An app for that: Your smartphone could soon unlock Disney hotel rooms

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — A hotel key may no longer be needed to get into certain hotels on Disney property.

According to WDW News Today, Disney will test out allowing guests to use the "My Disney Experience app" to get into rooms at the Disney's Polynesian Village Resort and Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.

"The doors are capable of it to begin with, so why not try it is the mindset we're in now," Tom Corless, with WDW News Today told Channel 9's Jamie Holmes.

The technology is not new. Basically, it uses Bluetooth to talk to the lock and an encrypted code is used to unlock the door.

Hotels like Westin, Hilton and Sheraton have utilized the technology on some of its properties for years. However, like any lock, it can be broken.

At a hacker convention in Las Vegas in 2016, a security company revealed how it was able to remotely hack Bluetooth locks and opened 12 out of 16 residential locks.

"I can get into this lock, but I want to do more than just get into this lock. I want to take advantage of the fact that I can change that admin password,” Anthony Rose, with Def Con 24 Convention said.

These kinds of systems are regarded by security experts as being safer than the traditional key card entry. The experts said hackers like won’t go to the trouble to get into a person’s room and if someone loses their cellphone, the person would notice right away, compared with a lost key card.

"Most of the criminal activities in the lodging industry are someone going up and getting a key that's not theirs. So that eliminates that completely,” forensic hospitality security expert Fred Del Marva said.

Cox Media Group