Hey Hilton, you have to wake up pretty early in the morning to beat FlyerTalk as the first to post news of your GIANT new initiative.

Early this morning, in fact, adobbing posted news of Hilton’s “revolutionary” new check-in process that will allow guests to not only check-in digitally, but also select their room from a floor plan map, customize their experience by requesting what amenities they would like delivered upon their arrival, and even use their smartphone as their room key.

While the Hilton rep – HHonorsRepresentative – exasperatedly and hilariously tries to keep up, other FTers speculate about the new program and the odds of Hilton being able to pull something this big off:

Sounds great, until front desk staff arbitrarily decides to move your reservation to another room, as they do with OLCI currently. I’m predicting an implementation nightmare. ~VooDoo Daddy

What happens if someone checks in on line and gets to his/her room only to find the room is still occupied by someone who decided (for whatever reason) to stay an additional day? ~BobH

Selecting a room from a map (with compass orientation and landmarks, please, along with interior features like elevators and service closets) could be good.

 

Just selecting a room number from a list would be worthless. ~3Cforme

…how does a hotel deal with status benefits such as gold/diamond upgrades? ~BotB

That is just a small sampling of the questions being asked in this fast moving thread. In fact, as of this writing the only question that has actually been answered is, no, it isn’t April Fool’s Day.

What do you think about these new check-in options? Is using your smartphone as a room key a positive thing? Would you know what room to select, given the option?

And Randy, it might just be time to start seriously ramping up for the launch of RoomExpert.com.

Read the thread in its entirety: Hilton Revolutionizes Hotel Experience with Digital Check-In, Room Selection & Custom