the future of hospitality — key cutting your own card

Key cutting your own card with your phone is such a nice feature when you arrive late or don t want to queue! I just love this from the citizenM hotels app.

In the long term, all doors will probably be open by phone but while we wait for all the locks to be replaced, this is really good.

I acknowledge that not everybody happens to have a hotel key card in their pocket… (or like me have the habit of not always giving it back 😅), though why not make for the most valuable guests a personalized metallic card that they would be able to load and use just like their home key. Black cards and limited edition are something that is already widely done in the banking service.

Of course, you could wonder what the point to add another card to a wallet while not using it every day… people are now going out walletless because everything is stored within their phone (ID, credit card)… true, but phone can tell you what time it is, while the sales of luxury watches still remain strong! Status signaling, and community are something that hotels should not overlook.

In the future, would:
♦ Corporate segment choose an hotel who offers this service more than another one just to complete check in faster? (Like back in the days when we chose hotels offering “free wifi”)
♦ Guest be willing to build points with a specific brand just to get the metallic black card?