Apple Wallet on the iPhone and Apple Watch can be used for many things, including the ability to save and use digital hotel keys. Out of all the ways people can use their smartphones, having them act as digital wallets is easily one of the most convenient. Just a few short years ago, things like physical credit cards, airplane boarding passes, and concert tickets were a must. Today, virtual versions of those things have all but replaced the need for their physical counterparts.
In the Apple world, all of these virtual things are stored in the Apple Wallet app. Its primary use is to hold debit/credit cards that are part of Apple Pay. If someone's at a store that accepts Apple Pay, they can pay for their order just by opening Apple Wallet and selecting their preferred card. Beyond paying for things, Apple Wallet is also useful for storing other virtual goodies — including airplane and train boarding passes, concert/movie tickets, membership loyalty cards, and even virtual house and car keys. It'll be a while before physical wallets are completely phased out, but Apple Wallet is getting the world closer and closer to that point.
Another way Apple Wallet is doing this is with virtual hotel keys. Along with everything mentioned above, the Apple Wallet app can also store room keys at supported hotels. The functionality was initially launched in December 2021 with select Hyatt properties. The current list where Apple Wallet hotel keys work includes all of the following: Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, Hyatt Centric Key West Resort & Spa, Hyatt House Chicago/West Loop-Fulton Market, Hyatt House Dallas/Richardson, Hyatt Place Fremont/Silicon Valley, and Hyatt Regency Long Beach. Hyatt says additional properties are on the way, and it's also likely that more hotel chains will eventually jump on board as well.
How To Use Virtual Hotel Keys In Apple Wallet
If someone happens to be staying at one of these hotels, using virtual room keys with Apple Wallet is quite easy. After completing a reservation, users can add their virtual key to Apple Wallet just by pressing a button in the Hyatt iOS app. Leading up to the actual stay, the key sits dormant in Apple Wallet showing the check-in time for that reservation. After someone gets checked in with their hotel and assigned a room, the virtual key in Apple Wallet is immediately activated and updated with the room number it works for.
Using a hotel key in Apple Wallet works just like paying with a credit card in the app. Open Apple Wallet, select the hotel key, and place it near the door for the room it's assigned to. Hotel keys can also be assigned as 'Express' cards in Apple Wallet, meaning they'll work even without unlocking the iPhone/Apple Watch it's saved on. Along with the convenience of not having to fumble with a physical hotel key, virtual ones in Apple Wallet have a couple of extra benefits as well. If someone staying at a hotel needs to request a late checkout, extend their stay, or even switch rooms, hotels can remotely apply these things to the virtual card and update it with those changes. And in addition to the actual hotel room, these virtual keys also allow guests access to common rooms (such as swimming pools, gyms, spas, etc).
If all of this sounds pretty straightforward, that's because it is. Book a reservation, add the hotel key to Apple Wallet, and forget the days of physical cards that always seem to get lost. The only real downside to Apple Wallet hotel keys is the limited availability. That's bound to get better as the months and years go on, though it'll likely take a while for them to become the norm.
Source: Hyatt