What are the latest door lock developments?

By Kate Jackson, Industry Reporter

Tongues and grooves may have ruled for two thousand years, but hotel door locks are now all about waves.

Electronic locks have opened the doors to accessing a property’s car park and guest suites, pool decks and gym rooms with the fl ourish of a card, wristband or smartphone.

All doors throughout your accom property - whether it’s the Hilton or a hostel - can be controlled and managed through an electronic system which automatically generates and monitors keys for check-ins.

Access control management soft ware can confi gure locks to access specifi c areas at set hours of the day on particular days of the week. And wireless solutions allow commands to be sent remotely to the locks in situations such as guest lockout or lost key cancellation.

Of course, as well providing speedy and hassle-free access, latest technology must deliver on the basics of safety and reliability. Security has previously been an issue for touchless check-in systems, but quality key within their own app.”

Image courtesy of ASSA Abloy

Image courtesy of Salto Systems

manufacturers have developed a number of safeguards to prevent issues of data theft .

Industry perspectives So, what are the latest

Cedric Duigou, SALTO Systems channel manager for hospitality, Australia and New Zealand, told us: “In terms of the security, ensure the access rights are sent as a 128-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encrypted digital key over-the-air using a fast and secured transmission based on SSL (secure sockets layer) protocols.

“The digital key is protected by anti-cloning technology and can be deleted anytime. They can also provide an API (application programming interface) for hotels to embed the mobile

quality manufacturers will

technological developments in door locking, and how do they make life easier for managers and guests?

We asked Michael Benikos, managing director of ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions Australia to explain. He told us: “BLE (Bluetooth low energy) has really taken off within the hospitality industry because it provides hoteliers with the opportunity to off er an array of convenienceenhancing abilities due to the mass presence of guest devices, and signifi cantly, without draining the batt ery life of such devices.

“This is because BLE can prevent unnecessary batt ery usage by only activating radio communication when needed and by transmitt ing small data packages at low transfer speeds.

“For the security access market, BLE is a central component that has allowed for the rise of digital key technology, a feature that is increasingly being found in hotels around the world and is even being mandated by several hotel brands as a required service to be off ered at each of its locations.”

Cedric Duigou says the great advantage of both NFC (nearfi eld communication) and BLE technology is that they allow guests to use their smartphone as a mobile key.

“Guests can receive a key anytime, anywhere, allowing them to arrive outside of hours or skip the checkin process entirely.

“The mobile key off ers a more cost eff ective and environmentally sustainable response compared to physical cards. The next big trend will be mobile keys because they are more cost eff ective, secure, convenient and a greener solution.” P46

Michael says that while NFC initially gained plenty of att ention from the industry for its potential to provide hotels with digital key abilities, it has lost ground to BLE in recent times.

“Ultimately, the platform’s high cost and initial incompatibility with Apple iPhones meant that NFC was not a viable option. Furthermore, the rise of BLE technology has since made the issue of implementing NFC redundant as BLE is widely available on guest devices, can be made to be secure, and is able to be implemented in a cost-eff ective manner.”

According to Cedric, while NFC/BLE credentials are increasingly being used for guest access, staff are typically using RFID (radio frequency identifi cation) smartcards.

“These cards can serve as an ID badge and be used to interact with many thirdparty systems,” he says.

“Most importantly, on the staff card, quality systems can store the user’s access rights and collect audit trails and batt ery status of the

Hotel Mobile Access

Guests can receive a key anytime, anywhere, allowing them to arrive outside of hours or skip the check-in process entirely.

offl ine doors visited, whilst at the same time spreading the deleted card and blacklists to any offl ine components.

“This off ers enormous fl exibility and provides almost realtime online functionality for offl ine products, so facilities can use a mix of online and offl ine products.

“All these technologies are in fact complementary within a property in order to create the most cost-effi cient, fl exible and secure access control system.”

As keyless door locks continue their ascendancy, is this the end for magnetic stripe cards?

Cedric Duigou says: “Absolutely these products have had their day. “Mag stripe is a very old technology off ering very litt le to no security. The information stored on these cards is easily erased by any low magnetic fi eld, which creates unnecessary frustration and inconvenience for guests having to continuously visit reception to have their card re-encoded.

“Today, properties (big and small) insist on NFC, BLE, Mifare and DESfi re (multi-application smart cards) compatibility, which can present the fl exibility to convert offl ine locks to a wireless on-line system at any time - a truly future-proofed solution.”

Since being fi rst introduced to the market around 2006, Michael says, RFID-based locks have virtually replaced older magstripe models due to their superior security and operational abilities.

“For example, RFID can off er enhanced keycard encryption that eliminates the threat of unauthorized keycard cloning,” he says.

“When implemented as part of an online system, additional benefi ts include being able to remotely and instantly deactivate cards that are suspected of being stolen or receiving alerts that inform staff that a wandering intruder is att empting to use a keycard on several doors throughout a property.

“Unlike magstripe-based locks, RFID solutions also do not require any moving parts which translates into a minimized need for maintenance. From a guest satisfaction perspective, RFID keycards are further immune from demagnetization, a common and inconvenient issue that requires guests to return to the front desk to be issued a new keycard when staying at a magstripe

Reimagining Security

At ASSA ABLOY Global Solutions, we’re dedicated to reimagining how people move through their world — and as the world leader in hotel security technology innovation for over 40 years, we secure millions of hotel rooms around the globe with our industry-leading brands, VingCard and Elsafe.

With integrated software platforms, as well as advanced Mobile access and location solutions, we help our customers enhance the hotel guest experience while maximizing j\Zli`kpXe[`dgifm`e^fg\iXk`feXc\]ÔZ`\eZp%

lock equipped property.”

Staff Safety VingCard Locks Elsafe Safes Energy Management Minibars

Tel.:1 300 796 233 assaabloyglobalsolutions.com au.globalsolutions@assaabloy.com