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KeyNest.
Daytona Beach, FL. For a 744-room resort, physical key access is a constant, 24/7 security responsibility. A missed signature. An illegible entry in a paper log. A master key nobody can account for at exactly the wrong moment. All create unnecessary work for security.
The costs are real: diverted security staff time, gaps in accountability, and the compliance risk that comes with hundreds of keys moving through a property every day with no reliable record of who has what.
Hilton Daytona Beach Resort, one of Florida's largest beachfront properties, was looking for a way to modernise its obsolete, manual key management process, one that had become an admin bottleneck for a security team that should have been focused on the property, not a hand-written logbook.
In recent years, hospitality operators managing large-scale properties have increasingly turned to KeyNest for automated, trackable key management. Hilton Daytona Beach implemented KeyNest Lockers directly into its back-of-house security operations.
The Challenge
Managing access for a 744-room resort is a constant, 24/7 security challenge. Before KeyNest, the property relied on a manual, paper-based logbook to track keys, a system that created three recurring problems: cleaner congestion at shift changes, human error from illegible entries and missed signatures, and operational fatigue from the sheer volume of handovers during peak periods.
"Before KeyNest, our security window was a constant friction point. We were diverting highly trained staff to a logbook and key cabinet, forcing them to work admin rather than their actual job, security! In a 744-room resort like ours, that kind of manual bottleneck is a clear vulnerability."
Robert Garvey, Director of Safety & Security, Hilton Daytona Beach
What Changed
The resort integrated KeyNest Lockers directly into its back-of-house operations, built around automated collection via user badge, RFID-tagged keys logged with a precise timestamp on every movement, and a centralised dashboard giving management real-time visibility into which contractors are on-site and which key compartments are empty.
"We needed a solution that completely removed the chance of human error from the logging process, while still giving us full control. The transition to an automated, digital ledger gave us something paper never could: a real-time, tamper-proof audit trail that tells us exactly which workers are on our property at any given second."
Robert Garvey, Director of Safety & Security, Hilton Daytona Beach
The resort now reports zero unaccounted-for key cards since the digital ledger went live, and has regained 15+ hours per week in administrative time across hotel and security staff.
What This Means for Hotel operations
Hilton Daytona Beach's experience reflects a challenge most hotels face regardless of size. Guest room keys tend to be tightly controlled, reissued at every checkout, but staff and master keys, the ones that open dozens of rooms or entire floors at once, often get far less structure, especially at properties running a rotating mix of seasonal staff, agency housekeeping, and permanent teams.
KeyNest Lockers close that gap by tying access to the individual rather than the physical key, so a departing staff member's permissions can be revoked the same day their contract ends, contractors and vendors get access scoped to exactly the time and area their visit requires, and onboarding or offboarding an entire seasonal team takes the same amount of time as a single person.
The result is the same shift Hilton Daytona Beach experienced: less time spent on manual key administration, and a verifiable, real-time record of exactly who can access what, across a property of any size.
The Broader Case for Hospitality Security
Beyond the time savings, automating key management let Hilton Daytona Beach redeploy security officers from desk duty to active patrol, increasing physical security presence across the resort grounds. For a property managing constant contractor and vendor turnover, a fully automated, timestamped audit trail closes a gap that a paper logbook never could.
KeyNest operates across 30 countries, making it a practical fit for hospitality groups managing security at scale.
To read the full case study, see here.
About KeyNest
KeyNest is a key management platform founded in London in 2016. It operates across 30 countries with over 100,000 clients and 10 million key movements logged. Its products include KeyNest Points, a network of 7,000 secure key exchange locations worldwide, and KeyNest Lockers, wall-mounted smart key storage for unmanned access management. KeyNest is rated 4.9 on G2 and Excellent on Trustpilot.
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