Locks and Security News: your weekly locks and security industry newsletter
24th April 2024 Issue no. 702
Your industry news - first
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The death of the hotel room key
NT Security, one of the UK's leading access and CCTV solution providers, specialising in delivering bespoke solutions to the hospitality and educational industries is among the first to pioneer new technology making the hotel key a thing of the past.
In future, guests will be able to unlock their doors by simply using an app on their mobile phones. This means the writing is on the wall for hotel keys which have for so long been the bane of guests' lives.
The Bluetooth-based cloud technology is remarkably simple, allowing guests to link their mobiles to the locking device of their individual hotel room. When they are due to check out, the hotel can automatically deactivate the locking system saving the headache of trying to remind guests to return their keys before departure.
The technology has already been trialled with both Hilton and Village hotels who are due to roll out the system across the country. Other case studies include luxury London hotels Brown's and The Athenaeum, where NT Security has provided 34 apartments with audio video entry systems, alarms for back of house offices and panic alarms for long term guests.
Andy Purvis, boss of NT Security who is implementing the S2R (Straight to Room) Bluetooth technology said: "This simple system heralds the death of the hotel room key - the fantastic thing about Bluetooth is that every phone nowadays has it. In the past, guests hated the bulky room keys which they had to remember to return to reception before going home.'
'Hotels hated having to constantly pay to replace keys that had gone missing. Then the credit-card-style keys were equally unpopular with guests because they were easy to lose and would often stop working if they rubbed up against mobile phones. Now, guests are able to unlock their doors via their mobile phones using technology that is, if anything, even more secure than the traditional hotel keys.'
'There is huge interest from both national and international hotel chains in this new system and it won't be long before the traditional hotel key is a thing of the past."
Andy, boss of NT Security, will unveil the new technology at SLEEP: The Hotel Design Event. 22 - 23 November, The Business Design Centre, London
NT Security: Stand no. G32
30th November 2016