He wouldn't need to. He would simply wait until the cleaning staff were in with the door propped open with a trolley. At that point he just walks in and acts like it's his room and asks for five minutes privacy while he takes a shower. Naturally they leave him alone in the room.

No. You didn't read TFA. The target is a contactless credit/debit card carried in the victim's wallet. The phone is used by the thief, who installs basic point-of-sale software on and then bumps it against a wallet in an attempt to relieve the victim of funds. The card is a passive device which is never 'turned off'.

I'm not it can't be abused. I simply believe that in this case the hotel are genuinely trying to improve security, and for a very good reason. Perhaps people should delve a little deeper before reaching for conspiracy theories.

Of course, but I think it's no coincidence that it's Starwood who are looking into this technology.

Absolutely! This is why I hired extra security for my bat mitzvah.

Of course it should refer to defectives in the police farce.

Don't worry. Any attempt to electronically violate you as you try to enter your hotel room will certainly be thwarted by your tinfoil hat.

English can be a tricky language to master, but don't despair. I said "could" not "can", closely followed by "wouldn't" instead of "don't". Dude (or lady), if you require any additional help with the subtleties of past versus present tense, I'm sure there are a number of readers here who would be delighted to assist ;-)

With my first mobile phone, I could beat down the door on a bank vault. Hotel doors wouldn't stand a chance.

Which you have to sign for. There's a reason they get a specimen signature when you check in. If they issue a replacement key card without checking the signature, you then sue the ass off of them.

Yep. There's no such thing as a free launch.

It was aimed at ISS, not ISIS. I can see how that could be misunderstood though.

The ISS crew will get their pizza for free now.

I'll bet there are hidden charges.