When a large corporation picks out locations to launch a program, they’ll typically go to a site they can trust to get things right. That means a place that manages to cross all of the t’s and dot the i’s when it comes to everything hotels need to do right.
That’s why I was sitting here shaking my head when I saw that Hyatt picked the Hyatt Centric Key West to launch its digital key program using Apple Wallet.
Given, it’s been four years since we stayed there, but nothing about our stay made me want to go back. There was no one at the hotel entrance to offer to park our car in the valet lot or help us unload our luggage. The floors of our room were filthy, as I found out after walking around for a while in my white socks.
Socks from a dirty floor
That’s not mentioning the lampshades didn’t fit the lamps, the cheap plastic toilet seat, and whatever light show there was in the main closet (no, really. Look! Bottom of the page.).
I think Hyatt would pick this hotel because only the richest of their guests are willing to pay the outrageous rates they charge there and are, therefore, some of the most likely guests to use high-tech devices.
Hyatt was obviously targeting a specific audience with this announcement, as the other hotels are either focused on high-tech areas or places people with tech-like money would be likely to visit:
- Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort
- Hyatt House Chicago/West Loop-Fulton Market
- Hyatt House Dallas/Richardson
- Hyatt Place Fremont/Silicon Valley
- Hyatt Regency Long Beach
It’s not like you couldn’t use your iPhone to unlock your room before this, as Hyatt has offered a digital key option with the World of Hyatt app for iOS and Android for a while.
If opening the Hyatt app on your phone is too hard and you can only manage to use the Apple Wallet on your Apple Watch as a room key, then this update is for you. Call me a Luddite, but I will stick to a physical key to get into my room.
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2 comments
I’m heading to the Andaz Maui next week so I’ll report back on how well this works.
They need to test it where it’s least likely to work. Seems smart to me.