CHICAGO—This month hoteliers from around the globe will be flocking to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York with one goal in mind: “Powering [Their] Business for the New Economy”—the theme for the 2010 International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show from November 13 to 16. OpenWays, the hospitality industry’s first mobile key front-desk bypass solution, gives hoteliers a new platform for sustainability by dematerializing keys and cards and instead sending them over the air to cell phones. Through its new “Plastic or Data?” campaign, which will launch at the IHMRS in Booth No. 2551, OpenWays is giving travelers and hotel operators a “voice for choice.”
“There are no key cards greener than the OpenWays acoustic credentials which are only made of data,” said Pascal Metivier, OpenWays founder and CEO. “By migrating to a mobile-key platform, OpenWays is enabling hotels to make a significant contribution to the environment.”
Metivier said the message being delivered through the OpenWays “Plastic or Data?” campaign is based on its new “Check-In Your Way” principle: 1) Travelers choose to use their mobile phone to bypass the front desk and to support a 100 percent green environment during their stay or 2) Travelers choose to stop at the front desk to obtain a plastic key card but is offered the option at the desk to replace the key card by using a cell phone. Either way, the hotel is giving guests more choices at check-in and they have a new vehicle in which to showcase and communicate to their guests that they are taking a proactive stance towards protecting the planet.
“OpenWays does far more than just allowing hotel guests to use their cell phones—rather than a plastic key card—to securely open their room doors,” Metivier said. “It opens new avenues of communication between the hotel and its guests. Using “Plastic or Data?” messaging during the guest registration process—whether its online before the guest arrives at the hotel or at the front desk during check-in—empowers guests to control their hotel experience and simultaneously make a direct contribution to the environment. When guests opt for OpenWays ‘Data’ check-in, they can automatically enroll for future next stays, further streamlining check-in and allowing guests to bypass the front desk.”
The Data Difference
OpenWays works via the principle of Crypto Acoustic Credential (CAC) and text messaging (SMS). Once registered, OpenWays delivers an encrypted tone or “credential” to any mobile phone (smartphones or standard phones) operating on any network to any user anywhere in the world. Not only does this free up hotel staff to spend time with guests who are looking for personal one-on-one assistance, but it keeps non-biodegradable room keys from ending up in landfills each year.
“Green electronic-locking systems do exist, albeit it only through OpenWays,” Metivier said. “It’s critical that hoteliers today understand that they can easily and cost-effectively turn their existing door locks into a viable, sustainable green solution by simply retrofitting their existing locks with an OpenWays decoding listening device. It doesn’t matter what type of card-reader technology the hotel is using, such as magnetic-stripe cards, smartcards, or RFID cards. OpenWays can upgrade each lock into a green, CAC supported device in just minutes.”
Because it also interfaces to the hotel’s property-management and central-reservation systems, OpenWays can facilitate the following “mobile” applications: bookings, confirmations, upgrade offers, e-payment/e-ticketing vouchers, e-concierge, social network localization, loyalty apps, convention services, partner programs and more.
Go to OpenWays.
