Hotel Door Locks Can Make Or Break a Guest’s Experience
Hotel Door Locks Can Make Or Break a Guest’s Experience
Hotel door locks may seem like a trivial part of your property, but they can make or break a guest’s experience. Your guests will interact with them frequently, so they must be easy to operate.
Magstripe locks use plastic cards encoded with magnetic information that is read by a lock. They are not always reliable and require guests to go to the front desk to reactivate their key cards.
Security
Hotel door locks may seem like a minor aspect of the guest experience, but they can actually impact security in a major way. Regardless of the specific door lock hardware your property chooses, it must meet certain building and industry regulations.
For example, doors that lead to stairwells must be designed to automatically open during fires and other emergencies to provide guests with safe escape routes. Private spaces and potentially dangerous areas, such as server rooms and maintenance facilities, must be protected behind locks that are only accessible with credentials that are specifically approved by your hotel’s staff.
To ensure these requirements are met, your hotel must use a comprehensive management system that offers versatile permissions for different spaces within the property. Ideally, your system will allow staff to easily monitor and adjust access settings in real time, so they can see who has entered or exited each space throughout the day.
Another common hotel door lock feature is the ability for staff to revoke access permissions with the push of a button. This allows your team to quickly and efficiently manage the access permissions of each guest during their stay without having to replace or re-issue physical keys or digital access codes. This streamlined process also hotel door locks helps to minimize the risk of key hacking and other forms of insecure access control.
Ease of Use
Guests expect to be able to lock and unlock hotel doors with their mobile devices. If you are still using a lock system that requires guests to swipe their room keycard, then you could be letting those expectations down. BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) locks are a great solution that can help your guests do exactly that. This technology lets your guests unlock the door simply by presenting their smartphone to the lock, and you can also control this type of lock remotely.
Another option that makes guest experience easier for you is an RFID lock system. This type of lock looks and works similar to an IC card, except that it can be used with smartphones and is more easily updated. You can even have your smart locks synchronized with other hotel-branded amenities for a more seamless check-in process.
A more common type of commercial hotel door lock is a PIN or passcode system. This is popular in motels, bed and breakfasts and short-term homestays for a simpler lock solution that still gives you the ability to monitor and issue credentials. In some cases, these types of locks can be upgraded with biometric indicators such as fingerprints or facial recognition for a more secure, customizable hotel door locks experience. This kind of layered security is especially beneficial for hotels that have multiple entrance points to their property, or in case your property has multiple locations for different purposes.
Durability
A hotel lock is an essential part of a guest’s experience. That’s why it needs to be reliable. Look for a system that complies with industry standards and regulations, is easy to use, and offers a warranty.
Smart locks are a more convenient alternative to fobs, key cards and traditional keys. They connect to the internet, and many even integrate with property management systems. They’re easy to install and have great battery life. Some offer the option to change codes remotely, making them more flexible and secure than traditional locks.
The best smart locks are built for long-lasting durability and feature a sleek, modern design. They also offer an integrated touchscreen for a convenient user experience. Many offer a device history available in the app to track who has entered your premises and when. They are a good choice for hotels looking to upgrade their locks and offer more value to their guests.
If you’re a hospitality operator looking to implement a new door lock, choose one that has an excellent track record and is backed by reputable manufacturers. This ensures that you’ll be able to provide a high-quality product and instill customer confidence. A dependable lock will help you sleep better at night knowing that your hotel is safe.
Installation
Whether you want to implement a smart lock for hotel rooms with RFID card access or go for a more advanced smartphone-enabled door lock that allows guests to unlock and lock their doors using an app on their mobile devices, the options are plenty. It is important to choose the right type of hotel lock for your property by weighing the pros and cons of each. The latch type, door swing and handle direction are the main factors to consider.
Most commercial locks are based on RFID technology and use digital credentials stored in a physical card to grant access. When the card is in proximity with a door-mounted reader, the data sent to the lock via radio waves will be matched and the door will open. This is a more secure option than magstripe locks, but it can be more costly as the cards must be reissued when they are lost or demagnetized.
Separate component locks require two separate pieces – a reader and lock handle – and require a two-step installation process. This type of hotel lock hardware can be more expensive than full-body locks, but it is flexible enough to allow you to upgrade to new technology in the future without requiring a complete replacement. They also house the batteries inside the look, making them more secure than magstripe locks, and are easy to maintain.