With iOS 15 and watchOS 8, Apple added the ability for certain keys to be added to the Wallet app, such as hotel room keys, office keys and home keys. However, some of these additions have taken a little while to materialise in the real world.
One such key card is showing up in the hotel chain Hyatt, which has started to roll out support for hotel room keys at six of its locations in the US. The card will live in the Wallet app and will allow you to access your room, the elevators, other doors and anything else that is usually locked to guests. The card is used via NFC, so just tap your iPhone or Apple Watch on the card reader.
Hyatt has added this to the following hotels in the US:
- Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort
- Hyatt Centric Key West Resort & Spa
- Hyatt House Chicago/West Loop-Fulton Market
- Hyatt House Dallas/Richardson
- Hyatt Place Fremont/Silicon Valley
- Hyatt Regency Long Beach
A new video posted by Rich DeMuro from KTLA shows him testing the card at one of the Hyatt Hotels.
Video
Rich’s demo shows the card being used in the Express Mode on the iPhone, similar how it works for transit cards on the tube. No need to unlock your device, simply tap on the reader and it lets you in. This can be disabled, but also has a benefit – if your phone dies, the Power Reserve mode will let it work for five hours.
Hopefully other hotels adopt supporting hotel room keys via the Wallet app soon, but Hyatt is planning on rolling out support for this to more of its hotels soon, in the US and other countries.
