Notiz Hotel is integrating the digital room key into both the guest journey and hospitality education

It’s becoming increasingly common to unlock hotel rooms via a mobile wallet

No more fumbling for a keycard in your wallet – instead, you can unlock your hotel room and other areas on site using a mobile phone or smartwatch. Notiz Hotel in Leeuwarden is one of the first hotels in the Netherlands to use digital wallet keys. Behind the seemingly simple tap on the lock lies a cloud-based access system. For this training hotel, this is not only an investment in the guest experience, but also in the expertise of a new generation of hospitality professionals.

For decades, there has been a set ritual at hotel reception: checking in, receiving a keycard and making sure you don’t lose it or forget to take it back to your room during your stay. Notiz Hotel, located on the NHL Stenden campus in Leeuwarden, demonstrates just how quickly that ritual can change. Guests can now store their room key in the digital wallet on their smartphone or smartwatch and use it to open the door directly, without having to download a separate mobile app.

The technology is well suited to Notiz’s dual role. It is a modern, full-service hotel for real guests, but at the same time a learning environment where students gain experience in areas such as front office, housekeeping, sales, marketing, revenue and hospitality technology. As a result, the organisation looks beyond the question of whether a new system simply works well today. The technology must also demonstrate how the hospitality industry itself is evolving.

Expectations are shifting

“Technology is evolving and guests” expectations are changing,” says Kashif Mahmood, Head of IT & Innovation at NHL Stenden Hospitality Group. Around ten years ago, the hotel began using Vingcard solutions as part of a wider modernisation of its operations. Various systems were tested. According to Mahmood, it was ultimately the combination of security, scalability and ease of use that tipped the balance.

The latest development comprises three components that work together as a single access solution: Vostio Access Management, digital wallet keys and electronic Vingcard Essence locks. Vostio manages access from the cloud and is linked to the property management system. This means the hotel does not need to maintain a local server for access management, and automatic software updates are carried out centrally.

For staff, the main benefit lies in simplicity. “Vostio makes the check-in process easier. It’s very simple to create a guest key,” says Mahmood. “This leads to a smoother check-in and check-out process and, ultimately, a better guest experience.” The digital key is only granted the appropriate access rights for the duration of the stay. Advanced encryption and secure communication channels are also used to protect the access details. A physical keycard remains available for guests who prefer it.

A key in the wallet

The wallet key brings the digital room key into an environment that many travellers already use on a daily basis for payment cards, tickets and boarding passes. This means guests do not have to open a separate hotel app every time they want to enter their room. Simply holding their phone or smartwatch up to the reader is all it takes. This makes the transition to mobile access easier and reduces reliance on a plastic keycard.

Mahmood describes wallet keys as “a game-changer. They align with the way guests live and travel these days, and with their expectations of a contactless guest journey.” For him, that contactless aspect is not an end in itself. The real value lies in reducing the number of steps at times when the guest simply wants to move on: on arrival, after a long day in the city, or when their hands are full of luggage.

For hotels, mobile access control therefore addresses several issues at once. It can reduce waiting times and the number of tasks at reception, cut down on the number of keycards issued and give guests greater control. At the same time, its implementation requires close coordination between the PMS, the access control platform, the locks and the operational processes. A digital key is only truly convenient when the technology behind the scenes works together seamlessly.

Technology out of sight

During its recent refurbishment, Notiz Hotel opted for Vingcard Essence locks. The electronic components and mobile access technology are largely housed within the door itself. As a result, only a small, discreet reader remains visible on the outside. “We were looking for electronic locks that would complement the refurbished interior,” says Mahmood. “The minimalist, sleek and elegant design fitted in well with that. There is hardly any visible hardware, whilst the system is easy to maintain and highly secure.”

That design detail is indicative of the direction in which hotel technology is heading. Guests expect systems to work intuitively, but want to see as little of the technology itself as possible. A door lock is therefore no longer judged solely on security and reliability, but also on how well it fits in with the interior and the overall guest experience. Furthermore, the new locks are integrated into an “online” environment. This offers many operational benefits and takes security management to an even higher level. For example, the locks’ log data can be read remotely, and an alert is triggered if a door remains open unnecessarily or if someone attempts to open doors using a lost keycard.

The hotel as a living lab

For Notiz, the project doesn’t end at the hotel room door. The partnership with Vingcard also turns the hotel into a living lab, where new products – often still in the final stages of development – can be tested in real-world conditions. As a result, students are exposed to technology during their studies that is still in the early stages of adoption in many hotels.

Jeroen Coesmans, Managing Director at Vingcard Benelux, considers this educational role to be particularly valuable. He expresses his appreciation for Notiz’s vision of training students using the latest hotel technology. For the supplier, the partnership also provides insights at an early stage from a working hotel, where guests, staff and students use the latest solution on a daily basis.

“Our students get to experience the latest technology even before they graduate,” says Mahmood. “This shows how strong collaboration between industry and education can drive innovation.” In doing so, Notiz is not only future-proofing its own approach to hotel room access; the hotel is also familiarising the professionals of tomorrow with a guest journey in which the key is increasingly digital, invisible and taken for granted.