Open Ways Mobile Key Compatible with iPhone 5

Mobile Key by OpenWays guarantees compatibility and interoperability with ALL the 6.5 billion cell phones and smartphones on earth. Thanks to OpenWays’ unique CAC (Crypto Acoustic Credential) technology, hotel guests worldwide can use their personal mobile devices to skip the traditional hotel check-in procedure, bypass the line and head straight to their room and open the door with their phone. Guests who choose to stand in line and collect a traditional plastic key card may continue to do so.

 

Busy business travelers, Generation-Y and millennial travelers are but a small cross section that prefer to control their own destinies rather than be forced to comply with a traditional process that can cause them to incur delays and be frustrated for little direct benefit. With self-service becoming the norm in interacting with many consumer businesses (think self-check-out at retail stores, pre-check in for flights, bypassing lines at car rental pick up etc.), more and more hotels and chains are deploying Mobile Key by OpenWays to give their customers more choices when it comes to their arrival process. 

 

Chains and independent hotels that have selected Mobile Key by OpenWays have done so for a number of reasons. Apart from being able to offer an advanced and convenient method of room access, hotels are aware that guests prefer options at all points of interaction, and surveys have reported that consumers gravitate to businesses that will work with them on their own terms. Hotels have chosen Mobile Key by OpenWays specifically to be able to publicize this straight-to-room option and to drive additional business their way.

 

In choosing any mobile strategy, it is important to ensure ubiquity and that it can be offered to the widest possible constituency of consumers. Mobile Key by OpenWays is the only such front desk bypass solution that will work with any mobile phone today and in the future.

 

With Apple choosing not to support NFC (Near Field Communication) with the iPhone 5, and with less than 0.05 per cent of the 6.5 billion cell phones on the planet being NFC enabled, the jury is still out on the viability of this technology. At best, it will take many years to see any critical mass of enabled phones being in use.

 

With “iPhone guests” not being NFC equipped, it appears clear that an NFC-only strategy cannot be a viable choice for any hotel wishing to enjoy the benefits of a Mobile Key solution. In order to further future proof its solutions, OpenWays earlier this year announced the availability of a DUAL technology platform that combines the universality of CAC™ with Pure NFC – meaning that NFC-enabled phones anticipated in the future will continue to always be compatible with the OpenWays platforms.

 

Mobile Key is ‘future proofed’ and will continue to work with all upcoming series of phones.