Your Galaxy phone with NFC can already make tap-to-pay mobile payments and unlock smart door locks. But it can do one more thing now: it can unlock your hotel room using a virtual key provided by your hotel. To use this feature, you can use the Google Wallet app.
Google Wallet can now store virtual hotel room keys
Google has announced (via 9To5Google) that the Google Wallet app for Android can store virtual keys for digital locks, allowing you to lock or unlock the door of your hotel room. And it is not related to just hotel rooms. You can use the app and the phone to unlock elevators, guest rooms, gyms, and pools throughout your stay
The setup process for storing and accessing hotel room keys is similar to adding boarding passes for airline tickets. A hotel's app, email, or website can offer the ‘Add To Google Wallet' button, and pressing it will bring relevant details to the Google Wallet app. However, before this can happen, you must check in, get a room assigned, and get the hotel key access. There is also an option to add it ahead of time.
You need to wake up the phone and unlock it to use the hotel room key. However, some hotels may allow you to access the key without unlocking your phone. The first hotel to support this new Google Wallet feature is the Clarion Hotel Post in Gothenburg, Sweden. More hotels will likely support this new feature in the near future.
The story continues after the video below that showcases Samsung's Interpreter Mode. If you're traveling to a new country where people don't speak your language, you can use it for real-time language translation.
The Google Wallet app can store your credit and debit cards, flight boarding passes, bus and train tickets, loyalty cards, and membership cards. It usually works with NFC taps, but it also features a QR code for making mobile payments. It can also store digital car keys, government-issued mobile identification cards, and office badges.
