Aloft – first hotel in Malaysia to go keyless

Some of the steps for getting your keyless access. 

How would you like to bypass the long queues at check-in when you get to your hotel and just go straight up to your room?

All you have to do is download an app to your smartphone and use your phone as your room “key”! Something in the future? Not at all.

Malaysia now welcomes the keyless entry system, as Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral on Aug 22 became the first hotel in Malaysia to have the keyless entry as an option.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide of which Aloft is one of the brands, had first launched in the US on Nov 5, 2014 with a few properties in the group, Aloft, Elements and W, rolling out the SPG Keyless option.

Hotel guests will first have to download the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) app on their phones. They then have to register their phone on the app. If they hotel they have booked at has the SPG Keyless option they will then be invited to use that option. Guests can still go old school and get a card key when they check-in.

The best part of it is that you can initiate the keyless process even on the way to the hotel if you have connectivity. Don’t fret even if you don’t have WiFi in a foreign land – all one needs to do is initiate the bluetooth option and the hotel can communicate with your phone.

Tap phone to the reader and voila your room door in Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sental is now open. Photo: The Star/S.S. Yoga

Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral general manager Gregory Gubiani explaining how the keyless concept works. 

In just a couple of minute, a window will pop up with your room number and you just need to hold your phone vertically over the door reader to access your room. The phone vibrates, light on reader turns green and door is open. Simple as that.

But if there’s more than one of you using that room, the other guest will have to depend on the usual key card as the app only recognises one phone per room.

Do note that unlike guests in United States or Europe, guests in Malaysia will still have to go to the front desk to fill in forms as it was a requirement by the government here.

Oh yes, if you’re worried about your personal information being hacked, rest easy. The media was assured that the app was tested rigorously and the security protocols ensured that your information cannot be accessed by third parties.

If for some unfortunate reason you lose your phone (or it’s stolen) just inform the hotel instructed Gregory Gubiani, Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral general manager, and they will cancel access of the keyless option.

Now I wonder, if they might include audio next and have a personalised greeting when you use your phone to access the room – “Welcome to Aloft, Mr Bond. May this be the start of a wonderful adventure.”