More than 40 hotels across seven brands of Marriott International in the Middle East and Africa will offer Marriott’s mobile check-in and check-out feature, said the president of the global hospital company.

The brands include the Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott Hotels, Marriott Executive Apartments, Courtyard and Residence Inn, explained Alex Kyriakidis, president and managing director of Marriott International Middle East and Africa.

“Marriott is on a journey to stay connected and relevant to the needs of the next generation traveller which requires the constant evolution of our digital offering. With our expanded mobile offering digital natives can now use technology to their advantage helping them to save valuable downtime when travelling for business or pleasure,” he said.

Globally, ten additional brands – The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels, Autograph Collection, Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites and Marriott Executive Apartments – are joining the nearly 500 properties of the company’s flagship Marriott Hotels brand in providing mobile check-in and checkout to guests.

With this latest addition, these services are immediately available at 1,200 properties worldwide, and will be live at more than 4,000 hotels worldwide by year-end.

With the Marriott Mobile app, check-in and checkout is simple to use, a statement said. Marriott Rewards members receive a push notification on their Apple iPhones or Android devices after 4 pm on the day before their arrival alerting them they can check-in.

Then they receive an automatic notification when their room is ready, communicating in advance means the hotel is prepared for their arrival. Because payment information is stored within members profiles, guests simply walk up to the expedited mobile check-in desk where their pre-programmed key card will be waiting for them.

At the end of their stays, guests receive a push notification alerting them mobile checkout is available. Upon completion, guests will then be prompted to provide an email address where their bill will be sent, allowing them to confidently bypass the front desk. Mobile check-in and checkout are available in five languages:  English, French, Spanish, German and Mandarin.

The flagship Marriott Hotels brand now offers mobile service requests in fifteen markets in North America, where hotels are serving as “mobile incubator” laboratories for the future. For example, guests at these hotels can use a drop down menu of the most typical service requests, such as extra towels and pillows, or chat directly with hotel staff using a mobile app. The company will offer these and other mobile services to its Marriott Rewards members at the Marriott Hotels brand beginning early next year.

“You cannot separate the mobile experience from the personal interaction between guests and our hotel associates. When executed flawlessly and consistently, they complement each other and enhance the overall experience,” said George Corbin, senior vice president, Digital.

“In our testing of mobile service requests so far, 86 percent of guests who used the feature have chosen to chat directly with hotel associates, illustrating how much guests appreciate the personal interaction using their mobile devices, and nearly nine out of ten guests gave the experience a very high positive rating.”

Mobile check-in and checkout is available at all Marriott Hotels, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance Hotels and Marriott Executive Apartments and at a select but increasing number of Ritz-Carlton, Autograph Collection, Courtyard, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites properties, according to the statement. – TradeArabia News Service