Innovation is the ultimate opportunity in capturing all the possibilities of mobile. Our tech-savvy guests manage most aspects of their life and travel from their smartphone and no longer want to keep track of or fumble with keycards. We’ve eliminated this pain point. Keyless entry enables guests to bypass the front desk and unlock their stay, all from their smartphone. As the recognized industry-leader in developing design-savvy and cohesive brands, and the launch of SPG Keyless echoes that same attention to brand ethos and clientele within our tech initiatives.

Starwood is the first to offer truly keyless check-in. Never has there been a system which allows guests to completely bypass the front desk and gain entry to their room.

An all-new, Bluetooth-enabled lock, designed to securely recognize and connect with a guest’s mobile device was created. We are not using an off-the-shelf software platform. We’ve created the software AND the hardware hand-in-hand with our partners. Additionally we took a strategic multi-platform approach, building a complete framework enabling future integrations with emerging technologies such as Apple Watch.

SPG Keyless keys employ a similar process as a card key, but instead of sending the key code to the encoder at the front desk is the key code is sent on a security backbone to the guest’s smartphone. Once there the phone application can open and send the keycard by Bluetooth to the lock, which opens the lock.

After booking a room through Starwood , SPG members are invited to opt into SPG Keyless and register their phone via the SPG App. Approximately 24 hours before arrival, the guest receives their room number and Bluetooth key delivered in-app.

SPG keyless is just the initial step to opening myriad new services via mobile, allowing your smartphone and SPG App to be the remote control for the guest’s individual Starwood experience. Apple Watch integration, multiple key assignment, room service, requests and meeting planning apps are on our list of future mobile innovations.

Digital technology is transforming every phase of hospitality – from finding a hotel, to checking in, to unlocking your door and personalizing your stay. As the middle class continues to rise and global travel increases, technology innovation will enable our properties to deliver a new range of personalized experiences in hotels from Boston to Brussels to Beijing. Starwood delivers on the wants and needs of the early adopter, hyper-mobile guests who use their smartphones for just about every aspect of their lives.

Starwood’s next frontier is fusing high-tech and high-touch in our hotels – empowering our associates with the technology they need to deliver on guests’ expectation. This type of innovation frees up hotel associates’ time, allowing them to engage with guests and transform the first interaction from transactional to personal.

A robust public relations campaign delivering more than 1.3 billion media impressions, nearly 1000 piece of media coverage accompanied a marketing campaign of SPG.com and mobile site banners, SPG estatement communications, pre-stay guest communications, on property collateral and a fully integrated social media strategy garnering more than 2.7MM impressions. To date more than 130,000 SPG Members across 130 countries have registered for SPG Keyless.