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Apr 12, 2001
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Hilton Worldwide, a company that operates thousands of hotels around the globe, today announced plans to roll out new mobile-based check-in and room selection tools, as well as digital smartphone-based room keys.

Hilton guests will be able to select their rooms online using their smartphones, which will be able to display floor plans for each available room. Guests will also be able to check-in/check-out using their smartphones, as well as purchase upgrades and make special requests for item deliveries.

hilton.jpg
Room selection: At 6 a.m. the day before a booked stay, Hilton HHonors members can sign into their account via their mobile device, tablet or computer to check-in and choose their preferred room through floor plan maps or lists populated from the hotel's available inventory. Photos of rooms are also available to help with their selection. Hilton's digital lobby function is updated in real-time, so guests no longer have to wait until they are physically in the hotel lobby to be assigned a room.
While Hilton's new service is limited to check-ins and room selection at the current time, next year the hotel chain plans to allow guests to unlock their hotel rooms with their smartphones.

Hilton is planning to roll out its digital enhancements to select hotels during the summer and the fall, and by the end of 2014, smartphone-based check-ins and room selection will be available for more than 650,000 rooms across 4,000 hotels. The technology that allows smartphones to be used as room keys will begin rolling out in 2015, with wide availability in 2016.

Hilton is not the first hotel chain to begin allowing guests to enter their hotel rooms with their smartphones, as Starwood Hotels & Resorts implemented a pilot program to test the technology earlier this year. Hilton's eventual rollout will be much larger, however, and it also includes the aforementioned tools for personalized room selections and easy check-ins.

Article Link: Hilton to Adopt Digital Check-In, Smartphone-Based Room Keys Worldwide
 

bradl

macrumors 603
Jun 16, 2008
5,917
17,396
How soon will this be universal? I imagine other hoteliers making this move as well

I was thinking the same thing, especially if this spreads down to other Hilton properties (Garden Inn, DoubleTree, Hampton Inn/Suites). It would be nice if they did.

BL.
 

erinsarah

macrumors 6502
Mar 17, 2011
467
666
Finally

At long last, I can finally reserve that room right above the pool and sandwiched between the elevator motor and the ice machine, so that the chlorine smell and noise pollution can rock me to sleep in those heavenly beds.

But in all seriousness, since there are obviously plans behind the scenes to collect data off this process, it would be nice if the app could somehow warn the cleaning crew that the inhabitants of the room are IN the room before they knock.
 

longofest

Editor emeritus
Jul 10, 2003
2,924
1,682
Falls Church, VA
How does it work? Through Bluetooth? I feel like this would be a good use for NFC.

It works via Bluetooth LE. It could be done via NFC, but NFC isn't deployed nearly as ubiquitously as Bluetooth LE (Bluetooth LE is on every iPhone since the 4S, as well as every Galaxy since S3).
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,541
6,027
Is it still possible top open the door with a normal key?

No. They're planning to improve the experience for their valued customers by kicking out everyone with Android, Windows, BlackBerry, and other non-iOS devices (or no devices at all).
 

BruiserB

macrumors 68000
Aug 9, 2008
1,728
701
I'm guessing it just works through wifi/cell connection to interface to the global Hilton computer which is connected to each property and can send a signal to open the room? That would be the easiest way to implement without having to put bluetooth or NFC sensors on each door handle and require a complete infrastructure upgrade. I suppose they could somehow check with location services to make sure you are at least near the property, so you can't open your room from 5 miles away or something.

Anything else would require a lot of changes that take both time and money, so I couldn't see it rolling out quickly. Plus there would be issues with compatibility with too many cell phones as BTLE and NFC aren't universal yet.
 
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RenoG

macrumors 65816
Oct 7, 2010
1,275
59
That's nice as an option however for security reasons I'm not to keen on this ambitious endeavor for this stuff to controlled remotely by apps. This whole future move to control everything by phone concerns me to honest.
 

longofest

Editor emeritus
Jul 10, 2003
2,924
1,682
Falls Church, VA
Plus there would be issues with compatibility with too many cell phones as BTLE and NFC aren't universal yet.

You should really separate those two.

Bluetooth LE has excellent market penetration. It has been available on any iPhone introduced in the past 3 years. That is almost 50% longer than many western counties' replacement cycles for smart phones.

NFC does suffer from lack of market penetration. While it has had good penetration by Samsung devices, no iOS device has yet supported NFC.
 

fluchtpunkt

macrumors member
Aug 16, 2013
92
45
I'm guessing it just works through wifi/cell connection to interface to the global Hilton computer which is connected to each property and can send a signal to open the room? That would be the easiest way to implement without having to put bluetooth or NFC sensors on each door handle and require a complete infrastructure upgrade.

Most likely they will combine both. iBeacon to figure out that you are next to the door, and Internet via WiFi/Cellular to unlock the door.

Doesn't need upgraded locks, hotel locks have remote unlock ability already. Just stick a $10 iBeacon next to each door. Doesn't even have to be one iBeacon per door. But with stuff like iBeacon you can wake up the app that is needed to unlock the door.

And you don't have to care for guests without BT LE enabled smartphones. They can still use key cards. In a year or two all mid-class and up smartphones will come with BT LE.

That's nice as an option however for security reasons I'm not to keen on this ambitious endeavor for this stuff to controlled remotely by apps. This whole future move to control everything by phone concerns me to honest.

From a security standpoint not much will change. Nowadays most locks for hotel rooms are remote controlled via a server anyway.
 

BruiserB

macrumors 68000
Aug 9, 2008
1,728
701
You should really separate those two.

Bluetooth LE has excellent market penetration. It has been available on any iPhone introduced in the past 3 years. That is almost 50% longer than many western counties' replacement cycles for smart phones.

NFC does suffer from lack of market penetration. While it has had good penetration by Samsung devices, no iOS device has yet supported NFC.

I was under the impression the BTLE was not that widely available in Android devices until recently. I agree most iPhones have it.
 

jclo

Managing Editor
Staff member
Dec 7, 2012
1,968
4,296
I was thinking the same thing, especially if this spreads down to other Hilton properties (Garden Inn, DoubleTree, Hampton Inn/Suites). It would be nice if they did.

BL.

This will indeed include other Hilton properties.
 
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