Los Angeles — March 26, 2013 — Americans spend roughly 37 billion hours each year waiting in line. According to the New York Times in an article titled "Why Waiting is Torture," author Alex Stone wrote: "The dominant cost of waiting is an emotional one: stress, boredom, that nagging sensation that one’s life is slipping away. The last thing we want to do with our dwindling leisure time is squander it in stasis. We’ll never eliminate lines altogether, but a better understanding of the psychology of waiting can help make those inevitable delays that inject themselves into our daily lives a touch more bearable."

OpenWays has developed a line-busting solution that completely removes the frustration associated with traditional hotel check-in. Offering a Mobile Key that is securely sent over the air to a traveling guest’s mobile phone prior to arrival at the hotel not only removes the need to stop at the front desk, but it alleviates any stress the traveler may feel anticipating delays and long waits at their destination hotel. Mobile Key by OpenWays is securely delivered to a traveler's cell phone (any of the 6.5 billion mobile phones worldwide), along with their room number and instructions on how to seamlessly open their doors with their mobile device upon arrival, making the guests' first impression of the hotel experience a positive one.
 
"The freedom-of-choice guest experience has never been more important than it is today," said Pascal Metivier, OpenWays Founder and CEO. Mobile Key by OpenWays delivers to hoteliers a clear competitive advantage by giving guests that true freedom-of-choice they seek with line-busting, mobile and secure direct to guest room access." 

In the New York Times article, M.I.T. Operations Researcher Richard Larson, widely considered to be the world’s foremost expert on lines, said: "Often the psychology of queuing is more important than the statistics of the wait itself." Research on queuing has shown that, on average, people overestimate how long they’ve waited in a line by about 36 percent. Any delays upon arrival at a hotel, therefore, can easily be exaggerated by a traveler, driving initial negative guest satisfaction before their hotel stay even begins.
 
To provide true value, hoteliers need to give their guests exactly what they really desire most upon arriving – streamlined access to their rooms.

"Not every hotel can occupy guests' time while they are waiting in line," said Michael Cohen, OpenWays senior vice president of business development. "The best way to deal with unoccupied time and guest frustration while waiting in line is to remove the wait altogether. That's the psychology behind the rampant growth in hospitality self-service solutions and the operating principle behind Mobile Key. The deployment of the Mobile Key solution by OpenWays not only delivers exceptional service, but it pays out in more efficient operations, heightened guest satisfaction, reduced traveler stress, and brand wide loyalty."
 
While some retailers believe that long lines are good for business -- strategizing that waiting crowds attract attention and translate into sales, this way of thinking is detrimental to the hospitality industry. However, giving mobile-dependent travelers the option to use their mobile phone (any model, any network) as a secure room key, and experience straight-to-the-room freedom, delivers something new and exciting to look forward to, blog about, and share with friends and family through social media.

OpenWays identifies 5 Top Line-Busing Benefits of Mobile Key:


"The line-busting benefits of Mobile Key by OpenWays are multi-faceted," Cohen said. "Mobile Key can drive a hotel’s mobile marketing strategy, loyalty program and more. The important message for hoteliers is travelers are looking for any way possible to avoid yet another line during their travels. Removing procedural roadblocks from the moment a traveller walks through the front door immediately creates a more pleasant environment, resulting in happier guests that will return and recommend the property in general. Let's face it; standing in line is torture for many people (both psychologically and physically), and anticipating such delays puts a lot of undue stress on consumers. Line-busting with Mobile Key by OpenWays is a key to building competitive differentiation and loyalty among today's all important mobile-dependent travelers."

About OpenWays
OpenWays is a global solutions provider of mobile-based access-management and security solutions. With offices in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seoul and in Europe, OpenWays provides technology solutions allowing for the secure issuance and delivery of access rights and keys processed 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 6.5 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.