Near Field Communication lock technology makes waves

Looking ahead to the next generation of mobile telecommunications, perhaps no particular technology has greater potential for the field of electronic locks than Near Field Communication. While NFC has yet to hit North America, it has the potential to totally revolutionize the check-in process and hotel security. I expect the technology to be a staple of high-tech hotels around the globe in coming years.

NFC will allow guests to unlock doors and communicate with other elements of the hotel with their mobile phone. While NFC is still years away from being widely implemented in the United States, hotels in Europe have begun testing systems that allow guests to access their room without visiting the front desk. Mashable lists a number of reasons to be excited about NFC here.

“We did an NFC trial with Assa Abloy for six months and ended up extending it to nine months altogether,” said Marcus Majewski, GM of the Clarion Hotel Stockholm (Sweden), told Hotel Management. “It’s a given that, in time, keys as we know them today, no matter whether they’re a home key or a room key, will be replaced by an electronic gadget. Being a part of something groundbreaking for the industry means we get to have our opinion, listen to guest feedback and also be a part of guest feedback.”

There were logistical issues that became apparent upon beginning the trial.

“If an NFC guest made an online reservation, we needed to pick that up and place the reservation in our normal reservation system, [property-management system] and the Assa Abloy system that managed the keys,” Majewski said. “In the future, we definitely need to interface between the two, in terms of customer service and reception.”