Hotels.comtestsanAppthatgeneratesdigitalkeys

Expedia Inc’s online travel agency brand Hotels.com is testing a mobile app that will let guests check in and check out — and generate electronic room keys — at partner hotels.

The prototype was demonstrated at a customer conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Hotels.com’s president Johan Svanstrom says “quite a few hotel chains” have expressed interested in trialing the technology. He anticipates real world uses launching by March 2017.

The first target market will be Europe, with a bit of the US. Hotels.com is partnering with Zaplox, a third-party vendor based in Sweden whose software layer interacts with its hardware installations at more than hotels.