sannmann

I enjoy the free water benefit. I especially enjoy when the water comes in bottles subject to a local deposit. In Germany, that may end up being a free 25˘ per bottle.

Delectatio

Quiet a few hotels have glass bottles of water in the room.
Much more environmentally friendly I guess...?

NHGail

I stayed at the Back Bay Hilton in Boston 2 weeks ago and when I checked in was informed that water bottles had already been placed in my room "but here's a couple more and a snack in case you need them"

Housekeeping also tried pushing more water bottles on me the next morning even when I told her I didn't need either room done. So we ended up with 4 bottles for each of two rooms.

BTW, as a diamond member, I never received any email about no bottles in the room. Sounds more like an internal thing with that particular hotel.

LondonElite

Indeed. And even better if it was local water rather than shipped in from across the world.

LAKings

Hi, apologies if this is a stupid question. I have a stay coming up on Monday and my flight doesn't get in until 9:30pm. It is an award stay. I've heard that it's a good idea to call so that your reservation isn't cancelled.

Since this hotel has the digital key function, I'm assuming there'd be no need to add this note to my reservation? Thanks!

adambrock

My experience is that once you request the digital key and it's made available to your phone, the property sees you as checked in and in the building. I found this out when I requested a digital key and then my flight that evening got cancelled and I had trouble postponing my arrival.

LAKings

Thanks! That's what I was thinking, but had no idea if there was a way for them tell when someone first uses the digital key. I requested the key this morning and it did ask me what time I plan on arriving, so sounds good.

writerguyfl

There certainly is a function that allows hotels to see if the digital key was used. That function is how they know if guests are checked in but fail to arrive (aka "no-show").

It's in the best interest of both the hotel and corporate to correctly mark guests as no-shows. Hotels don't have to pay for points if guests are fail to arrive. And corporate wouldn't want people finding a dirt-cheap hotel and simply booking/checking in just to get elite-level status.

As someone who used to work Front Desk (including the overnight shift), I'd only worry about notifying the hotel if you arrive well after midnight. Presuming this hotel is relatively close to the airport, I wouldn't be concerned...particularly if you're planning on checking in online.

wizla

I've noticed a fair few uk Hilton's now have this option, personally I've not had the chance to use this yet, anyone had any issues/experiences lately?.....I notice my two favourite Hilton's ( Waldorf and Canary Wharf ) now have digital key access.

chrism20

Sheffield Park DT posted on social media a few weeks ago now that they were the seventeenth Hilton property to have digi key.

DT Aberdeen beach, HGI Aberdeen and DT Dundee are the three so far in Scotland have it so far.

corporate-wage-slave

Same problem that you get in the USA: some hotels, some bookings it works fine (so Hamptons and HGIs), other hotels (Doubletrees if we were to generalise) you ask for it via the App, and it turns out that they really do want you to sign something at the front desk, or provide ID. So you don't get the benefit of the key. Worst culprit so far has been DT Bath Road. After considerable pleading with them I got a traditional key, but only have multiple minutes wrestling with the computer system, getting a colleague from the back office, rebooting the computer, logging in and out and in and....

DouglasKelly

At the Doubletree San Jose, the door to the pool and the fitness centre were about 20ft apart. I could never get to the pool - only the fitness centre door would show up on the digital key.

I also noticed that the digital key was a lot slower to get into my room than just using the plastic key (they issued me the plastic after I mentioned that I couldn't get into the pool area). Firing up the app, finding the DK, waiting for it to find the door, clicking on unlock, clicking again, waiting for the door to respond...it is going to take a while for this gimmick to be particularly useful. Especially when it doesn't enable you to bypass FD ("we're having issues, please stop by FD").

pinniped

Hopefully it will get faster and less buggy over time. Speed of use may have some physical limitations, but if its gets more reliable and the UX gets closer to a single press of a button, I can live with it being a *little* slower than inserting the card.

adambrock

If you have an iPhone running iOS 10, you can add a widget to the widget screen (don't know the proper term, but swipe right from the home screen to get there), and it has a link that goes straight to digital key. However, it still has to launch the app, so there is a delay. Usually I fire up the app when I'm getting on the elevator, and it's ready to unlock my door as I'm walking up.

shorthauldad

Is it a given that (heavy) glass bottles are more environmentally friendly than plastic bottles?

Local is definitely the way to go. There's a secret method that even works without a bottle:

• pick up empty glass
• place under nearest (local!) tap
• fill glass
• raise to mouth
• drink

Success!