Apple and Hyatt begin implementing hotel keys in Apple Wallet

Apple has partnered with Hyatt to give few hotel guests the ability to store their room keys in their Apple Wallets, as announced in a post in Hyatt's newsroom. So instead of going through your pockets for your room key, you can now use your iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock your room, as well as any other area of the hotel that requires a key to enter.

Currently, only six Hyatt hotels in the US support this feature, although Hyatt says it plans to include it in hotels around the world eventually. But for now, participating hotels include Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, Hyatt Centric Key West Resort and Spa, Hyatt House Chicago / West Loop-Fulton Market, Hyatt House Dallas / Richardson, Hyatt Place Fremont / Silicon Valley, and Hyatt Regency Long Playa.

Just keep in mind that your iPhone will need iOS 15 or higher to use the feature, and your Apple Watch must be running watchOS 8 and higher. Once you've completed your reservation, Hyatt notes that you can add your room key to your Apple Wallet through the World of Hyatt app. The key will display your room number and only be activated when your room is ready for check-in. If you need to make any changes to your room, you can do it through the application, and your key will be updated automatically. Your password will be deactivated once you have checked out.

Apple previewed this feature at WWDC 2021 alongside its digital ID feature. Once launched, this will allow users in participating states to store their ID cards in their Apple Wallets digitally. Although Arizona and Georgia were supposed to be the first states to allow residents to store their IDs on their iPhones, their implementation was delayed until 2022.