Page 12 - aruba-today-20220301_Part3

A12 TECHNOLOGY
Friday 4 March 2022

6 ways technology is evolving

travel in 2022

Some apps serve as a digi-
tal front desk, which then
allows you to use your
smartphone and smart-
watch as digital keys. For
example, digital keys in
Hyatt's mobile app use
Bluetooth technology to let
you unlock your hotel room
with your phone at more
than 600 hotels worldwide.
This past December, Hyatt
made things even easier
for Apple users by becom-
ing the first hotel brand to
offer room keys in Apple
Travelers use the self-service kiosk to check in and pay for lug-
gage at the American Airlines terminal, Thursday, April 29, 2021, Wallet. At certain Hyatt ho-
in Miami. tels, you no longer need
Associated Press to open the Hyatt app;
instead you can tap your
By SALLY FRENCH of Nerd- cool, technology is seep- iPhone or Apple Watch to
Wallet ing into travel in a way unlock rooms.
For the athletes at the 2022 that most travelers are Over at Hilton, which has
Winter Olympics in Beijing, finding enormously ben- offered digital keys to some
travel entailed … robots. Ev- eficial. Whether shortening degree since 2015, last
erywhere. These machines queues, helping travelers year saw a huge update in
prepared and served noo- save money or eliminat- Digital Key Share, which al-
dles, rice and burgers, and ing the need to get within lows more than one guest
roamed hallways to take six feet of others, here are to have digital access. The
the temperatures of pass- some of the top travel feature is currently avail-
ersby. They even passed technology evolutions in able at about 80% of Hil-
the Olympic flame under- 2022. ton's hotels worldwide.
water. Yet even if you're 1. APPS FOR BOOKING HO- 3. THE RISE OF VIRTUAL
not an Olympian, your trav- TELS — AND PICKING YOUR QUEUES
els these days are far more ROOM In January, Clear, a private
likely to involve technology Most large hotel chains biometric screening com-
that you've never used be- have long had free apps pany that lets paying mem-
fore. with features like booking bers bypass certain security
Many of these technologi- and live chat, but many lines at busy areas includ-
cal advancements were recently got big-time im- ing stadiums and airports,
spurred by early pandemic provements. announced that it had ac-
pressure for contactless Last summer, Hilton quired another company
payments, food service launched a feature that designed to reduce wait
and more. For example, lets you book and instantly times — Whyline. The ac-
between February and confirm connecting rooms quisition could allow Clear
March 2020 alone, Master- on its app and website, to improve virtual queues
card saw the number of which has proven especial- for processes like checking
contactless payments at ly helpful for groups. vaccine status or access-
grocery stores grow twice Its app also can display a ing airport lounges.
as fast as non-contactless map of the hotel and allow Meanwhile, Disney rolled
transactions. Meanwhile, you to select your exact out a feature in its U.S.
the number of active res- room of choice, whether theme park apps last Octo-
taurants on the Uber Eats it's the peaceful room far- ber called Genie, which is
food delivery app grew by thest from the elevator or intended to help vacation-
over 75% between Dec. 31, the one nearby for easy ers better plan their day.
2019, and Dec. 31, 2020. access. By analyzing current lines
So whether you found the 2. SMART DEVICES AS DIGI- and crowds, it can suggest
Olympic robots creepy or TAL ROOM KEYS more efficient itineraries.
4. DELIVERY APPS TO RE-
PLACE ROOM SERVICE
Food delivery apps have
been disrupting room ser-
vice lately by delivering
food from around town —
and eliminating the need
to pay $10 for a bowl of
room service cereal.
Hotels are leaning into the
idea of letting other com-
panies handle it.q