New video shows how easy it is to use a hotel room key stored in Apple Wallet

Widespread adoption of digital keys is still a slow process. But at least it’s happening. Apple is helping in its own way, making it possible to store digital keys in the built-in, first-party Wallet app. This should make it easier to get many things done, including accessing your hotel room. And now a new video shows just how easy it can be.

Rich DeMuro of KTLA recently visited a hotel that’s part of the Hyatt family (via Appleosophy). If you’ll recall, just before the end of 2021, Hyatt announced that it was rolling out support for digital room keys stored in Apple’s Wallet app. Apple made this all possible with the public launch of iOS 15 last year, and Hyatt was one of the first hotel chains to launch support for the feature. The only “bad news” –if one can call it that- -was that the feature was only being tested at six hotels across the United States, with plans to expand support in the future.

With this feature, visitors to select Hyatt Hotels can store their room key as a digital alternative right in the Wallet app. This means they can gain access to their room by either holding up their supported iPhone or Apple Watch to disengage the lock on their room door. And indeed, in this video shared by DeMuro, we can see just how easy it is to make the magic happen. What’s more, DeMuro tried the feature out with Express Mode enabled, which means the iPhone doesn’t even need to be unlocked to access the digital room key and unlock the door.

(Express Mode can be disabled.)

To get started with the feature, Hyatt guests need to make sure they have the Hyatt app installed on their phone. Once that’s done, they will be able to save their digital room key to the Wallet app. Within the Wallet app, that digital key will show their appropriate room number, as well as the dates of their room’s reservation. It’s also worth noting that the feature is associated with Power Reserve as well, which means that even if your iPhone’s battery dies, you’ll still be able to access your digital room key for up to five hours.

The video is not even a minute in length, so it gets right to the point. But, if nothing else, it does show just how handy digital keys can be.

Fingers crossed the widespread rollout, including additional hotel chains, continues at a rapid pace throughout 2022 and beyond.