Marion, Il. — April 24, 2012 — The Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites in Marion, Ill., will be the first hotel in Illinois to allow guests to bypass the front desk process and unlock their room door with their mobile device. The solution, developed by Chicago-based OpenWays, allows any mobile phone to optionally act as a room key for the entire guest stay. The new construction 105 room Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites - Marion will open in early May. The property is developed by Carbondale based Hotel Builders of America and is managed by Monchino Management, LLC.  Reed Station Hotels, LLC is the owner.  The owners of Reed Station are Charlie and Trace Brown of Carbondale.  The Brown’s currently own the Holiday Inn and Houlihan’s Restaurant in Carbondale.
 
“We are delighted to be opening the newest hotel in Marion and offering travelers the newest in mobile guest-services that removes the need to wait in line when they arrive to get into their room," said Matt Monchino, General Manager. "We understand that today's guests depend heavily on their mobile phones when traveling for a variety of purposes, and mobile key by OpenWays is yet another way that Monchino Management is differentiating its hotels in the local market. We eagerly await the opening of this exciting new property, and anticipate that all guests will quickly embrace mobile key as a convenient way to get to their rooms that much faster.”
 
Monchino Management is a full-service hotel management company with headquarters in Herrin, Ill.  The Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Marion, is located at 2609 Blue Heron Drive.  The 105-room (including 23 suites) hotel is situated within 15 minutes of South Illinois University and serves major businesses including General Dynamics, Pepsi MidAmerica, Marion VA Hospital and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield.
 
The OpenWays service enhances the guest experience by providing the choice of a self-service ‘direct to room’ option for customers who prefer to use their mobile device as their room key.  Ultimate service is about offering freedom of choice and options to guests – and increasingly guests are choosing to exploit the mobile technology in their hands rather than wait in line to collect a traditional plastic key card.

OpenWays uses a Crypto Acoustic Credential™ (CAC™) and text messaging to securely deliver a unique acoustic key to the guest anywhere in the world. The CAC™ solution can be retrofitted to the major electronic locks on the market. It is compatible with all 6 billion mobile phones in the world, including all cell phone network technologies (GSM, UMTS, CDMA, 3GCDMA, 4G, LTE, WIMAX...) and ALL Mobile OS standards (Blackberry, Apple iPhone, Symbian, Google Android, JAVA J2ME, Microsoft Windows mobile and more).
 
The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Marion will feature the KABA® Saflok RT™ RFID electronic-locking system with OpenWays’ mobile key solution built in. 
 
"Hotels using mobile key by OpenWays drive more profitable revenues by making it available exclusively via direct sales channels, thereby minimizing dilution of yield with high commission rates to third parties," said Andrew Sanders, OpenWays Vice President of Business Development. "Guests enjoy a seamless arrival experience by being able to zip straight to their rooms without any delays or wait in line. Consequently, the hotel front office can more easily manage resources, as it has fewer peaks in activity and can redeploy staff to more valuable tasks.
 
“We are delighted to see Holiday Inn Express & Suites Marion sign up for mobile key by OpenWays – this is an exciting feature for this new hotel, and we are confident that Monchino Management and its staff will capitalize on it when promoting the property locally," he said.

Monchino Management LLC is an award-winning hotel management company based in Herrin, Illinois, that specializes in hotel operations including: marketing, sales, accounting, finance, human resources, maintenance, purchasing, training, food/beverage and development/capital improvements. The company's multi-brand portfolio consists of America’s Best Suites, Best Western, Candlewood Suites, Comfort Suites, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites, Radisson, Staybridge Suites and Wingate Inns brands in the states of Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee. In 2011, Monchino Management was named "Franchise of the Year" by Americas Best Inns and Suites. The company also was honored with the Holiday Inn "Torch Bearer Award" and "Priority Club Excellence Award," the Staybridge Suites "Quality Excellence Award," the Americas Best Suites "Gold Quality Assurance Award," and earned the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Award" for select properties.

OpenWays is a global solution provider of mobile-based access-management and security solutions. With offices in Chicago, Las Vegas, Seoul and in Europe, OpenWays provides technology solutions allowing for the secure issuance and delivery of access rights and keys process via any cell phone operating on any network. The OpenWays solution is truly unique as it is built on the concept of credential dematerialization. The OpenWays mobile room key solution works on ALL the 6 billion cell phones in service in the world today. For more information, please contact Barb Worcester at +1 440 930-5770 or email [email protected]. More information can be found by visiting www.OpenWays.com.