Guests Use Cell Phones as Mobile Hotel Room Keys

Lost your hotel room key? At select InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) properties, guests now can use their cell phones as electronic room keys, or a “mobile-based front-desk bypass solution,” as coined by industry observers.

Guests who enroll in this optional MobileKey service (running on OpenWays technology) at Holiday Inn & Suites Chicago O’Hare or Holiday Inn Express - Houston Downtown can use their iPhone, Blackberry or Android smart phone as their room key.

How does it work?

Prior to arrival at a hotel, guests will receive a text message displaying their room number and unique link, which, when accessed, delivers an encrypted tone or “credential” to unlock the door. More specifically:

1. Upon arrival at the room, a guest simply dials a special MobileKey phone number (it will be provided via SMS/e-mail and will be posted at the hotel).
2. When the guest is validated, he or she will hear an audible key.
3. The guest simply holds the phone close to the special “Crypto Acoustic Credential” module on the top of the lock, and if the audible key is valid for that room at that time, the lock will open.

According to OpenWays, this method is highly secured as each encrypted sound produced becomes obsolete the moment it is used, making a fraudulent recording totally inefficient. Some guests may not believe that, so the traditional key-cards will still be available.

As reported at HospitalityNet, IHG has been wanting to test the “MobileKey” idea because of the enormous growth in the use of mobile technology, and because business travelers like the ease of bypassing the front desk, just like many do at a car-rental desk.

OpenWays sees potential application not just at hotels, but at universities, commercial properties, car rentals, residential homes and more.

As NetBanker’s Jim Bruene says, “When your phone becomes your Starbucks card, then your airline boarding pass, and now your hotel room key, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a mobile wallet, not only controlling your bank accounts, but also used at the point of sale for purchases.”

MobileKey is all about choice for hotel guests. Let’s just hope they don’t drop their “mobile-based front-desk bypass solution” in the pool.