Audio Hotel Room Keys To Debut In Holiday Inns

Holiday Inn Hotels looks to be the first chain to implement OpenWays' Crypto Accoustic Credentials guestroom access system, USA Today's Barbara De Lollis reports.

I wrote about the OpenWays system back in the January issue of HOTELS. In short, the technology sends an encrypted, unique audio code to a guest's phone prior to check-in. When played back outside the guestroom, the signal unlocks the door, letting the guest skip the front desk—guests would also receive a text message with their room assignments—while also eliminating the need for keycards, which is green and saves money.

According to De Lollis' story, the Holiday Inn pilot program will require participating guests—and yes, participation is optional—to download a special smartphone app in order to receive and use the aural guestroom keys. But the OpenWays system is theoretically designed to work with any mobile device, assuming it has a speaker and can receive messages, meaning that even "dumb" phones could be compatible.

The potential benefits for Holiday Inn in implementing OpenWays are several.

First off, the technology will be marketed as a cutting-edge guest amenity, drawing the kind of tech-forward transients that tend to be some of the highest spending hotel guests per capita.

Secondly, because Holiday Inn will require participating guests to register online in advance, that could translate into increased revenue via channel shift—that is, extra motivation to book on the brand site rather than a third-party site.

Furthermore, because guests will have to provide an active mobile phone number in order to access the technology, Holiday Inn gets an easy way to build a highly targeted and accurate mobile marketing database.

If enough guests take advantage of the technology, the need for front desk staffing would be reduced, saving on payroll or allowing workers to be reassigned to meet other guest service needs. And from an environmental standpoint, every guest who uses a mobile device to unlock their doors means one less plastic keycard that inevitably ends up in the trash.

And it is a relatively cost-friendly upgrade for Holiday Inn. Installation costs range from US$15 to US$55 per key, according to OpenWays CEO Pascal Metivier, and existing locks can be upgraded without needing to be replaced.

As for the system's security, Metivier told me OpenWays is at least as secure as a keycard. Like with a keycard, the unique audio key becomes obsolete upon checkout. Additionally, hotel staff have the ability to track guestroom access remotely and to cancel the audio keys in real time.

The pilot will launch in June at Holiday Inn Chicago O'Hare Rosemont and the Holiday Inn Express Houston Downtown Convention Center, De Lollis reports.

Social Media All About Language, Hotel Exec Says

The many avenues of social media have revolutionized hotel marketing tactics, but successful social media marketing is less about the conduit than about the messaging itself.

That is the conclusion of Antonio Batanero, senior director distribution and digital marketing for Sol Meliá Hotels & Resorts in the Americas, who tells EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta that successful social media marketing mimics the way consumers interact with their own friends and family. He sees social media as word-of-mouth marketing taken to the masses and modernized.

Batanero believes that marketing messages resonate best when companies speak with the same language as the targeted consumer. It's one of those things that you instinctively know but maybe hadn't thought of in exactly that framework. But it's no secret that those companies that have had the most success with social media have been those that use a casual, conversational, even colloquial voice, throwing off the binds of corporatespeak in favor of something more approachable to the average Joe.

Of course, if you're not trying to sway the average Joe—if you're aiming squarely at stuffy traditionalists—then your online voice should reflect that instead. Although, if you're trying to reach stuffy traditionalists, then maybe you're wasting your time on Twitter anyway.

Wisely, Sol Meliá understands that the ROI of social media cannot be measured strictly in dollar figures, instead judging success based on factors like comment volume and ratio of positive to negative feedback. None of that matters, though, unless the consumer interaction is truly a two-way street, taking those comments and turning them into a useful conversation.

"ROI must also be measured by the actions that you take based on customers’ feedback. In other words, if all your fans/followers are giving you tons of feedback on a specific subject of your hotel but you do not do anything to change that in the property, then ROI is extremely negative," Batanero says. "If you show people that you care about their suggestions and you are willing to implement them, then… ROI is incalculable."

Batanero lauds those companies that have instituted full-time social media overseers, saying "every company should have one." I don't agree with that entirely; I would say that every large company should have one, but for smaller hotel groups, there's no reason social media can't be done by people already on staff, in addition to their other duties. I agree that every company should have a social media presence of some sort, even if it's just keeping tabs on TripAdvisor comments a couple times a week.

Which is a nice excuse for me to link to one of the last articles I wrote for HOTELS, "Social Media On A Shoestring Budget."

I'm Back

After an incredibly relaxing month-long hiatus brought on by the closure of HOTELS magazine (and exacerbated, in a good way, by my April nuptials), I'm back to blogging full-time.

My once-popular HOTELS blog, Musings & Miscellany, sadly is no more, lost to the abyss of cyberspace along with the rest of the magazine's online archives. For now, this will be my Web home, and I'll try to make a go of blogging independently. While I will almost certainly be writing for one hotel industry publication or another on a freelance basis—possibly even the soon-to-be relaunched HOTELS, though nothing is yet official—I must emphasize that this blog is unaffiliated with any other publication.

Additionally, in the interest of full disclosure, I am working on a contract basis with Plan A PR & Marketing as director of client communications. I'll be representing hotel technology vendors EZYield.com and Libra OnDemand, and while I'm admittedly somewhat apprehensive about the ethical implications of working PR while also doing editorial writing, I'm confident I can keep the two separate. At the very least, now you know, and you can draw your own conclusions about my impartiality.

Changing gears completely, I mentioned that I'm newly married. Did I also mention I'm now a professional lounge singer? Just kidding... although I did surprise my beautiful bride with my own rendition of Bobby Darin's "More." Take a gander, but please be kind in the comments section!