Mobile Key Solution Teams with Bluetooth Tech
To respond to the demands of modern travelers for mobile-based check-in solutions, OpenWays, developer of the hospitality industry's first mobile key front-desk bypass solution, is unveiling a true mobile alternative to traditional check-in offering straight-to-the-room service delivery that is sure to "wow" guests across the globe. Today, OpenWays introduces BlueWays©, a mobile key product that is adding the power of Bluetooth 4.0 (BLE) and iBeacon® to enable quick and cost efficient deployment, thanks to new upgrade kits made for the major hotel lock brands.
Working in consultation and gaining deployment experiences with several of the world’s leading hospitality companies, OpenWays deployed a mobile key solution that:
Allows for scalability, deployment speed and guest mobile phone ubiquity
Allows fast and cost efficient upgrades to existing hotel locks
Mitigates hoteliers dependency on one lock vendor
Drives operational efficiency and helps with core hospitality needs, such as enhancing loyalty membership, marketing communications and even redirecting OTA traffic back to brand.com sites
Considers the entire life-cycle of the guest and hotel experience
Is robust and flexible enough to work every in market and environment
Enhances sustainability efforts
These requirements have led to the introduction of BlueWays© and BlueWays+©.
Adapting Proven Technology
The design for BlueWays© evolved from the technology developed for OpenWays popular residential mobile key solution, OKIDOKEYS. BlueWays© capitalizes on the advancements offered by Bluetooth 4.0. (also referred to as Bluetooth Smart, 4.0 or BLE). These new capabilities enable the BlueWays© receiver to be discreetly placed inside the room and under the lock inside trim where it is virtually invisible. For the highest security, BlueWays© uses OpenWays’ end-to-end, best-in-class 256bit AES encryptions.
In the ever-evolving field of mobile, hoteliers express concern over the risks of betting long-term on a single, stagnant technology solution. With Bluetooth 4.0 / iBeacon® joining the ranks of other technologies coming into play, such as NFC, RFID, CAC, hoteliers are facing an increasingly difficult choice; which technology to bet on? Each of these technologies add their own unique value for different uses in the hospitality field.
Problem Solved with BlueWays+
To avoid the wrong technology investment, OpenWays is introducing BlueWays+©. Whenever hoteliers desire to address more than Bluetooth 4.0 cell phones, they can upgrade to BlueWays+©.
BlueWays+© adds an external wireless wall-mounted receiver which expands the technology capability to include Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, RFID and Crypto-Acoustic Credentials™ (CAC™), which empowers each of the 7 billion cell phones in the world to work with BlueWays©. In addition, BlueWays+© is capable of enabling NFC or RFID cards to provide enhanced security for those without a mobile phone, or enabling waterproof wristbands for children in resort environments. And when the next new technology is created for the mobile space, OpenWays will develop an upgrade to this "+module" to address its use. BlueWays+© also contains door-bell functionality.
Further expounding the virtues of this OpenWays advancement, Peter Klebanoff, SVP of business development for the Americas, said: “With the existing OpenWays line, and now the advent of these new state-of-the-art Bluetooth© technologies — BlueWays© and BlueWays+© — hospitality owners, brands and management companies can implement a single mobile key technology in their mobile applications that can function seamlessly across the globe with any mobile phone and all the major guestroom door locks.
To be relevant to the guest, marketing staff and management of a multi-property operator, it is critical that implementation of a mobile key solution be deployable quickly and ubiquitously across as much of the room-base as possible. It is also critical that it present a consistent user experience to facilitate guest adoption and enable management of the hotel or brands mobile app.
The only practical and economically viable way to accomplish such implementation is with a solution that can be added to existing lock mechanisms quickly and easily, almost no matter what lock is currently installed. Lock manufacturers are expert in making locking hardware; OpenWays is expert in developing software and enabling adaptors to enhance that expertise and enable a mobile key solution. That is how OpenWays solutions — including BlueWays© and BlueWays+© — works.
Working in consultation and gaining deployment experiences with several of the world’s leading hospitality companies, OpenWays deployed a mobile key solution that:
Allows for scalability, deployment speed and guest mobile phone ubiquity
Allows fast and cost efficient upgrades to existing hotel locks
Mitigates hoteliers dependency on one lock vendor
Drives operational efficiency and helps with core hospitality needs, such as enhancing loyalty membership, marketing communications and even redirecting OTA traffic back to brand.com sites
Considers the entire life-cycle of the guest and hotel experience
Is robust and flexible enough to work every in market and environment
Enhances sustainability efforts
These requirements have led to the introduction of BlueWays© and BlueWays+©.
Adapting Proven Technology
The design for BlueWays© evolved from the technology developed for OpenWays popular residential mobile key solution, OKIDOKEYS. BlueWays© capitalizes on the advancements offered by Bluetooth 4.0. (also referred to as Bluetooth Smart, 4.0 or BLE). These new capabilities enable the BlueWays© receiver to be discreetly placed inside the room and under the lock inside trim where it is virtually invisible. For the highest security, BlueWays© uses OpenWays’ end-to-end, best-in-class 256bit AES encryptions.
In the ever-evolving field of mobile, hoteliers express concern over the risks of betting long-term on a single, stagnant technology solution. With Bluetooth 4.0 / iBeacon® joining the ranks of other technologies coming into play, such as NFC, RFID, CAC, hoteliers are facing an increasingly difficult choice; which technology to bet on? Each of these technologies add their own unique value for different uses in the hospitality field.
Problem Solved with BlueWays+
To avoid the wrong technology investment, OpenWays is introducing BlueWays+©. Whenever hoteliers desire to address more than Bluetooth 4.0 cell phones, they can upgrade to BlueWays+©.
BlueWays+© adds an external wireless wall-mounted receiver which expands the technology capability to include Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, RFID and Crypto-Acoustic Credentials™ (CAC™), which empowers each of the 7 billion cell phones in the world to work with BlueWays©. In addition, BlueWays+© is capable of enabling NFC or RFID cards to provide enhanced security for those without a mobile phone, or enabling waterproof wristbands for children in resort environments. And when the next new technology is created for the mobile space, OpenWays will develop an upgrade to this "+module" to address its use. BlueWays+© also contains door-bell functionality.
Further expounding the virtues of this OpenWays advancement, Peter Klebanoff, SVP of business development for the Americas, said: “With the existing OpenWays line, and now the advent of these new state-of-the-art Bluetooth© technologies — BlueWays© and BlueWays+© — hospitality owners, brands and management companies can implement a single mobile key technology in their mobile applications that can function seamlessly across the globe with any mobile phone and all the major guestroom door locks.
To be relevant to the guest, marketing staff and management of a multi-property operator, it is critical that implementation of a mobile key solution be deployable quickly and ubiquitously across as much of the room-base as possible. It is also critical that it present a consistent user experience to facilitate guest adoption and enable management of the hotel or brands mobile app.
The only practical and economically viable way to accomplish such implementation is with a solution that can be added to existing lock mechanisms quickly and easily, almost no matter what lock is currently installed. Lock manufacturers are expert in making locking hardware; OpenWays is expert in developing software and enabling adaptors to enhance that expertise and enable a mobile key solution. That is how OpenWays solutions — including BlueWays© and BlueWays+© — works.