deepidv Teams Up With Simpello to Bring No-PII Hotel Verification to HITEC 2026 San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO, June 18, 2026 — deepidv, the verification engine and agentic compliance suite, teamed up with Simpello, the privacy-first proximity identity platform, at HITEC 2026 in San Antonio to bring privacy-preserving guest verification — the best KYC for hotels — to the hospitality industry. deepidv was on the HITEC show floor at the Henry B. González Convention Center from Tuesday to Thursday, June 16 to 18, alongside more than 6,100 hospitality technology professionals and 400+ exhibitors.

The pairing is simple: Simpello brings the frictionless, no-PII proximity layer that hotels already love, and deepidv brings the verification engine — document verification, biometric matching, deepfake detection, and sanctions screening — so a hotel can know a guest is real without ever holding the guest's personal data.

deepidv and Simpello at HITEC 2026 in San Antonio

HITEC, produced by Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), is the world's largest and longest-running hospitality technology conference and exhibition. HITEC 2026 ran June 15 to 18 at the Henry B. González Convention Center, drawing 6,100+ professionals to an 85,000 square-foot exhibition floor focused on artificial intelligence, guest engagement, payments, cybersecurity, and contactless check-in.

deepidv and Simpello share one thesis: identity should be verifiable without being stored. That single idea is reshaping how hotels think about KYC, fraud, and guest data — and it is why the two companies came together on the HITEC 2026 floor.

"Every hotel wants to know the guest is real, and no hotel wants to be the next data-breach headline. Simpello already proved you can deliver a magical, no-PII guest experience. We add the verification engine on top — document, biometric, deepfake, and sanctions — so the property gets fraud-grade assurance and the guest's data never leaves their phone. That is the best KYC for hotels: real trust, zero data liability." — Shawn-Marc Melo, Founder & CEO, deepidv

What Simpello does: Bluetooth proximity with no PII

Simpello (LinkedIn) is a privacy-first identity platform founded in 2009 and built on a simple promise it states plainly: "Privacy is not a feature. It's the foundation." Simpello turns a guest's own phone into the credential using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Ultra-Wideband (UWB), creating a strict-proximity engagement zone roughly two feet square for kiosks, points of sale, and hotel check-in.

The privacy model is what sets Simpello apart. The guest's facial template and personal data live inside a mobile vault on their device, and only on their device, paired with a unique token. Authentication is silent and consent-only, and the institution never holds the PII — which is exactly the exposure most hotels are trying to shed. With 17 active patents and live pilots across hospitality, retail, and venues, Simpello has cut hotel check-in from the usual 10 to 15 minutes down to about 18 seconds, with room keys issued right at the kiosk.

The best KYC for hotels, without the data liability

For years the phrase "best KYC for hotels" meant collecting more — scanning the ID, photographing the guest, storing it all in a property management system, and hoping the database never leaks. That model is now a liability. The better answer, and the one deepidv and Simpello demonstrated at HITEC 2026, inverts it:

deepidv verifies the guest with document verification, liveness and biometric matching, 5-layer deepfake detection, and sanctions and PEP screening.
Simpello keeps the data on the guest's phone — the facial template, the document, the PII — inside the mobile vault.
deepidv's cryptographic verification chain issues a signed, timestamped receipt the hotel can audit, proving the check happened without the hotel ever storing the guest's identity.

The result is the best KYC for hotels precisely because the hotel stops being a PII honeypot. Properties get fraud-grade assurance for chargeback defense, high-value and luxury bookings, casino-resort AML, age-restricted access, and anti-trafficking obligations — while shrinking their breach surface to near zero.

How privacy-first hotel verification works

The guest verifies once with deepidv — document, liveness, deepfake check, and sanctions screening — from their phone before arrival.
The verified result and biometric template are bound to the guest's device through Simpello's mobile vault. Nothing sensitive is sent to the property.
At the hotel, Simpello's BLE and UWB proximity plus an on-device biometric match unlock check-in and cut a room key in seconds.
deepidv issues a cryptographic verification receipt the hotel can show an auditor or regulator — without holding a single field of guest PII.

Why hotels are moving to KYC

Hotels sit at the intersection of payments, physical access, and high-value transactions, which makes them a constant fraud target: stolen-card bookings and chargebacks, account takeover on loyalty programs, synthetic and AI-generated identities, and casino-resort gaming that carries hard AML and KYC obligations. Hotels also face growing anti-human-trafficking and age-verification duties. KYC answers all of these — but only if it can be done without turning every front desk into a data-retention risk. Privacy-first verification is how hospitality squares that circle.

About deepidv

deepidv is a verification engine and agentic compliance suite headquartered in San Francisco, verifying identities across 211+ countries in under 150 milliseconds. The platform combines document intelligence, biometric matching, 5-layer deepfake detection, AI agent verification (KYA), and a cryptographic chain that produces a signed receipt for every verification. deepidv serves fintech, real estate, iGaming, and now hospitality clients, and you can see how it compares to other providers.

About Simpello

Simpello is a privacy-first proximity identity platform founded in 2009. Using Bluetooth Low Energy and Ultra-Wideband with on-device biometrics, Simpello lets people interact, check in, and pay without surrendering personal data — keeping identity on the user's device and PII out of institutional databases. Learn more at simpello.com.

About HITEC and HFTP

HITEC is the world's largest and longest-running hospitality technology conference and exhibition, produced by Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP). HITEC 2026 took place June 15 to 18 at the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas, welcoming 6,100+ professionals and 400+ exhibitors.

FAQ

What is HITEC 2026? HITEC 2026 is the world's largest and longest-running hospitality technology conference and exhibition, produced by HFTP. It welcomed more than 6,100 hospitality technology professionals and 400+ exhibitors.

Where was HITEC 2026 held? HITEC 2026 was held June 15 to 18 at the Henry B. González Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. deepidv exhibited Tuesday through Thursday, June 16 to 18.

What does Simpello do? Simpello is a privacy-first proximity identity platform. It uses Bluetooth Low Energy and Ultra-Wideband with on-device biometrics so guests can check in and pay without their personal data ever leaving their phone — no PII stored by the business.

What is the best KYC for hotels? The best KYC for hotels verifies the guest with document, biometric, deepfake, and sanctions checks while keeping personal data off the hotel's systems. deepidv and Simpello deliver exactly this: fraud-grade verification with zero guest PII stored by the property.

How does deepidv verify hotel guests without storing PII? deepidv performs the verification — document, liveness, deepfake detection, and screening — while Simpello keeps the guest's biometric template and PII in a mobile vault on the guest's device. deepidv then issues a cryptographic receipt that proves the check occurred, so the hotel can satisfy auditors without holding the data.

How can I see deepidv and Simpello's hotel verification? Book a walkthrough at deepidv.com or reach the team at press@deepidv.com.

Media Contact: Shawn-Marc Melo, Founder & CEO press@deepidv.com deepidv.com