Hyatt guests will now be able to unlock their hotel room using an iPhone, starting at six properties in the US.
The digital key experience will allow guests seamless entry to hotel rooms, fitness and other common areas at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts.
"As the first hotel brand to offer room key in Apple Wallet on your iPhone and Apple Watch, our new feature complements the Hyatt digital check-in experience, which enables members to personalise their stay from room upgrades and selecting housekeeping preferences, to early check-in and late check-out for elite members and more." Hyatt said.
After booking a stay at a participating hotel, guests just add their room key to Apple Wallet via the World of Hyatt app.
The digital room key will be available at Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort in Hawaii, Hyatt Centric Key West Resort & Spa in Florida, Park Hyatt Chicago, Hyatt Regency Long Beach and Hyatt Place Fremont/Silicon Valley in California and the Hyatt Place Dallas/Garland/Richardson in Texas.
While Hyatt is the first hotel brand to give guests this option, Apple previewed this general functionality at its World Wide Developers Conference this summer, Popular Science reported.
The tracking feature raised concerns from some experts and organisations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, about the risk of privacy abuses and security challenges from hacking or ID tracking, it said.
Back in September, Apple also announced that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would enable select security checkpoints and lanes in participating airports in eight US states to be the first locations where customers could use their driver’s licence or state ID in Apple Wallet.
