Vingcard, an ASSA ABLOY company, has introduced its Wallet Key technology for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with three hotels operated by Orascom Hotels Management in Egypt’s El Gouna now offering guests smartphone-based room access.
The rollout began at
Casa Cook El Gouna, an adults-only luxury hotel, before expanding to Ancient
Sands Golf Resort and Club Paradisio El Gouna. The deployment was enabled
through integration with Hudini, a provider of smart hospitality solutions, as
part of Orascom’s strategy to create a more connected and digitally enabled
guest experience.
The technology allows
guests to store their room keys directly in their smartphone or smartwatch
digital wallets, enabling access to rooms and authorised hotel areas with a
simple tap. It eliminates the need to carry physical keycards or open a mobile
application whenever guests require access.
The three
participating properties represent different segments of El Gouna’s hospitality
offering. Casa Cook El Gouna is a 129-room luxury retreat featuring guestrooms,
suites and private villas. Ancient Sands Golf Resort is a five-star
all-inclusive property with 56 rooms and 80 apartments, alongside an 18-hole
golf course. Club Paradisio El Gouna is a four-star beachfront resort offering
239 rooms.
The Wallet Key service
is accessible through Hudini’s guest-facing Progressive Web App and Staff
Connect platform, which Orascom began implementing in 2024. Guests can add
their digital keys during online check-in before arrival or scan a QR code
provided by hotel staff following their check-in.
Sanjay Sharma, Chief
Technology Officer at Orascom Hotels Management, said: “With consumers
embracing the use of smartphones to securely unlock their vehicles and homes,
we aim to ensure that the same heightened convenience also extends to their
hotel stay,”
“Our goal was not
simply to adopt a new technology, but to elevate the guest experience by
removing the friction of waiting for, carrying and keeping track of a physical
key. By adopting Vingcard’s Wallet Key solution, we can provide the effortless
and intuitive experience we set out to create by eliminating the extra step of
guests having to download a mobile app before they can receive and use their
digital key.”
Integrated
technology supports hotel operations
The implementation
connects guests’ digital wallets with hotel door locks, property management
systems and digital check-in and check-out processes, ensuring that access
permissions remain accurate throughout their stay.
The integration also
accommodates operational changes, including room transfers, early arrivals,
late departures and access to authorised facilities such as elevators.
Orascom Hotels
Management conducted extensive testing to ensure the system could manage both
standard guest journeys and more complex situations encountered by hotel teams.
Chandrakanth
Gollapalli, VP Middle East, Africa and India at Vingcard, said: “The
implementation at the three El Gouna hotels demonstrates how Wallet Keys can
transform a complex series of hotel workflows into a simple and intuitive room
access experience that aligns with modern guest expectations, said Chandrakanth
Gollapalli, VP Middle East, Africa and India at Vingcard. “The expertise and
dedication of our local Vingcard team, together with their close collaboration
and strong support of the Orascom Hotels Management team and the property, were
instrumental in the project’s successful delivery. We are honored to support
this milestone for the MENA region hospitality market and look forward to
playing a central role in the property’s goal of delivering a modern
digitalized guest journey.”
Early feedback from
guests and hotel employees has been positive. Sharma highlighted an instance in
which a guest who had already checked in requested a digital key after seeing
newly arriving visitors receiving the technology.
“That moment was one
of the strongest validations that guests see Wallet Keys as a genuine
improvement to their stay,” Sharma added. “The guest did not want to simply
understand a new service feature; they actively wanted access to it. Their
request also represented an exception to the standard journey, but it was one
that our solution deployment was prepared to manage.”
Following the initial
rollout, Orascom Hotels Management is assessing opportunities to extend Wallet
Key technology to additional properties across its portfolio.
The solution forms part of Vingcard’s wider technology portfolio, which includes access control, digital access, energy management, property operations and guest experience solutions. -TradeArabia News Service