Your phone is now your hotel key. Well, could be your hotel key. Holiday Inn will trial new software for the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android that will let you use your phone to open your hotel door. Even better: you can use the software to check out without having to futz around at the check-in desk. Convenient.
The trail begins later next month in two hotels, the Holiday Inn Chicago O’Hare Rosemont and the Holiday Inn Express Houston Downtown Convention Center. The trial will last for 60 days, and if all goes well, the program could be expanded across the country.
Incidentally, using your smartphone as your key would help eliminate the problem of room keys becoming de-magnitized. That happened to me once after I left my phone and my hotel key in the same pocket. “Well this is peculiar, the key doesn’t work anymore. I sure hope the front desk will be able to help.” And they did, and I was thankful.
A quick story, yes.