Beyond the Lock | The future of access control in independent hospitality

What's changed since 2011

The access control industry wasn't known for moving fast, until it had to. RemoteLock CEO Nolan Mondrow points to COVID-19 as the real accelerant, pushing contactless entry and mobile keys from nice-to-have to necessary. For hospitality, the need was already obvious: skipping the front desk and walking straight to your room is a better experience for guests and less staffing burden for the property.

SVP of Sales Aaron Sandager adds that boutique hotels are only now catching up to what large chains have offered for years, thanks to technology that finally fits their size and budget, one of several ways boutique hotels are doing more with smaller teams.

The unstaffed front desk, in practice

Mondrow and Sandager walk through what changes day-to-day when a property moves to self-service, a shift we've covered in rethinking what the boutique hotel front desk should automate and what to keep human. Cleaners get notified automatically when a guest checks out. Maintenance staff get access without tracking down a physical key. Guests move from arrival to their room without a single interaction, unless they want one.

Both are quick to note what this isn't: hospitality without a human touch. It's freeing staff to show up for guests when it matters, instead of standing behind a desk.

What happens when something goes wrong

The conversation also gets into the concerns that hold operators back; dead batteries, dropped internet, locked-out guests with no one at the door. Mondrow explains how modern systems are built to keep working independently, and to flag problems like low batteries before they become a guest's problem, part of choosing the right mix of PINs, mobile, and card credentials for a boutique hotel.

Where access control is headed next

Looking five years out, both speakers point to natural language and AI as the next shift, the same forces pushing hotels to look past PMS-only access workflows toward something more integrated. Mondrow doesn't think this is a decades-away idea. He's already watching it happen.