Holiday Inn Starts Testing Smartphones as Room Keys

A few months ago, Holiday Inn announced that they would be initiating a program that will turn your smartphone into a hotel room key. Over the last few weeks Holiday Inn hotels in Chicago and Houston have started to roll out the trial program which they call “MobileKey.”

Participation in MobileKey, where available, is still optional, so it does allow you to skip the front desk all together. But how does it work? Hotel guests receive a text message on their smartphones when they book a reservation online, along with the room number and a link to unlock the door. After you visit the link opening your door is as easy as holding your phone close to the lock.

[via]