Now you can check-in to your hotel with a mobile wallet pass

It’s rare to go anywhere these days without a phone, and that’s especially true when travelling. Whether it’s pulling up a booking confirmation from an email, navigating around a new city on Google Maps, or finding a decent flat white through a review app, our phones are the hub of the journey. We even use them to hire cars with a quick scan.

So why is the hotel check-in process still so stuck in the past? There’s nothing quite as draining as stepping off a long flight only to find yourself standing in a slow-moving queue at a reception desk. When you finally reach the front, you’re handed a plastic card, or worse, a physical key that you have to keep safe of for the rest of your stay. We think there’s a better way to handle how people move through a building.

Mobile wallet passes: A better way to arrive

We believe that those long front-desk queues and the frantic search for confirmation emails should be a thing of the past. By using a digital pass stored in a phone’s wallet, guests can check in with a simple tap. It’s even possible to send the digital room key to a guest before they arrive at the property. This allows them to head straight to their room and bypass the reception desk entirely, which makes the whole experience feel much more natural.

These wallet passes work with the apps people already use, like Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, and they even function on devices like the Apple Watch for even quicker access.

Digital security that actually works

Moving to a mobile pass is not just about making things easier, it’s also about making the building more secure. Physical keys and plastic cards are far too easy to lose or replicate. Digital passes, however, are protected by the phone’s own security. If a guest happens to lose their device, Apple and Google’s security measures allow the pass to be turned off from a distance, which is much safer than a lost plastic card floating around.

The shift toward contactless

We’ve seen a clear shift in what guests expect, and there’s a growing preference for contactless experiences. Apple and Google passes offer a way to check in without needing to touch shared surfaces or handle physical documents. When these passes are paired with NFC-enabled locks, guests can open their doors with a tap of their phone. It’s a simple, physical interaction that just works.

Everything in one place

Travellers already have enough to think about, so keeping everything in one location makes sense. A phone wallet can hold boarding passes, train tickets, and hotel keys all in one spot. When all the phone wallet passes are centralised, the information is always ready when needed, and there’s no more worrying about misplacing a specific piece of paper or a plastic card.

A more sustainable approach

Sustainability is a major focus for us and for the hotels we work with. Moving away from paper documents and plastic keycards is an easy way to cut down on waste. It also removes the hidden costs of buying those physical cards and the time spent having to programme them at the desk. Digital is simply a cleaner way to operate.

Staying ahead

While we’re seeing early adopters move toward mobile wallet check-ins now, it won’t be long before this is the standard. People are already used to using their phones for every other part of their lives, and they will expect their hotel stay to be just as straightforward.

If you’re a hotel owner and want to see how mobile wallet passes could change your guest experience, we would love to talk about what you are building.

Book a Demo Today

You can also reach us by email at hello@passflow.io