a key via BLE without an app, there are a few different ways to enable this:
Altitude Guest App
As above, the Guest App connects the guest to their reservation and processes their full check-in to retrieve their mobile key.
Provider Key App
The standard Key App provided by the key provider, e.g. Assa Abloy mobile keys. These are branded as the provider but do not provide additional functionality.
What’s the future of mobile keys? In the industry and Altitude?
There is a lot coming up in the industry and within the Altitude suite.
Apple’s recent announcement included bringing mobile keys into their standard Apple Wallet, this means no app would need to be downloaded at all. This is the perfect use case for a property where a Guest App doesn’t make sense, or the hotel wants to provide guests with options – this is where Altitude excels: we provide the building blocks for smarter accommodation.
Altitude will enable hotel keys in the Apple mobile wallet (and Apple Watch) right after check-in from the Altitude Guest Web Portal, or when a Guest App user shares their keys to a fellow guest and can also be retrieved simply by scanning a QR code at a Kiosk after a check-in where a guest would like a mobile key.
Other cloud-based locks – that are connected to the internet – allow guests to unlock doors from afar, without an app and with a tap of a button. Altitude will be looking to integrate these into our portal and services.
Apple Wallet Hotel Keys are available later in the year and there is currently no information on what locks will support it yet. We will be sure to share more details when it becomes available via our newsletter and blog, sign up below!
