Wireless Link Gives Hilton Guests Shuttle Check-In

Guests at the Newark Airport Hilton in Elizabeth, New Jersey, don’t have to wait to get to their hotel to check in, under a recently completed pilot program designed to provide both a more efficient airport shuttle van service and a streamlined hotel guest arrival service.

The Newark Airport Hilton was the first hotel to test the technology in all seven of its airport hotel shuttle vans, under the pilot program between Hilton Hotels Corp. and Geotek Communications Inc.

The program is called Mobile Zip-In, said Thomas G. Daly, vice president of loss prevention for Hilton Hotels. The procedure begins when the closest Hilton airport shuttle van is directed to pick up a guest who calls from the airport. Guests also can use the shuttle van’s regularly scheduled airport pick-up, which is approximately every 10 minutes.

Upon boarding the vehicle, the guest provides a Hilton HHonors Worldwide membership card or a major credit card to the driver. Before departing from the airport, the guest’s card is swiped through the mobile data terminal in the van, which displays the necessary guest information for rapid, automatic registration. When the van reaches the hotel, a Hilton team member will be waiting to welcome the guest with a registration packet and room key. The guest then can proceed immediately to his or her guest room.

Mobile Zip-In will be expanded to additional Hilton hotels this month.

"This technology, representing a first in the hospitality industry, will enhance all aspects of the guest’s arrival, including more secure transportation, a faster response time for guest pickup at the airport and on-vehicle guest reception and registration," Daly said.

The Newark Airport Hilton also operates a Park & Fly service in association with Kinney Airpark, which uses Geotek’s integrated program to notify the facility when a guest has boarded the van at the airport. This allows the guest’s vehicle to be ready, and accounts resolved, before the guest arrives back at the parking facility located adjacent to the Newark Airport Hilton.

(Contact: Kendra Walker, Hilton Hotels Corp., 310-205-4545; e-mail kendra-walker@hilton.com)