The Shift to Digital: Why Hotels are Embracing Apple Wallet Keys

If you’re using keycards at your hotel, and things are going pretty well, why would you consider making the switch to digital keys? Hotels around the world are increasingly adopting digital room keys for three “key” reasons:

• Guest Convenience: Remember all those times guests came back to the front desk shortly after check-in because their key didn’t work? One big driver to switch to digital keys is a smoother check-in process and a better guest experience. With a digital key that can be added to a guest’s Apple Wallet, your front desk staff doesn’t have to worry about making physical keys during check-in, which not only simplifies a guest’s arrival experience, but it also opens possibilities for fully contactless check-in, since guests don’t necessarily need to visit the front desk to gain access to their digital key.

• Operational Efficiency: Along those lines, reducing physical keycards from your operations will remove a lot of headache for your front desk staff. Rather than focusing on tasks like making keys, front desk agents can shift their attention to delivering more personalized service during check-in and the remainder of a guest’s stay.

• Sustainability: For eco-minded hotels, doing away with plastic keycards also has an environmental benefit. Digital keys don’t generate waste the way physical keycards do, since many guests end up throwing their plastic keycard in the garbage after their stay.

Key Features of Apple Wallet Hotel Keys

What else should you know about digital room keys, besides the fact that they’re stored in the cloud? A few notable features make Apple Wallet hotel keys even more secure and reliable than their physical predecessors.

• Express Mode: For some guests, pulling out their phone and finding the digital key in their Apple Wallet might seem just as tedious as pulling out their actual wallet and grabbing a keycard. But with Express Mode, it’s not necessary to open up the digital key on your device. In fact, a guest doesn’t even need to wake or unlock their device to unlock their door with the digital key.

• Power Reserve: Your guests might wonder, what happens if my phone dies? How will I get into my room? Thanks to the Power Reserve feature on iPhone and Apple Watch, your guests’ Apple Wallet keys will continue to be functional despite low (or fully drained!) battery.   If a guest’s iPhone needs a charge, their room key in Apple Wallet will still work for up to five hours with Power Reserve.

• Security and Privacy: Apple Wallet has robust security measures since it’s primarily used to store digital versions of your credit and debit cards. Digital room keys are even more secure than physical keycards because it’s much harder for them to get misplaced or stolen. If a guest loses their iPhone or Apple Watch, they can take advantage of the Find My feature to locate it – something you definitely can’t do with a plastic keycard!

• Seamless Sharing: Families and groups will appreciate the streamlined sharing feature within Apple Wallet that allows them to share their digital keys with any recipient in just a few taps. Beyond sharing, guests can control permissions and even revoke access to a shared digital key from their own Apple Wallet.

Case Study: dormakaba’s Room Key in Apple Wallet

One digital key vendor, dormakaba, is at the forefront of innovation in access technology. By supporting an integration with Apple Wallet, dormakaba’s product offers a valuable feature that some other digital key vendors don’t offer. This means that hoteliers that leverage dormakaba’s digital key product can give their guests one of the best access experiences on the market, utilizing the full functionality of Apple Wallet, with features like Express Mode and Power Reserve.

But it’s not all about functionality; another reason dormakaba leads the way is that their team offers hands-on implementation support to help hoteliers get up and running on their platform. Their hospitality experts will make sure you’re set up for success. In addition, the dormakaba team is continually working on new features. In the pipeline right now is the ability for guests to provision their digital keys directly to their Apple Wallet without going through a loyalty app.

Benefits for Hotel Owners

Now that you understand how digital keys work, let’s explore the benefits you can realize when you make the switch from physical keys to digital keys. The first benefit, and the most compelling to many hotel owners, is cost savings. Although there is an initial investment to adopting digital keys, which might include replacing the locks on your guestroom doors, digital keys are often less expensive than physical keys in the long run.

Digital keys can also set your guest experience apart. Not only are digital keys more efficient for your staff to manage, but they’re more convenient for guests to use and can lead to improvement in your guest review score and repeat guest rate – helping to drive loyalty. Digital keys can also be a point of differentiation between your hotel and your compset. If your hotel positions itself as modern and eco-friendly, using digital keys is a great way to embody your brand values with a cutting-edge feature that your competitors might not offer.

Meeting Shifting Guest Preferences

Guest preferences are shifting, and guests increasingly want a more efficient check-in experience, a more sustainable stay, and a more convenient way to get into their rooms. Digital keys are a great way to satisfy all of these needs while also making operations more efficient for your staff. Moving your room keys to the cloud with Apple Wallet can help you achieve better guest review scores and save on operational expenses too. As more and more hotels make the switch to digital keys, you’ll want to start searching for the right digital key solution for your hotel today.

This article was created collaboratively by dormakaba and Hotel Tech Report