Traditional hotel check-in can feel stodgy and slow to many of today’s travelers, and perhaps even more so to the guests who will soon dominate the hospitality industry’s market: the huge and tech-savvy Millennial generation of customers.

Which is why some innovative five-star luxury hotel brands have been stealthily revolutionizing hotel check-in. And they’re not doing it primarily the app-ish, mobile-y way that Hilton Hotels announced last week. (I covered that story here.)  A solely app-based approach, they feel, treats check-in as purely transactional.  Not as the service touchpoint they’d like it to be.

Are these hoteliers and hotel brands making the right call here? Can check-in be a warm experience, a memorable (in a good way) experience, even in this age of rushed, distracted, multi-tasking guests?  Can it, just maybe, even be a blast?

[A note before I start this survey of five-star hotels. The Grand Dame of five star hospitality brands, Ritz-Carlton Hotels and Resorts, is rumored to have an upcoming announcement of its own along these lines. I will cover this development as soon as I have details.]

The three brands I’ll survey today are Andaz, Auberge Resorts, and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

Andaz is the innovative new five star hotel brand from Hyatt Hotels.  So far there are Andaz locations in Europe, Asia, California, New York, Hawaii (Maui, pictured) Georgia (Savannah) and Costa Rica.

Auberge Resorts is a collection of 5-star (and in some cases 5-diamond and even double-five diamond) properties in California, South Carolina, Mexico, and Colorado, as well as residences in Colorado and Oregon

The last of the three brands surveyed, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, probably needs no introduction.

Source: http://www.forbes.com