Mobile phones 'to double as hotel room keys'

Holidaymakers could soon find themselves unlocking their hotel rooms with just their mobile phones, according to one expert.

Gard Gabrielsen told BBC News's Click programme that near field communications (NFC) could eventually evolve to enable hotel guests to bypass reception and go straight to their rooms after receiving the relevant information beforehand.

All the holidaymaker would have to do is pass the handset in front of the card reader, he explained, going to add that NFC could also be used for other purposes.

"In addition to the key itself, the guest will then get their welcome received specifying the room they're staying at," Mr Gabrielsen remarked.

"They will also typically get the GPS coordinates to the hotel in question and so forth."

Airlines are also waking up to the opportunities posed by mobile technology - last month, bmi announced that it is to trial a paperless boarding scheme whereby flyers can have their boarding passes electronically sent to their mobile phones.

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