Contactless: NFC BMW Keys to Book an Hotel Room
- BMW and hospitality security specialist VingCard Elsafe now enable car drivers to book and access their hotel room using their NFC car keys.
- Customers may connect to BMW’s navigation system on the go to search for near-by hotels and select rooms. Bookings are conducted through the Micros-Fidelio management tool and drivers are provided guidance to head to the hotel of their choice. Once on-site, they can simply walk past the check-in desk and proceed to their room.
- Access codes for the VingCard Elsafe guestroom lock are loaded on their car key for them to open their door.
- In addition to this convenient feature, hotel managers may also propose exclusive offers, and even set up customer profiles if they agree to provide their personal information.
Source: Press release
- In 2011, BMW started getting involved in the contactless solutions market announcing the availability of this NFC key. This new partnership also enhances the manufacturer’s strategy on the connected car market: the group relies on its navigation system to propose various added value services to its nomadic upscale customers. In addition to hotel bookings, BMW may envisage train tickets bookings and even NFC payments.
- This solution based on VingCard’s Mobile Keys platform is meant to convert NFC-compatible devices (Smartphones, tablets, keys, etc.) into access control and door opening tool.
- The hotel business currently seems eager to adopt contactless access control solutions: for instance, OpenWays’s “Mobile Key Dual with Pure NFC” for Smartphones (designed with Nokia and NXP) has recently been installed in Stockholm’s Nordic Choice Hotels.