Starwood Hotels, which owns more than 1,200 hotels worldwide, has announced that its guests will soon be able to check-in and enter their hotel room with a smartphone.

Using the Starwood Hotels' app, guests will be able to receive their room number and an electronic key for entry. This allows them to skip the normal desk area check-in, potentially saving guests a few minutes of their time each visit.

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To enter the hotel room, the guest simply holds their phone up to the door lock. The Bluetooth connection will click and automatically open the door, closing it once the guest is inside and turns off the application.

This sort of integration, according to Starwood Hotels and Resorts CEO Frits van Paasschen, is paramount and should be available to all. In an interview on CNNMoney, Paasschen says "There's no reason why that shouldn't be your portal to get to your room, ask for what you want, or anything else."

Starwood Hotels will be rolling out the service this week, with the goal of getting all 150 Aloft, Element and W Hotels connected by the end of the year. Paasschen is interested in making more features available on the mobile app in the future, help-desk remote contact.

This is one of the first attempts at Bluetooth security in hotels, but it won't be the last. Already Hilton is working on a similar technology for its hotels. It shouldn't be long before this type of technology is common in hotels.

One advantage of having a Bluetooth key instead of an actual key is that guests are less likely to lose their phones than their keys. Also, keys can disappear and the guest might not notice until they're back at the hotel room, but usually once a phone is lost, it is reported straight away.

Paasschen also believes that due to pass-codes and Touch ID, people who steal the phone will not be able to get into the room. This is another security advantage, even if it does mean losing your phone instead of a simple hotel key. 

TagsStarwood Hotels, Bluetooth key, smartphone recognition, hotel apps