Apple and Hyatt begin rolling out hotel keys in Apple Wallet – The Verge

Apple is partnering with Hyatt to give some hotel guests the ability to store their room keys in their Apple Wallets, as announced in a post on Hyatt’s newsroom. Instead of checking your pockets for your room key, you’ll now be able to use your iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock your room, as well as any other areas around the hotel that require a key for entry.

There are currently only six Hyatt hotels in the US that support this feature, although Hyatt says it plans to eventually include it in hotels worldwide. But for now, the participating hotels include: Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, Hyatt Centric Key West Resort and Spa, Hyatt House Chicago / West Loop-Fulton Market, Hyatt House Dallas / Richardson, Hyatt Place Fremont / Silicon Valley, and Hyatt Regency Long Beach.

Just keep in mind that in order to use the feature, your iPhone will need iOS 15 or above, and your Apple Watch must run watchOS 8 and above. Hyatt notes that once you’ve completed your reservation, you can add your room key to your Apple Wallet through the World of Hyatt app. The key will display your room number and will only activate when your room is ready for check-in. If you need to make any changes to your room, you can do so through the app, and your key will be updated automatically. Your key will deactivate once you’ve checked out.

Apple previewed this feature at WWDC 2021 alongside its digital ID feature. Once launched, this will allow users in participating states to digitally store their identification cards in their Apple Wallets. Although Arizona and Georgia were supposed to be the first states to let residents store their IDs on their iPhones, its rollout has been delayed until 2022.