Slashdot Mirror
Hotel Chain Plans Phone-Based Check-in and Room Access
GTRacer writes: Forbes reports that Hilton Worldwide, international hotel operator, is rolling out smartphone-based guest tools allowing self-service check-in, access to a virtual floorplan to select a room, and (in 2015) actual door access once checked in. The author states the drive for this technology is the growing influence of the swelling ranks of Millennials, who "[...] have a very strong inclination toward automated and self-service customer service." The security risks seem obvious, though.
"Ah crap, my phone just died... I'll charge it when I get back to the hotel roo-- shit."
I'm so sick of things being "automated" at the expense of the customer. Fucking Self-Checkouts everywhere - companies get to lay off a few dozen workers per location, replace with buggy scanning hardware & software. Sure it takes the customer a longer time, but that's just more time for them to look at impulse buy and sell their children more candy at the checkout. It's not making it any more convenient, or quick, for me or anyone else in line - it's making it so the anti-social behind the monitor type Millennials don't have to talk to actual people. My wife is one of those - she can't even make a fucking phone call if there's a chance company X has a "WebChat!"
So, free hotel rooms for all at the next blackhat conference >:D
It's not like hotel door locks are secure. You're just trading off one big fail for another.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
They've had automated check in in Europe for some hotels for 25 years. The locked entrance has an ATM-like machine in the little foyer. Put in your credit card, pick a room type, and it printed a slip with codes for the front door and your room.
And yes, they had a live person on site -- it ate my card and the call button got her out of bed at 3 am to get it. :)
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
The last dotcom boom seemed to be mostly about eyeballs and getting people on the web. Now the popular meme is that Millenials are the new hot group to market to, and they are constantly glued to their smartphone of choice 24/7. However, just like the popular images of the fedora-wearing tech hipster and others, how much does this picture of a hyper-connected, distracted, wants-to-be-advertised-to-24/7 Millenial match with actual people?
Sure, you can easily point out tons of people watching movies on their 4" screens, listening to music through tiny earbuds and devouring social media. I'm just not sure _everyone_ under 30 is like that. Stories like this that predict a relatively small technology enhancement will fundamentally change the nature of commerce were pretty common at the end of the last boom too. Couple that with some of the (admittedly less insane) IPOs lately and billion dollar valuations on websites that don't make money right now, and you're looking at the last gasps of inflation for Bubble 2.0. My prediction is that social media, tablets, apps and so on will live on, but they're going to be less front-and-center in peoples' lives as people get tired of it. Everyone I've ever talked to who has an iPad or other tablet says the same thing -- it's a good content consumption device but they still need a computer for anything more complex than email.
The security implications of hotel room access through smartphone could be interesting. Done properly, it's probably as safe as Prox badges or traditional keys. However, given that this is a large hotel chain, I guarantee they're going to farm the app development out to the rock-bottom bidder. This happens all the time with large companies that say, "OMG we need tablet and phone apps NOW!!" It's kind of a given that version 1.0 is going to have problems...plus, I'm not sure everyone is so averse to dealing with people that they would want to check into a hotel without stopping at the front desk. (Hint: If you're not a jerk to the front desk staff, and ask for something cheap like a room upgrade, you're likely to get it, which is something an app's business logic won't do unless you're Triple Executive Platinum 1K Plus.)
Shouldn't there be something along the lines of
it hasn't taken much more than a text message to get inside Paris Hilton for years
By now?
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
It was the same for everyone in their 20s. What do you expect , a $100K pay packet the minute you leave university? I'm in my 40s now but I spent most of my 20s working in dead end IT jobs and saving up until I could put down a deposit for a mortgage.
Seems all the millenial generation does is whinge about how tough there life is. Get over yourselves FFS!
Any "convenience" on our part is charged a fee even though it saves the business money in not having to hire someone to deal with it.
An exxample:
The Atlanta Symphony.
I could walk over and catch the person they hired to sell tickets during their limited hours - which isn't during my lunchtime - or I could buy on-line there by cutting out the overhead of a person and yet get charged for a "convenience" fee because I was forced to buy when there wasn't a clerk.
See?
Web shit saves money but yet I am charged for a "convenience" fee even though going through the web saves everyone time and money.
Yeah, Capitalism.
Oh! The Atlanta Ballet and symphony had the nerve to call me for donations.
They can get it out of their outsourced asses for all I fucking care!