Accor has announced the rollout of its new digital room key technology.
Accor has been piloting the Accor Key solution at selected hotels in Europe, North America and Asia, allowing guests to receive their room key through the Accor digital key app when arriving at their hotel.
The key also provides access to meeting rooms where appropriate, as well as to floors via lifts, and is deactivated automatically when the guest departs.
The group says that the service will be available in all new Accor hotels opening this year, and it intends to rollout the technology to 500 properties by the end of the year, and at least 50% of its portfolio within the next 5 years.
“We always strive to adopt technology which can improve the overall guest experience. Guests increasingly seek contact-light travel and hotel experiences. Therefore, the easy to operate and highly practical application will provide a streamlined process for our guests.”
said Floor Bleeker, Chief Information Officer, Accor.
Accor is partnering with cloud-based mobile key and access management tool Stay My Way for its digital key service.
The firm’s founder Faustino Fernandez said that a recent Deloitte study showed that “60% of travellers are more likely to stay at a hotel that allowed contactless check-in and the ability to use a smartphone as a room key – 16% even say it’s a ‘must have’”.
Faustino added that demand for the technology “is even higher for frequent travellers”.