Every day our mobile phones get more and more useful. The next use for it that's on the horizon: using your phone as your room key.

Next month Holiday Inn will be conducting a software trial at two hotels, the Holiday Inn Chicgao O' Hare Rosemont and the Holiday Inn Express Houston Downtown Convention Center that will allow Blackberry, iPhone, and Android users to use their smartphones as room keys and also all checkout over the phone without visiting the front desk. This trial is expected to last 60 days and if it works will be expanded to other locations across the country.

While this will help those that are tied to their phones but can manage to lose/forget/demagnetize their cards and have to make the long embarrassing walk to the front desk for a new one; as long as you don't forget your phone while heading down the hall to get a bucket of ice.