Grand Central Hotel

Before Orion

Like many city hotels, Grand Central ran reservations, room assignments and guest keys through separate steps. Channel bookings could overlap with manual entries, and every arrival still depended on someone at reception to hand out a key card — especially painful for late-night check-ins.

• No single PMS view for reservations, rooms and housekeeping.
• Risk of duplicate reservations when channels and the front desk were out of sync.
• Reception had to stay staffed across multiple shifts just to issue key cards.
• Late arrivals meant waiting at the desk or coordinating handoffs between shifts.

What Orion changed

Orion Hotel connects the reservation record directly to smart lock access. When a room is assigned, the guest receives check-in details with a QR code and optional Apple Wallet or Google Wallet key. Keys activate on check-in and revoke automatically at checkout — no plastic cards, no manual encoding.

• Channel manager integration keeps OTA and direct bookings on one authoritative calendar.
• Reservation management, housekeeping status and access control in the same system.
• Automated check-in emails for early and late arrivals without staff intervention.
• Orion controllers work with strike, bolt and magnet locks already on the doors.

Operations today

Reception can focus on guest service instead of key-card logistics. Where the property previously needed coverage across three shifts for access alone, a single daytime reception shift is enough — with Orion handling overnight arrivals through self check-in and digital keys.

Guest and owner impact

Guests open the main entrance and their room from their phone. Owners get clearer visibility into occupancy and access events without juggling separate tools. Everything runs through one Orion Hotel platform — simpler for staff, smoother for guests.