The company announced its guests will have unprecedented choice and control over their entire hotel stay with the ability to check in and choose their exact room from digital floor plans, as well as customize their stay by purchasing upgrades and making special requests for items to be delivered to their room, using their mobile devices, tablets and computers.

Guests also will be able to check out using these personal technology devices. By the end of 2014, digital check-in and room selection will be available at more than 4,000 Hilton Worldwide properties across 11 brands in 80+ countries via members' Hilton HHonors accounts.

"For nearly a century, our guests have counted on us to consistently deliver exceptional experiences around the world, and in today's digitally connected culture, that means providing them with more choice and control over their hotel stay through technology," said Christopher J. Nassetta, president and chief executive officer, Hilton Worldwide. "The tremendous scale of our world-class operating platform enables us to quickly and nimbly introduce exciting enhancements for our guests at all of our hotels worldwide."

This announcement represents the latest industry first in Hilton's rich history of innovation. The company piloted an initial version of digital check-in more than five years ago, and in 2012 it launched Conrad Concierge, the first hospitality software application that enables guests to customize their hotel experiences through their tablets or smartphones. Going forward, Hilton anticipates delivering further digital advancements to guests every six to eight weeks.

"We analyzed data and feedback from more than 40 million HHonors members, as well as guest surveys, social media posts and review sites, and it's clear that guests want greater choice and control," said Geraldine Calpin, senior vice president and global head of digital at Hilton Worldwide. "In fact, in a recent study, 84 percent of business travelers surveyed said they wanted the ability to choose their own room¹. We are giving our guests the ability to do just that by enabling them to select not just their room type, but the exact location in the hotel, all the way down to their room number."

As part of its digital strategy, Hilton has made a commitment to enable all of its hotel rooms worldwide with technology that will allow guests to use their smartphones as keys.

Said Nassetta, "Travelers can use their smartphones as boarding passes to get to their seats on an airplane, so it is only natural that they will want to use them as a way to enter their hotel rooms. We have spent the past few years testing a number of different options to make this vision a reality, and we are developing proprietary technology that is safe and reliable for our guests to use, and cost-effective for our hotels to install."

Hilton is rolling out the following digital enhancements globally over the next several months:

• By the end of this summer, Hilton HHonors members can check in and choose their rooms from digital floor plan maps online or via the Apple and Android HHonors apps across the following U.S. brands: Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites. The functionality will also be available at DoubleTree by Hilton and Embassy Suites Hotels properties within the U.S. this fall.
     
• By the end of 2014, room selection, either from digital floor plans or lists, will be available globally for more than 650,000 rooms at 4,000+ hotels across Hilton's portfolio of 11 brands.
     
• Digital checkout, currently available at all U.S. hotels, will be rolled out globally by the end of 2016.

In 2015, Hilton will introduce technology that enables smartphones to be used as room keys, and all U.S. hotels across four of its brands will have this capability by the end of that year. By the end of 2016, the majority of its rooms systemwide will be equipped with this functionality.

¹ *The Hilton survey was conducted by Edelman Berland among 1,009 total participants (529 female and 480 male U.S. census representatives more than 18 years of age) using a five-question online survey between July 7-11, 2014. The margin of error (MOE) for the audience (n=1009) is + 3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.