Tourists can now open their hotel rooms using a smartphone.
The application "Park Plaza Croatia”, which includes digital key service, has been nominated at the Croatian Tourist Board contest in the Innovation 2016 category. Following last year's launch of the Arenaturist free app for guests “PPHE Croatia”, the development of the app has continued and resulted in a new and unique service that allows users to open an electronic lock in their hotel room or apartment using a smartphone. Such option has provided a competitive advantage to Arenaturist, whose Park Plaza Arena hotel is the first in Croatia with such a free service for guests, reports Poslovni.hr on July 15, 2016.
The development and launch of the free app “PPHE Croatia” for guests of Park Plaza Histria, Park Plaza Arena, and the tourist resort Park Plaza Verudela was the result of the demands and expectations of guests who wanted to have an access to all the necessary information related to their stay via tablets and smartphones. There was also the need of the hotels to communicate directly with their customers.
This year, with the inclusion of the Park Plaza Belvedere into the app, it became necessary to add some new capabilities, such as the ability to use mobile phones to enter hotel rooms, and thus avoid additional cards and eliminate the need to wait in line at the front desk. This feature was just implemented at Park Plaza Arena, which became the first hotel in Croatia with a digital key. The intention is to expand it to other hotels under the Park Plaza brand in Pula and Medulin.
The technical implementation of this project and of the application was made on the mobile platform of the Intersoft Technologies company from Pula. The digital key was developed in cooperation with the leading global company for access control in the hotel business Assa Abloy Hospitality, while the integration of technical solutions was completed with the help of Špica Sistem Zagreb, Arenaturist’s long-time partner and supplier of electronic locks for all the hotels.
The app and new service are very easy to use. In only five basic steps a guest can enter the room without a key or keycard.
