Hilton is rolling out some great enhancements to their mobile apps and mobile site, that will now allow for mobile check-in from your phone, room selection, and check-out.

Earlier this month, we wrote about how Starwood Plans to Roll Out Mobile Keys but Hilton’s announcement show they want to get into the digital world as well. Hilton plans to roll out these new features to over 4,000 Hilton properties by the end of 2014.

Check-In and Choose Your Own Room with Hilton from your Smartphone 

New Features Include:

• Room selection: At 6 a.m. the day before a booked stay, Hilton HHonors members can sign into their account via their mobile device, tablet or computer to check-in and choose their preferred room through floor plan maps or lists populated from the hotel’s available inventory. Photos of rooms are also available to help with their selection. Hilton’s digital lobby function is updated in real-time, so guests no longer have to wait until they are physically in the hotel lobby to be assigned a room.
• Special requests: After choosing a room, guests can further customize their stay at full-service hotels by purchasing upgrades and requesting specific amenities to be delivered to their room before arrival.
• Room key: Next year, the company will begin to equip its hotel rooms with the technology for doors to be unlocked with guests’ smartphones, enabling them to go straight to their rooms upon arrival. For now, once they arrive on property, guests simply pick up their room key from the front desk, a streamlined process since the guest’s payment information and other details are already verified through their Hilton HHonors account prior to arrival.
• Check-out: Guests can bypass the front desk upon departure as their bill will be automatically sent to their email address.

Rollout Schedule:

• By the end of this summer, Hilton HHonors members can check-in and choose their room from digital floor plan maps online or via the Apple and Android HHonors apps across the following U.S. brands: Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites.
• The functionality will also be available at DoubleTree by Hilton and Embassy Suites Hotels properties within the U.S. this fall.
• By the end of 2014, room selection, either from digital floor plans or lists, will be available globally for over 650,000 rooms at more than 4,000 hotels across Hilton’s portfolio of 11 brands.
• Digital check-out, currently available at all U.S. hotels, will be rolled out globally by the end of 2016.

Bottom Line

All these enhancements from Hilton will be great for guests as they increase their digital platforms.

Mobile check-in from Hilton is long overdue, but the new features such as choosing your own room and using your phone to unlock your hotel room make up for the delay.

What are your thoughts on these new features?

If looking for Hilton points, consider the Hilton Honors™Â Card from American Express card.

Hat Tip: Tyler