Could you elaborate a little bit more on this; 

We are using a native application, but have enabled guests to bypass the App Store so there is less-friction and a more seamless experience.

Hi @AndyHewitt, thank you for sharing your questions. I’ve tried to answer as many of these as I can, but I would also suggest reaching out to your Customer Success representative for a full demonstration to help address these queries. 

I’ve also linked to our help guides: The Digital Key journey in Mews Online Guest Services and How to set up the Digital Key in Mews Operations, for your reference.

• When and how does the guest recive key instructions/check in instructions
  The guest can set up their Digital Key directly from the end of online check in. The key will automatically activate once their reservation is checked in in Mews.
   
• Can it be automated and set on triggers and to what extent?
  The key can be automatically activated on the guest’s device by setting up some automatic check in rules that have been developed in conjunction with the Digital Key. These include online check in being complete, that the guest balance is zero and a pre-authorization being present. These parameters are configurable by you for your property.
   
• How does guest receive (link I assume to access key)
  The guest can set up their key directly from the end of online check in. 
   
• Process if Guest Face & ID don’t match
  This is not a specific capability that exists in the Mews Guest Portal, so there is currently no specific logic about matching a guest’s face with their ID. However, we want to explore this in future so please do watch this space
   
• Can Bond be submitted?
  Can you please elaborate a little more regarding this question?
   
• Is it a two way communication SMS feature?
  The Digital Key is offered separately to our SMS add-on. We plan to develop a tighter integration between the Digital Key and SMS add-on in future.
   
• Does it recognise return guests to make a welcome back flow and recognise loyalty?
  This is not a specific feature of the Digital Key itself and is potentially a better fit for the Guest Portal in future. We do have ambitions to better recognise loyalty members in the guest experience.
   
• Does it recognise unpaid rooms and not send info – how does it distinguish between VCC and normal credit card?
  The Digital Key can be configured to not start a reservation and activate the key until the guest’s balance is settled. Whether that’s a VCC or normal credit card, the balance would be settled before the guest accesses their room
   
• How does it handle multiple rooms booked by one person to get info of other guests easily? Best solution (no one has yet developed) is to have a message the booker can send to the people who are stying witch has a link they press and they press and enter their details in one of the rooms (happy to chat more on this)
  I think this may be one to discuss further another time. The Mews Online check in does enable the reservation owner to provide details of other guests staying in other rooms or invite them to do this themselves, if data is required from all guests as defined in the legal environment for your location.
   
• What’s the process if a booker books for their client/employee – scope needs to be set that booker gets invoice, guest gets arrival instruction, at current in other systems its all or nothing, we have to manually manipulate in AKAI
  As above, I think we can follow up on this scenario separately. However, in Mews we do distinguish between the booker and guest, but I’ll need to confirm how this is different when it comes to invoicing.
   
• How is the digital Key accessed? Must still be via an app for now – unless using Web Keys from some providers?
  Yes, it’s a separate app that is downloaded in the background (no visit to the App Store) directly from the end of online check in. There is no additional authentication needed from the guest to prepare their key as we already know who they are for the online check in.
   
• Will the key be linked to certain add ons and autmatically allow/not allow access - i.e. Parking? Current issues with Digital Keys
  Currently, this is not possible in the Digital Key as there are several technical challenges to address to enable this use case. However, this is something we want to enable in the Digital Key experience in future.

Hi @AndyHewitt, I’ll follow-up with your Customer Success rep after this Q&A to kick things off.

Hi @Ivo, these are great questions!

Right now, we don’t have stats or a guest identifier available for the Digital Key, but these are items we have on our roadmap as we continue to improve the solution. It would be great to hear exactly what data you would like to see and where you would expect to see a guest or reservation identified as having a Digital Key configured.

The Digital Key will only start the reservation and activate if online check in is complete, the reservation start time has passed and the assigned space is inspected. Additionally you can configure that the balance is settled and a pre-authorization is taken if you require it. We don’t have geo-fencing or other capability implemented to identify if the guest is on-site at the hotel at any given time. However, please do share any more details you have about why you’d like this capability.

