In California that would be illegal. Merchants can not copy drivers license information in conjunction with a credit card transaction. The picture in essence is a copy of the DL. The only exception to this is for Car Rental companies for obvious reasons.

I don't know exactly how it works, but it looked to me like it is third party software that "confirms" your identity by matching your ID picture with your selfie picture, and matches your ID name with reservation name, then presumably destroys the picture.

I found this article and it seem pretty simple... I will have a chance soon to try this out.

Using Hyatt Mobile Entry to Skip the Front Desk - Travel Codex

The only thing this did not answer is will the other guest in your room need to log into Hyatt app? What if I am travelling with a friend, will he/she need to download the app and log into your account in order to use mobile entry?

I haven't tried the mobile check-in yet. Is this ID "confirmation" a standard process now?

The in-app FAQs say that another guest staying in the room just needs to be logged into the Hyatt app and have mobile key enabled/authorized on their device.

I did a mobile check in at the end of June and did not need to provide ID (in NYC).

It's very variable. More often than not I've still had to go to the check in desk after doing online checkin and requesting a mobile key.

Sure, I was just presenting a data point in response to Trek that it probably wasn't "standard process" at least in late June.

Logged in as who?
 

None of my family are Hyatt members. Should they install the Hyatt app and login as me? Or create a new login for themselves? If the latter, how would Hyatt know they are staying in my room? Would it be enough if they just know the booking number? That seems very unsafe since lots of travel agents have access to this info. Or does Hyatt check the name? Again, not really safe enough. Or would we need to go to the front desk and give their membership numbers to the staff, so they can register them as guests? Or is. Mobile Entry always limited to a single guest?

It's very unclear to me how this should work, and I can't believe it's never mentioned in any of the articles I've read, from Hyatt or elsewhere.

Same question here. Will actually be traveling w/ my family, but coming from different places and they will arrive first. I have my wife's name listed somewhere in the reservation notes, but in theory if I do digital checkin, how would this work. Could I just screenshot the key? Or tell her to log into my Hyatt app?

If you do digital check in you’ll likely still have to go to the front desk to physically check in and get a key (or have them activate your digital key). If you wife arrives first she would have to go to (try to) check in when she arrives and get a physical key. Some properties are pretty strict on requiring the person who is the “lead” guest on the reservation to be physically present before they will let anyone check in.

It would only work if the property supports digital keys and assigns a room before you get there. If you see the room number instead of your room is ready, you can skip the front desk. She would need to login to your Hyatt account, as the key works through NFC I believe. It also requires two factor authentication to setup a phone so after logging into the app you have to go to Account - Profile - App Settings - Hyatt Mobile Entry to auth the device. It sends a code to your email. If this isn't an option I would call the FD maybe and tell them she's checking in first.

I've never had mobile key work for me at Hyatt. I was hoping it would work at the Hyatt House Tempe - a property that is new and says they have it - but I still had to go to the front desk. There was no queue, wasn't a big issue, I was just surprised the process failed to work. They have my CC on file, it's the same CC I showed, and I've used it for multiple prior Hyatt stays.

Hilton, for all of their shortcomings, has had digital key working well for several years now. I rarely have to go to the front desk at all anymore. Marriott still requires the front desk, but at busy hotels they sometimes have a mobile check-in queue which is fast....show ID, get keys.

In general compared to Marriott, IHG and in some ways in even Hyatt I don’t think Hilton has any shortcomings except maybe the Lifetime Status counter? With respect to Hyatt Mobile Key or whatever they are calling it I had it work at a Hyatt Place in Phoenix and Dallas. My disappointment with Marriott and Hyatt is if a property advertises a Mobile key with online check in through the App and the key doesn’t work requiring a visit to the front desk Hilton will give you a hard key with just your name and sometimes showing the app on your phone. Why doesn’t Marriott or Hyatt do that instead of a completely old school checkin as if Smart phones, mobile apps and even the internet didn’t exist??

Shortcomings of Hilton: almost no recognition for Diamond members (with covid used as cover to make it worse), multiple large structural devaluations over the past 10-15 years - substantially more and more impactful than changes that Hyatt, Starwood, and Marriott have made, and general dearth of aspirational properties - although this last bit has gotten better in recent years.

Hilton's strength is consistency across the limited service brands. Which in a way, makes it a good complement for Hyatt members who need something to cover smaller towns and countries where Hyatt doesn't have the footprint. If you stay in the Hampton/Homewood/HGI type hotels, it's a solid choice.