Skift Take
Near-field communication tech is already being used by companies such as Zipcar to unlock its rental cars so why not hotel guest room doors. HotelTonight is on its way to making that happen.
HotelTonight says it is talking with several global hotel chains about launching a feature where its customers would be able to unlock their guest rooms with their Android devices.
The feature, which would eliminate the need for metal keys or keycards, would use near-field communication technology and the Brivo Labs SAM API. The feature under discussion would only be available for Android devices.
Another new HotelTonight feature, Express Check-in, is already been piloted with “select hotels” using the HotelTonight iPhone app, HotelTonight says.
The feature enables customers of the same-day hotel-booking app to bypass registration at the hotel front desk.
“HotelTonight customers can check in to their room with just two taps on the app,” the startup states. “They will be notified widen their room is ready, and can go straight to the front desk to pick up keys and head to the room.”
Yes, the iPhone app would still require standard keys and wouldn’t have keyless entry.
HotelTonight, with its nearly $108 million in funding, demonstrated the two new features at the Google I/O developers’ conference in San Francisco June 25.
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Tags: hotels, hoteltonight, nfc
Photo credit: HotelTonight plans a keyless entry feature for hotel guest rooms on its Android app. HotelTonight