New Technology Allows Guests to Control Hilton Room Preferences from Smartphones

Hilton hotel guests will soon be able to control every aspect of their stay from the palm of their hand.

Hilton plans to make some of its guestrooms in the U.S. mobile-centric in 2018, allowing guests to adjust the heat and AC, switch the lights on and off, and sync to their streaming service to the TV, all from the Hilton Honors app on their smartphone. Guests will even be able to upload personal images into the app, which will then be displayed as in-room art via digital wall art frames.

In the long-term, guests will be able to use voice commands to control their room and access their content, according to Hilton.

The “connected room” initiative is currently being tested in one hotel and will roll out to several others in the coming weeks. Hilton will then begin to “scale rapidly” to hotels across the U.S. in the new year.

Connected Rooms will be mobile-centric, allowing Hilton to easily adjust the platform based on user feedback, the company said.

Hilton Honors members already have the ability to use the app to check in, select their room, and open their hotel room’s door with the digital key. The company said users have downloaded four million digital keys.

One of Hilton’s competitors, Marriott International, has been testing similar room-of-the-future upgrades. Marriott partnered with Samsung to build an “Internet of Things” room in its Bethesda, Maryland, headquarters, testing everything from a shower that can be controlled by voice to a yoga class that can be displayed on a full-length mirror.