A complete guide to contactless hospitality. Learn about mobile check-in , digital keys , payments , and the future of the guest experience .
From frictionless hotel check-ins to seamless in-room payments, contactless technology has become the backbone of modern hospitality, and that’s no exaggeration. What started as a response to public health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic has become an industry-defining standard. Today, guests expect a stay that feels effortless: no queues, no paper forms, no fumbling with plastic key cards or receipts. Just a smooth journey where every interaction, from check-in to checkout, happens on their terms.
But “contactless” in hospitality isn’t just about removing physical touch-points or the human element in hospitality. It’s about reimagining the guest journey so that the small, routine tasks feel effortless, leaving more room for genuine moments of connection.
When done right, it increases safety, speeds up operations, personalises experiences, and opens new avenues for revenue growth. It frees staff from routine tasks so they can focus on genuine service. And, most importantly, it builds trust, especially for travellers who value both convenience and privacy.
By the end of this guide, you’ll understand:
In hospitality, contactless refers to delivering guest-facing services and interactions without physical touch or in-person intermediaries. That includes:
Under the hood, contactless journeys are enabled by technologies like:
But contactless isn’t just about acquiring tech gadgets. It’s about upgrading the guest experience as a digital-first journey, reducing friction, giving control to guests, and letting staff pivot to high-value interactions.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a shift in guest expectations toward minimal physical contact. Even as travel returned back to normal, many guests now prefer contactless interactions for hygiene, convenience, and confidence.
Contactless systems reduce manual steps, verifying IDs, keycards, desk check-in, cash handling, etc. For example, in data from Alliants’ platform: digital check-in can save ~6 minutes per guest and checkout ~4 minutes; over many stays, that’s huge time saved.
Also, in 2025, 57% of hotels reported revenue growth after implementing digital adoption, further emphasising that these changes aren’t just superficial upgrades.
By freeing staff from routine tasks, teams can focus on guest satisfaction, upsell, or service recovery instead of administrative work.
In short, contactless is now a competitive differentiator.
To measure the impact of contactless systems, hotels should focus on a handful of core performance indicators. The first is the adoption rate, the percentage of guests who actually use contactless options such as mobile check-in, digital keys, or tap-to-pay. In mature implementations, adoption should surpass 60 to 70 percent. Closely linked to this is guest satisfaction, measured through CSAT or Net Promoter Score (NPS). The goal isn’t a fixed number but rather a steady improvement over the hotel’s baseline once contactless options are in place.
Another important metric is time saved per guest. Digital check-in and checkout can reduce each interaction by four to six minutes, which scales significantly across hundreds of arrivals and departures. In addition to tracking time, operators should also monitor revenue per guest and ancillary spend. Contactless platforms make it easier to embed upsells into the digital journey, so a rise in in-stay purchases compared to analogue channels is a strong sign of success.
Operationally, staff efficiency is a key outcome; when fewer team members are tied up with repetitive desk tasks, hotels can operate with a lower full-time-equivalent load per occupied room. Similarly, the rate of errors or support calls provides a valuable window into system performance; ideally, fewer than five percent of transactions should require manual intervention. Finally, it’s critical to evaluate RevPAR and the overall ROI of the investment. Well-implemented contactless solutions should show a positive return within one to two years, both through cost savings and increased revenue opportunities.
To track these indicators, hotels can rely on multiple tools: in-app or web analytics that map guest journeys, integrations with PMS and POS systems, post-stay surveys, staff exception logs, and financial reports that capture both revenue gains and operational efficiencies. Together, these metrics provide the feedback loop necessary to refine digital flows, guide incentive programs, and scale rollouts with confidence.
When comparing different models of guest experience, each approach brings its own strengths and challenges. The traditional model, centred on front desk check-in, plastic key cards, and cash or swipe payments, is familiar to both staff and guests and requires little upfront investment in technology. However, it comes with apparent drawbacks: long queues, higher error rates, repetitive manual labour, and slower service. In today’s market, many guests view this approach as outdated and even frustrating compared to what they’ve experienced elsewhere.
The hybrid model blends self-service kiosks with traditional front desk support and physical keycards. This approach allows hotels to phase in automation gradually while maintaining a fallback for guests who need or prefer assistance. Yet it often creates a split experience; some guests use kiosks, others wait in line, which can sometimes feel inconsistent. It also introduces complexity for staff, who must juggle multiple systems and workflows at once.
Finally, the fully contactless model, built around mobile or web-based check-in, digital room keys, and contactless payments, offers the most seamless and scalable experience. Guests perceive it as cutting-edge and guest-centric, while hotels benefit from faster processes and lower manual workloads. That said, it does require more complex technology integrations and thoughtful guest adoption strategies, particularly for those less familiar with digital-first journeys.
For many properties, a hybrid approach serves as a necessary transitional phase. But over the long term, the goal should be a device-first, fully contactless experience that consistently delivers speed, convenience, and personalisation.
In a recent interview, Tim Sheard, Alliants’ Vice President of Partnerships, shared valuable context on how contactless technology actually works in hospitality settings. Drawing on his experience helping hotels untangle complex technology stacks, he explained that successful implementation isn’t just about choosing the right tools, but about weaving them together in a way that creates a smooth and secure journey for the guest.
A robust contactless architecture typically includes:
Sheard also discussed the fragmented nature of hotel tech stacks: different PMS, multiple lock vendors, disparate access systems. The role of a contactless platform is to unify and abstract these, so guest-facing flows remain consistent regardless of underlying infrastructure.
