Google Glass App Identifies Hotel Guests Upon Arrival

What if the hotel check-in staff during your next trip knew who you were before you said a single word?

That’s what Itesso, a cloud-native hospitality tech provider, hopes to create with its new Google Glass-assisted check-in solution.

Hotel check-in staff would wear Google Glass, which would compare a Glass photo taken in real-time with a publicly available photo of the individual. The photo could come from the guest’s loyalty profile or sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Once the guest’s identity is confirmed by the staff member, a single voice command would complete the check-in process.

The proof of concept solution is still in development and set to be revealed at the upcoming hospitality tech show HITEC.

"Itesso has adapted Google Glass to finally offer functionality that has long been sought after: the ability to recognize guests before they even have the opportunity to reveal their name," says Itesso chairman Bas Blommaart.

Itesso could run into some trouble in should it try to get the app approved. According to Google Glass developer guidelines, apps can not "immediately present personal information identifying anyone other than the user, including use cases such as facial recognition and voice print. "

Other hospitality companies leading the way in Google Glass innovation include Destina, which claims to have launched first hotel booking app for Google Glass; TripIt, whose Google Glass app allows users to review their travel reservations; and Starwood, which enables guests to now search hotels via Glass.