Hi @Ivo, of course.

We implemented the Digital Key using app clip technology on Apple devices that enables you to present a small portion of the app to the user without a download action by the user. From here, the user is able to download the full app (which is required to interact with the doors) without visiting or authenticating themselves in the App Store. Once they’ve done this, the user is ready for their key to be automatically activated, there’s no further action needed from them. This helps to make the experience feel a lot more seamless to the end user even though an app is still downloaded to their device in the background.

When it comes to the Android version we’re developing, they have a similar technology called Instant Apps that will help achieve a similar experience.

You can see an overview of the journey in this help guide (The Digital Key journey in Mews Online Guest Services).

Hi @James.taylor ,

how about the integration with Assa Abloy Visionline + Android? We are happy to pilot this solution in one of our hotels 

Best
Linus

Hi @Linus.Bihn, that’s great to hear that you’d like to try this!

We have recently just completed the development work for VisiOnline, so we’re now ready to start onboarding VisiOnline properties with the Digital key on iOS. We’re in the process of updating the customer facing materials now.

For Android, this will be compatible with VisiOnline as well as Vostio at the time it becomes available. 

Hi James.

Stats: on a property / chain level would be intresting to see:

• moment of installing the app vs first opening of a door. 
• % of guests having the app installed 
• % of guests/rooms using the Digital Key (per day, per hour?)
• The amount of extra keys generated per room (if the there is a possibility to share more then 1 key)

On a guest level:

• The number of openings
• a classification option in the guest profile

That's what I can think about at the moment. Having these insights can definately help to improve the overall guest journey.

Regarding geofencing, this is more when using a non-bluetooth / nfc solution is being used. To prevent abuse or providing unauthorized access via web keys. 

Great implementation! Love it! Thank you for the link, very valuable information. I didn't yet see this page. 

Hi @James.taylor ,

meaning we could start testing with Visionline + Apple, now? We expect more demand as soon as Android is offered but could be a start with Apple, too

Best
Linus

Hi @Linus.Bihn, yes, that’s correct. We are now ready to support VisiOnline and iOS Digital Keys.

I’ll reach out to your Customer Success so we can coordinate next steps!

Thank you to everyone who asked questions about Mews Digital Key! If you have any more questions in the future, please don't hesitate to share them using the "Ask the community" button, and myself or other community members will happily get back to you. I hope I was able to assist you with your questions over the last two hours.

If you want to learn more about the Digital Key, visit our landing page. While you’re there, enter your e-mail address and your Customer Success Manager will be in touch to share more information and help address any specific queries you have.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

What systems are you able to do this for? we require: 

 - ASSABLOY - Ving Card

• Salto KS

Cheers

Hi James.

Stats: on a property / chain level would be intresting to see:

• moment of installing the app vs first opening of a door. 
• % of guests having the app installed 
• % of guests/rooms using the Digital Key (per day, per hour?)
• The amount of extra keys generated per room (if the there is a possibility to share more then 1 key)

On a guest level:

• The number of openings
• a classification option in the guest profile

That's what I can think about at the moment. Having these insights can definately help to improve the overall guest journey.

 

Regarding geofencing, this is more when using a non-bluetooth / nfc solution is being used. To prevent abuse or providing unauthorized access via web keys. 

@Ivo, thank you for sharing what you would expect to have access to. This will help us continue to improve the experience.

Thank you also for the context about geofencing. The Mews Digital Key uses Bluetooth / NFC sp requires the guest to be physically close to the door to use it as you have indicated.

Hi @AndyHewitt, the Digital Key is currently compatible with ASSA ABLOY Vingcard.

We are not yet compatible with Salto, but we are targeting Salto locks as the next provider we’ll support and have already started the initial discovery for this.

Salto SPACE, Salto KS or both? Space and KS are two very different systems 

Cheers