Now your Apple Watch can unlock your hotel room

Hyatt is the first hotel group to add digital room keys to the Apple Wallet on smartphones and watches.

By David Flynn, December 9 2021
Now your Apple Watch can unlock your hotel room

Have you ever walked out of your hotel room but left the room key behind? Of course you have. It probably happened when you were in a rush, or in a caffeine-deprived state – perhaps both.

That's set to become a thing of the past, at least at a handful of Hyatt properties, as the hotel group begins the rollout of 'contactless key technology' baked into the Apple Wallet app of iPhones and Apple Watches.

As long as you're also a member of the World of Hyatt loyalty program, a swipe of your iPhone or Apple Watch will unlock not only your room but key card-protected common areas like elevators, swimming pools and gyms.

It's an advance on the hotel app-based smart keys already offered by the likes of Hyatt and Hilton, and is now available at six US properties: the Hyatt Regency Long Beach, Hyatt Centric Key West Resort & Spa, Hyatt House Chicago/West Loop-Fulton Market, Hyatt House Dallas/Richardson, Hyatt Place Fremont/Silicon Valley, and the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort.

Julia Vander Ploeg, Hyatt's Senior Vice President and Global Head of Digital and Technology, describes the Apple Wallet room keys as "an easy, convenient and secure room key option for our guests when they travel."

"Many consumer technologies evolve through a 'tipping point' that drives a change in adoption. We believe our collaboration with Apple on this new approach to room keys in Apple Wallet can be exactly that."

From within the World of Hyatt app, members can add their room key to Apple Wallet once their reservation is complete.

The Apple Wallet room key will be updated to let them know when it's time for check-in, with the door unlocked by holding their device near the door's NFC-enabled lock.

Using Apple Wallet's Express Mode, guests won't even need to unlock their device to use their digital key – and if their device needs to be charged, they can still use it to unlock their room for up to five hours thanks to automatic Power Reserve.

If a guest needs to access late checkout, extend their stay or even change rooms, the hotel can update the Apple Wallet room key remotely, so there's no need to visit the front desk to obtain a new key or have the existing one re-coded.

11 Dec 2020

Total posts 2

Well, Hyatt is not the first but currently possibly is the only chain. SPG did this in 2015. 

04/29/2015 Starwood Preferred Guest App for Apple Watch Enables Keyless Entry

Apple Watch lets you order an Uber, check into your flight, make a dinner reservation and now for the first time ever you can open your hotel room door all with the flick of the wrist. Starting today, members of Starwood Preferred Guest® (SPG®), the award-winning loyalty program from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. have instant access to the #spglife thanks to the SPG App for Apple Watch.

07 May 2015

Total posts 41

I think the difference here is that Hyatt puts its 'digital room key' inside the Apple Wallet, whereas SPG used its own app, same approach as Hilton does.


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