technology

What’s it like going keyless in Aloft Hotel

BY JULIA YEOW, NEWS EDITOR
November 16, 2015

The SPG Keyless feature really adds to the overall ease of staying at selected SPG hotels, as it removes the hassle of having to worry about your keycard when on holiday or business trips. – Pic courtesy of Starwood hotels, November 16, 2015.I admit I was rather excited when I first heard about Starwood’s launch of their new keyless room access feature at Aloft KL Sentral, the first and only hotel to offer this service in Malaysia.

I’m one of those people who always somehow misplaces the room access card in the deep, dark hole disguised as my handbag, and the thought of not having to apologise profusely at a hotel reception desk for the umpteenth time was appealing to me.

I’ve also had one too many experiences of taking the lift all the way up to the 32nd floor of a hotel, tired and in bad need of a shower, only to find that the keycard for some mysterious reason, didn’t work.

I decided I had to try this new Bluetooth technology which enables guests to unlock their room doors at the wave of a smartphone, to see just how much of a difference it made in terms of convenience and ease.

In order to enjoy the keyless feature, hotel-goers must first register as a Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) via the SPG app on your smartphone.

It’s a fairly quick and simple process, and after booking a stay at the hotel of choice, users can then opt to go keyless via the same app.

In Malaysia, only Aloft KL Sentral offers the service, but you can find other hotels in the region here. 

Upon arrival at the hotel, we made a quick stop by the Front Desk for identification purposes. After that, details such as my room number and details of my stay were available at the swipe of my finger on my phone. I was told that in other countries, hotel guests can just walk straight up to their rooms once they’ve properly registered via the SPG App.

After a quick check-in, we made our way up to our room, opened up the SPG App on our phone and held it to the door lock in eager anticipation.

In a matter of seconds, the familiar whirl and click sound followed by the bright green light indicating that our door was now open.

Throughout my entire stay at the hotel, I made it a point to test the Keyless app out as much as possible.

I loved that I didn’t have to check and make sure I remembered to take my keycards along with me each time I left my room, and didn’t have to dig frantically in my pockets or bag each time I was about to re-enter.

I could go for breakfast, a swim in the pool and shopping at the adjoining NuSentral mall without having to bring anything more than my smartphone (and wallet). I didn’t face any technical problems either, and the lock to my room door opened with ease each and every time.

I was later informed that conventional room keycards with magnetic strips were extremely sensitive, which explained why the cards sometimes don’t work.

Of course, the main question that comes with such a feature was security. For that, each key is tied to a specific SPG number and the corresponding IMEI number, which is a unique identifier for each handphone. This means, each room can only be accessed by one registered smartphone.

If you lose your phone, or it dies on you during your stay, the front desk can cancel the key and issue a regular plastic card.

The SPG Keyless feature really does elevate a hotel experience, simply because it removes one extra thing to worry about while you’re on holiday or a business trip. The group is in the midst of upgrading the technology to introduce shared mobile room keys for a spouse or travel companion. – November 16, 2015.