Toshiro Hitsugaya

I will bestaying in at a Hampton Inn, next week and was notified I can check in through my phone using the app.

When I do this, do I have to go to the Front desk or can I just check in through the app during normal check in times once my room is ready?

I know noobish questions, but dont stay at Hilton properties that often to use this feature.

corporate-wage-slave

Broadly speaking, if you apply for the digital key you will get a notification when the room is ready - this could be several hours before the advertised check-in time in some cases - and yes you are free to head straight to your room. If there is a elevator key process (etc) then there should be an option to unlock that too. The one thing you may miss is the snack + drink allowance if your status allows this; in some Hamptons they do put these in the room for you, particularly the water, but that's the exception. So what I do is if the front desk is clear on arrival is pick them up at that point, or later on if they are busy. Using the digital key also allows you to check-out electronically too, so long as you're not after a late check-out.

You will find several other threads in this forum on different people's experiences, both positive and negative. The first time you use a Digital Key it may fall over, since in the background there are some things set up with credit cards which seem to fall over occasionally. A few jurisdictions require you to add ID information into your profile the first time you use the Key.

:D!

There are two parts to the process: online check in and digital key. Some properties only offer OLCI and some offer both. You can OLCI usually from the day before your stay, it will confirm card details then may or may not let you choose a room. If the property doesn't offer digital key then the process ends here and you have to go to the front desk.

If the property does offer digital key, after OLCI the app will then show that it has requested a key. On the day of your stay the key will usually change status to "Ready to use", which means you can go straight to the room and skip the front desk.

However sometimes the key won't become ready and there will be a message telling you to go to the front desk. The reasons for this may include local law requiring the front desk to see your ID, or hotel policy is to make you present a physical credit card and sign some form, or there is some problem with your reservation. In the USA generally you will get the digital key, but it is kind of pointless in countries like Italy where the front desk must copy your passport.

I've also had problems in some properties where the digital key unlocks my room door, but it doesn't unlock some other doors or lift/elevator which are required to get to the room, which also makes it a bit pointless.

writerguyfl

It depends upon your phone and what apps you have installed.

Who is eligible to use Digital Key?

Toshiro Hitsugaya

Thank you all for the great replies, I've let my status slip to the basic level as all my stays have been on my companies dime at the properties they required so no perks for me.

I do have a newer cell phone and the latest version of the Hilton app.

It makes no difference to me, but while try the online check-in feature for the experince and see what happens.

Thank you al .

cblaisd

Just don't get your hopes up The last 10 digital keys I had: a) opened room door on only one stay; b) opened exterior doors -- never.

evergrn

Question...

I OLCI probably a little less than half the time, usually when I know I'm going to arrive late and wish to avert a slim picking of leftover rooms upon arrival, or when I see an OLCI room option that I'm satisfied with.
I've never done digital check-in.

Well, I recently OLCI to a room that I liked just 2-3 hrs before arrival, declined digital check-in, then arrived to be told that my OLCI room had been given to someone else. That really ticked me off, but the hotel clerk made all kinds of excuses and no apologies. In fact this was not the first time I've encountered this issue.

So the question is, does digital check-in truly lock in my selected OLCI room? If I snag a room I really want with OLCI, would it behoove me to accept digital check-in so that I will never lose that room?

:D!

If you get the digital key then I believe you will receive the room you selected. But the digital key is issued by the hotel, not by you, so if they wanted the possibility of changing your room, they could just not issue it and force you to go to the front desk.

corporate-wage-slave

The Digital Key, once issued to you, is most unlikely to change, though of course there will be circumstances when the unlikely happens. Particularly if you opt for the key before the room is available, then you have an automated link to that room the moment it gets released by housekeeping. So if someone else wanted that room the front desk wouldn't see it as available, and it would take some effort to switch things around.

For OLCI, I have had room changes occasionally but mostly the room will stick. Sometimes there isn't a lot anyone can do about it, if the previous occupant doesn't leave the room in a timely way - for whatever reason - then it is what it is. If a very high value regular guest makes a specific request, many front desks would try to accommodate that request. But these are the exceptions, particularly at hotels where there are relatively minor differences in rooms, so I would say 90% plus of times what you select at OLCI will stick. You are free to ask about other available rooms at check-in, so it's not a binding selection.

antebellum

I guess it's best to pick up actual keys from the front desk instead of going with digital. Don't bother, it won't save your time.
On the other hand, the online check in is a great feature. I tend to choose the highest level rooms possible for my booking.

writerguyfl

The bolded scenario happens more than most people realize. At least it did in the business-oriented hotels in which I worked. It was something that happened multiple times every week.

Qwkynuf

I usually don't select the Digital Key, but I always do the OLCI through the app. A couple of years ago I was going to be arriving late to a Doubletree near LAS, so I requested the digital key to save stopping at the desk on the way in.

Got in around 11pm, went straight to the elevator (dragging all of my crap) went to my assigned room, and the door won't unlock. Tried 3 or 4 times. no dice. Dragged all of my stuff back downstairs, go to the desk, and the dude says "sorry for the inconvenience, your key doesn't work because we upgraded you to a suite due to your Diamond status".
Then he proceeds to hand me 2 bottles of water (not in the little paper bag), the folder with my room keys, the little paper envelope with a cookie in it, *and* a tin of cookies. Didn't have enough hands to manage all of that + my suitcase + my tool bag + my backpack, and ended up dropping the tin of cookies as I got back on the elevator, spraying cookie chunks all over the elevator and the elevator lobby.

Ummmm.... thanks?

evergrn

This latest time that this happened to me, it was definitely not because the room wasn't ready yet. I arrived past 8pm. You're right, though, that most of the time the OLCI room selection will stick. Still think the hotel should never deliberately boot you from the room you had selected unbeknownst to you. Anyways, I think I will seriously consider digital key if I like the room I select on OLCI.

That's great. My last time was the polar opposite of your case, even though I'm also Diamond. Sorry... vent alert. I did OLCI, selected a ~25th floor large corner view room. 2-3 hours later, I arrive and the front desk gives me key cards to a room on like the 15th floor. I tell the front desk guy that's not the room I checked into. He says this new room is actually a better room since it's larger and higher. I knew this was complete bs on both counts, but I didn't want to argue. He also pointed out that I'd made a request to be not next to elevator (which is true) and that he thought the hotel was doing me a favor because this new room was farther away from the elevator than my original corner view room. What kind of rationalization is that? The corner room was not next to the elevator, and moreover I personally selected that room from the floor map on my app. The whole time he's feeding me all this bs to sell the idea that they did me a favor. I walk into this new room, and it turns out this room is near the inner corner of the L-shaped hotel where people from other rooms can easily see me. The corner room that I'd picked on OLCI was at the outer corner of the L.

scottishpoet

I guess you are talking about yourself

scottishpoet

I gave up with the digital key. Too often I got up in the lift but could not open the room, and at the Doubletree I missed my cookies