Guests arrive, receive a link (SMS, email, or app), complete identity verification, accept terms, pay any balance or incidentals, and receive a digital key, without visiting a front desk.
One of the most significant shifts in the guest experience is the move from plastic keycards to mobile keys stored directly in a phone’s digital wallet. Whether it’s Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, or standards like MyDesfire, these keys are built with the same protections as mobile payments. That means they’re backed by encryption and stored in the phone’s secure element, the same part of the device that safeguards credit card information.
From an operations perspective, this gives hotels a lot more flexibility. If a room change is needed or if access needs to be revoked, staff can update or cancel a digital key instantly without requiring the guest to return to the front desk. Guests benefit too: the primary traveller can share room access with companions right from their phone and revoke it just as easily. As Tim Sheard explained in our interview, digital keys combine convenience and security in a way that’s becoming a new standard across the industry.
During the same interview, Kevin Brown, Alliants’ Senior Manager of Go-to-Market and Editorial Strategies, pointed out that digital keys aren’t just about making life easier for guests. More importantly, they put control directly in guests’ hands. Instead of relying on the front desk, the main traveller can use their phone’s wallet to share room access with family or colleagues and just as easily revoke it if plans change. It’s a simple change, but one that saves time for guests and staff alike, while adding security and flexibility to the stay.
According to PayRails, hotels lose $21B annually in payment costs, suffer 5–6% revenue loss to fraud, and 74% of travellers abandon bookings if favourite payment options aren’t available.
In 2023, contactless card payments made up ~25% of U.S. card transactions, showing the rapid mainstream adoption of tap-to-pay.
Guests order services via the guest portal or app, triggering automated service dispatch (kitchen, staff). Payment and tips are processed digitally. Housekeeping preferences (do-not-disturb) can be set via the app.
Contactless dining (menu + order + pay via QR / web) has also become increasingly common post-pandemic.
With guest data flowing through the contactless stack, personalised offers can be delivered in-session:
This capability turns contactless systems into powerful guest engagement engines rather than just operational savings tools.
Guests review their folio, confirm charges, and formally “check out” via app or web. The system auto-clears their key, handles tax invoices, and optionally sends receipts automatically.
Contactless registration, badge-less entry (via mobile credential), touch-free session check-ins, and networking apps can dramatically streamline event flow within hotel conference venues.
Booking, check-in, payments, and service tracking for spa, wellness, rentals, or outlet vendors can all migrate to contactless ecosystems, reducing dependencies on front-desk intermediaries.
Sheard also pointed out additional mandates like ID verification, registration cards, and local compliance (e.g. Paris police may check registration records). These are real-world complexities hotels must handle when going contactless.
Also, the study “The Myth of Contactless Hospitality Service” found that willingness to pay (WTP) for contactless amenities varies by guest segment, hotel scale, and travel motivations. So, don’t assume universal premium pricing; design packages appropriately.
Face recognition, fingerprint, or iris scanning may augment or replace digital keys or ID verification. These flows can further reduce friction, especially for repeat guests.
Next-gen rooms will respond to verbal commands (lights, curtains, temperature) tied to guest identity without requiring in-room app navigation.
Systems will learn guest habits (e.g. coffee orders, temperature preferences) and anticipate service requests proactively via the contactless channel.
As Tim Sheard underscored, forcing users to install apps is a friction point. The trend is toward wallet-based credentials(MyDesfire, Apple/Google Wallet) and web-based flows (QR, deep link, tokenised payloads).
Expect tighter rules around biometric data, cross-border data flows, tokenisation standards, and guest privacy disclosures. Hotels must stay ahead of PCI, GDPR, and local authorities’ registration rules.
Contactless is not a temporary trend, but a new standard in hospitality. It redefines how we think about guest touch-points, operations, and revenue strategies.
From mobile check-in and digital keys to in-room ordering and express departure, contactless enables a guest experience that’s safer, leaner, more personalised, and infinitely more scalable. But the true magic lies not in the technology itself, but in how it’s orchestrated, integrated into the guest journey, embedded in operations, and continuously optimised via data.
Bookmark this guide. Check back often as we publish more detailed posts on each element, because contactless isn’t a finish line, but an ongoing journey.
What is contactless hospitality? A way of delivering core guest services, check-in/out, access, payments, and service requests, with minimal to no physical touch-points, via mobile or web-based channels.
Is contactless checkout safe? Yes, when implemented with tokenisation, secure elements, encryption, and PCI compliance, it’s comparable in security to credit card or mobile wallet transactions.
Which hotels use mobile keys? Today, many major brands (Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt) and forward-thinking independent hotels have adopted mobile key systems. Industry forecasts suggest mobile key adoption will exceed 70% globally by 2025.
How can smaller hotels adopt contactless affordably? Start with web-based check-in + QR key delivery (no app), choose modular vendors, integrate gradually (payments, keys, service), and focus first on high-impact areas (check-in, key) before expanding.
What technology is needed to implement contactless in a hotel? You’ll need (at minimum): a stable network infrastructure, middleware or API platform to connect PMS/POS/locks, digital wallet or key provisioning solution, identity verification/KYC, tokenised payment stack, and guest-facing web or app UI.
How do hotels handle ID verification or registration card compliance? Many contactless systems integrate with third-party services (e.g. Encode) to capture passport/driver’s license data. Some jurisdictions require hotels to record guest registrations digitally or produce registration cards on demand, a capability that contactless platforms must support.
