Travel tip: Set your hotel key to give directions when tapped on your iPhone
Travel tip: Set your hotel key to give directions when tapped on your iPhone
Publish Date: 2026-05-28 22:44:00
Source Domain: creators.yahoo.com
If you like exploring a new city, but don’t have the best sense of direction to get back to your hotel, then you need this travel tip. Every time I’m in a new location, I set my hotel key card to pop up directions back to my hotel every time I tap it on the back of my iPhone.
The way this works is by setting up an Apple Shortcut to launch directions back to your hotel. Then, you can use your hotel keycard as an NFC trigger for that Shortcut. Tap it to your phone and up pops directions from wherever you’re at back to your hotel.
It will take a few steps to set this up initially. But once you do, you can tweak it for each trip you take in the future. Once you’ve mastered the directions Shortcut, you can even set up multiple Shortcuts to launch when you tap your hotel key. So, you can get directions, the weather forecast, or other travel-related items without digging through your phone. Here’s a step-by-step guide to set it up.
How to use your hotel keycard as an Apple Shortcut trigger
A quick note that to do this trick, you’ll need an iPhone XR from 2018 or newer, running iOS 13.1 or newer.
The first part is to create a Directions Shortcut. To start, open the Shortcuts app and then select the plus (+) sign in the top right corner.
Scroll down to Maps. Then select “Open Directions.”
By default, it will show “Open Driving directions from Current Location to Destination.” Tap on Destination and then search for the place you’re staying. If you’ll be primarily walking, then you can tap on Driving and change that to Walking.
Tap on the back arrow at the top, and you should see your “Open Directions” Shortcut at the top.
The second part of this is making your keycard trigger that Shortcut.
Along the bottom bar, tap on Automation. Then tap the plus (+) sign in the top right corner.
Scroll down and select “NFC.” On the screen where it says “NFC Tag,” tap on the “Scan” button.
When a “Ready to Scan” notification pops up, hold the card to the…
