ASSA ABLOY: Mobile Experience Is What Makes Hotels Memorable

Safety and convenience are critical factors when choosing holiday or business travel accommodation. Putting smartphones at the heart of the experience can maximize both. Thankfully, a wireless, cost-efficient upgrade to digital door security will help almost any hotel or rental property deliver this – and stand out from their competition.

By: Thomas Schulz, Director & Head of Marketing DAS EMEIA, ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions EMEIA

Keys have been part of hotel management for so long that it’s easy to overlook the significant workload they create for both staff and guests. While they are away from home, this new generation of travelers prefers hassle-free arrivals and a seamless stay. At the same time, hotel staff seek smarter working and property managers target improved financial performance. A mobile guest experience, with flexible digital access at its core, can provide it all.

According to EHL Business School, “Mobile apps are enabling guests to access services and amenities conveniently, from self-check-in kiosks to digital front desks, and many hospitality businesses are adopting a staff-less or minimal-contact model to improve efficiency and guest satisfaction.” In hospitality, just as in so many other areas of life, the mobile is at the core of a seamless experience. The smartphone is already an essential travel companion – a means to communicate, a boarding pass, a payment card, a map, and much more. It is logical, then, that it also becomes the room key.

“This way we offer a better service to the customer because they don’t have to queue at reception,”

Harpazul’s Roi Casal.

Mobile Digital Access Custom-Designed for the Hospitality Sector

TESA Hotel is part of a suite of connected Digital Access Solutions from ASSA ABLOY and custom-designed for hospitality accommodation. This flexible access management solution unifies lock hardware and software in one system. The product range includes robust locks in multiple configurations and in-room devices, all with a broad choice of contemporary aesthetics. Battery-powered and wireless, they come in multiple finishes and designs.

Guests unlock their rooms and common areas with mobile keys on their smartphones instead of mechanical keys. Mobile keys transform the guest experience by reducing or eliminating queues at the reception desk for check-in or check-out. For managers, switching to mobile keys cuts the hassle and expense of replacing locks when a physical key goes missing. It is simpler and almost cost-free to issue a new one. Mobile keys also contribute to efforts to reduce single-use plastics. With real-time, remote control over all doors, staff can react instantly to any on-site incident, keeping guests safe and satisfied during their stay.

TESA Hotel offers this mobile key solution via the Openow app. Openow’s road-tested functionality – and the chance to personalize it with a hotel brand – brings mobile keys within reach for any property, not just global brands with multimillion-dollar technology budgets. Beyond guestroom doors, common areas, parking, the spa, or a gym may be unlocked by app. Travelers download the app and register via email. Their room assignment and virtual key arrive automatically. With a few clicks in TESA’s intuitive management software, staff can amend or cancel key validity – to offer a late check-out time remotely, for example.

Of course, the TESA Hotel solution also gives hotel managers the choice of traditional card and tag RFID credentials or a check-in by PIN function, which minimizes the need for 24/7 staffing. System management for each configuration of TESA Hotel is intuitive, with minimal training needed. Any staff member who handles a multitude of keys for rooms, common areas, and services will find TESA Hotel a breeze. It saves them hours of admin time.

Contactless check-in and mobile keys are the heart of hotels’ new seamless guest experience

Boosting Convenience at Hotels and Holiday Rentals

Hotels and holiday rentals increasingly see digitalization as part of their 21st-century guest experience. To help deliver the benefits, TESA Hotel solutions have upgraded the guest experience at hotels, holiday apartments, campsites, and farm-stays worldwide.

For example, when Hotel Flint in Austria renovated 19th-century Villa Weiss and added a 21st-century structure, they sought an intelligent access solution that would both impress aesthetically and help staff provide services more effectively. They needed a flexible system administration to keep them in control – even remotely – and which would future-proof door security and services. The Flint chose TESA Wireless Online access management with 80 TESA i-minimal electromechanical door locks, wall readers, and fire-certified TESA i-max locks. This complete, future-proof technology solution is equally suited to a historic building as to a contemporary structure. Digital door devices enable Flint to offer its guests self-service check-in and room access via smartphone.

Harpazul, a new holiday apartment complex in Spain, chose a different TESA solution. The same stylish, wire-free digital locks now secure its main access points, recreation areas, and individual apartments. However, they selected the Check-In by PIN solution to make late arrivals stress-free. Booking confirmation and follow-up messages provide each party with a unique PIN to enter Harpazul, move through common areas, and access their room.

“This way we offer a better service to the customer because they don’t have to queue at reception,” says Harpazul’s Roi Casal. “It is as easy as sending the PIN via email.” Their TESA devices are fully compatible with card and smartphone unlocking, should Harpazul introduce these options in the future.

“Freed from reception queues and time-consuming key handling, staff can really make a difference with service,” says Iñigo Aldalur, TESA Hospitality Sales Manager at ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions EMEIA. “This is the beauty of the TESA Hotel digital and mobile solution: It enables hotel managers to focus efforts fully on keeping guests happy, which means they come back again – and tell all their friends, too.”