Redefining the way business travellers arrive at hotels and check in to their rooms in India, Starwood Hotels & Resorts has introduced “keyless” entry, allowing guests to bypass the front desk, go directly to their rooms and unlock them with their smartphones.

Introduced in 10 properties last year across three of its brands – Aloft, W and Element — beginning with the US and followed by Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong and Doha, India is the sixth global location for the rollout of keyless entry and will make its debut at Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Business Park on Wednesday.

“India has the highest mobile phone user base in the world and Indians are savvy travellers. With ‘Keyless’, we are offering the convenience of one less thing to carry on their person,” Stephen Ho, President, Asia Pacific, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc, told BusinessLine .

“It’s a very secure service, as there are several levels of security, including the guest’s own password for his smartphone and a registration process to enable keyless on his smartphone. If he loses his smartphone, we can immediately stop access to the room.”

How Keyless works

SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) members who are part of Starwood’s loyalty programme must register their phone once through the SPG app available on iOS 4S onwards and Android KitKat and Lollipop.

After booking a reservation at a keyless hotel and around 24 hours before arrival, SPG members are invited to opt in to SPG Keyless. Guests will receive a push notification noting that they are checked in and the SPG app will update the room number and Bluetooth key when the room is ready. The guest can directly go to the room, enable Bluetooth on his/her phone and hold the smartphone to the door lock, until a solid green light appears, to enter the room.

“SPG Keyless alleviates a perennial pain point for travellers and also transforms the first interaction with our guest from one that is transactional to something more personal. This is just the beginning, because through mobile, we have the opportunity to marry high tech and high touch to transform the hotel experience in many exciting ways. We will roll out Keyless in all our new Aloft and W properties which are in the pipeline,” said Dilip Puri, Managing Director, India and Regional VP South Asia, Starwood Hotels.

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