Hyatt Makes Hotel Room Keys Available for Apple Wallet

Hyatt guests at participating hotels can now store their room keys in Apple Wallet, which can be used to instantly access their room or locked common areas.

If you use Apple Wallet and stay at one of six (to start) Hyatt hotels, you can now access your room and other locked areas with your iPhone or Apple Watch. The new program, which was just announced today, is intended to offer hotel guests a faster, contactless option.

According to Hyatt, you can use the World of Hyatt app to make a reservation, check in, and add your room key to your Apple Wallet—once the room is ready. After the key is set up, you'll be able to use it to instantly access your room, the gym, the pool, etc., by tapping your iPhone or Apple Watch against the NFC (near field communication) lock.

Hyatt also says that your room key usage will remain private, with no information shared with Apple or stored on any of its servers. The key will be deactivated once you check out (which can also be done remotely via the app).

What sets Apple Wallet room keys apart from the World of Hyatt app's digital keys is expediency. Digital keys required opening the app and navigating through menus to unlock rooms, whereas, with Apple Wallet, you just have to hold your iPhone or Apple Watch up to the lock.

Six Hyatt locations currently offer Apple Wallet keys: Maui, Key West, Chicago/West Loop-Fulton Market, Dallas/Richardson, Fremont/Silicon Valley, and Long Beach.

Hyatt plans to make the feature available to all global locations in the future, but no dates have been announced yet. You'll also need to have the World of Hyatt app for Android or iOS in order to set up and access keys in your Apple Wallet.