InterContinental Hotels Group is planning to pilot a new technology that allows guests to unlock their hotel-room door via smart phone, according to USA Today.

IHG executive Bryson Koehler says the new system will let users skip the check-in desk and avoid the burden of carrying around another item, instead being able to use their existing smart phones—iPhone, Blackberry and Android—and a program called Open Ways.

IHG will run the pilot, which is expected to run for at least two months, at the Hold Holiday Inn Chicago O’ Hare Rosemont and the Holiday Inn Express Houston Downtown Convention Center.

Under the system, guests register with the hotel online to receive a confirmation email directly to their phone containing data that unlocks the hotel-door.

In order to join the trial, participants first need to download the Open Ways app on to their phone, which has the potential to work at any hotel, Koehler says.

Read more here.

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