LAS VEGAS—Magnetic stripe keycards have been a staple in hospitality for years now, found in properties along every part of the hotel spectrum.
But in recent years, technology has begun to change the landscape for hotel security, specifically in the area of door-locking mechanisms.
Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, has been around for a while now. Up to this point, the primary use of RFID has been for shipping and tracking purposes, as well as inventory management in many retail locations worldwide. However, the technology has come down in cost to implement in recent years, making it more available and desirable to use in other applications.
One major installation of this technology as it relates to door locking systems is at CityCenter in Las Vegas, a joint venture of MGM Resorts International and Infinity World Development Corp.
“Our mandate [when we began development]at CityCenter was to have the most reasonable tech advances we could make,” said John Lowes, executive director of guest technology for MGM Resorts. “More specifically, when we started looking at things in 2006/7, for an opening in 2009, we knew we needed to be at the forefront. [RFID] was something that would set us apart.”
MGM Resorts decided to go with KABA Saflok as the technology provider for the RFID system. At the time the order was placed, Lowes noted, CityCenter was one of the first. However, according to Saflok, RFID now accounts for more than 50% of all orders.
“If we had installed older technology,” said Lowes, “we would have been stuck with old tech. We needed to be as aggressive as possible. That was the immediate thought process behind the decision.”
Right now, CityCenter is using RFID in minimal ways, but the technology has the advantage of being able to scale up as demand and customer expectations change, noted Lowes. In addition to unlocking the door, the system is tied into the back-end communications backbone of the hotel. This allows them to do such things as turn on the lights, open the drapes and turn on the television.
“The room essentially greets you,” said Lowes. Today, everyone gets the same “greeting” upon entering for the first time, but Lowes noted that there is opportunity in the future to do more, such as integrate it with guest preferences noted in the loyalty program. Privacy is a major issue, however, and Lowes noted that data tracking and use is something the property will be taking very seriously.
“We need to be very careful from a customer privacy program, not to connect it to [a specific guest], but to do it in the aggregate.… As we go forward and evolve the system, we would be very careful about what personal guest data we store on the card itself,” said Lowes.
One application making headlines recently is the ability to allow guests to open their room door with their personal cell phone. Lowes noted that the system CityCenter has installed is capable of that application, however, he doesn’t see much of an opportunity to activate and promote such a use in the United States right now. “Today we don’t see use of an NFC-integrated phone much of an opportunity in 2011. The industry expects only about 15% of phones worldwide to have this capability, and those will mostly be in Europe and Asia,” he noted. NFC, or near-field communication, is an ability that must be built into phone hardware by the manufacturers.
For 2011, Lowes said he doesn’t see CityCenter really looking to do more with its RFID system than what it is has currently implemented. Right now, he noted, the property is focusing mostly on improving efficiencies across the board. However, in 2012, he believes they will start to look at technology again, and see what opportunities are available to them within the current RFID infrastructure.