![]() A secret, sneaky tactic that front desk agents have control over, according to the book Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality If you have two back-to-back reservations the front desk hostess might not have connected them so your key might stop working when your first reservation is over.ġ. Key cards might be programmed to deactivate at noon on the date of your check-out. The mag stripe will eventually wear out, and after hundreds of times of running cards through the low-cost encoder it is only a matter of time before the data becomes garbled and worn out.Ģ. This means that the hotel might be using old equipment or maybe it hasn’t been cleaned in a while. SecureIDNews says that often, “encoding equipment needed to be cleaned or maintained” when an investigation of ineffective key cards was done. The age of the card and the encoding equipment will change the effectiveness of key cards. Maybe consider using a sanitizing wipe before tucking them away.ģ. Did you know that hotels almost NEVER clean room keys? This is also something to keep in mind for all you readers that like to keep a stash of colorful key cards as a momento from vacations. Cards that are turned back in to the hotel are re-used endlessly, and once they get stuck together with gunk, staff will finally throw them away. Cards left in the hot sun, rubbed by beach sand in a pocket or stepped on by a dog might look just fine but may have lost the ability to open your door. Scratches, crusted cracker-crumb bits and folds might make it harder for the card to be read. If you dropped your card on a hard surface it might have gotten nicked. Putting the hotel key card on a table where a TV is present, next to a camera or even in your wallet or purse near another mag strip card could wipe the data or damage it.Ĥ. If you guessed that the LoCo type hotels use is less expensive, you’re correct. HiCo has a much stronger magnetic field (by about 8x) which is much less likely to allow accidental erasure. Credit cards, bank cards, and many employee access cards utilize mag stripes that are considered high coercivity. Designed for short-term use, the data can be changed and erased easily. Hotels tend to use low coercivity ( LoCo), which is also what many theme parks use. Mag stripes come in two different levels of coercivity (the level of how difficult it is to encode and erase info from the stripe). It has to do with the quality of the mag stripe on the back of the card. However, do you notice that credit cards are hardly ever demagnetized and you keep them for much, much longer?ĥ. Magnetic handbag clasps and phones are all suspect. It’s true that any magnet has the ability to impact the mag stripe on the back of the card. How about another credit card? Yes, but almost never does either. Can your cell phone demagnetize your key card? Yes, but it probably doesn’t. Here are 6 reasons why your hotel key card stops working –Ħ. Would you be surprised to find that it isn’t always your phone that demagnetizes the room key? They keep the key in a separate jacket pocket, on top of a stack of papers or even in their hand the entire time out of the room (if doing a quick errand). Usually when I am tired or have my hands full of takeaway food that I’ve brought back to enjoy in the room. Sometimes three, four, five or more times. It’s usually a minor inconvenience, but sometimes it happens more than once at a property. ![]() The answer has been a sheepish yes (camera), but other times I am completely mystified. Why did my key card stop working? Front desk staff almost always smiles and has an easy response such as, “Did you put your key card next to your phone or camera?” Other times, the stubborn red light taunts me and I resign myself to the fact that I’ll have to trudge back down to reception to ask for a new key. If I have the 2nd key with me I’ll take that one out and try it. I try the key again, slower, to no avail. Once in a while, the light blinks red and the door stays closed. Most times I get the happy green light and in I go. I pride myself on being organized, and whether returning after a quick trip down the street or a long day’s excursion, I proudly pull out my room key card and slide it in the slot without rummaging around in a bottomless bag. Read my Advertiser Disclosure policy to learn more.Ĭhecking in to a hotel I typically request 2 keys even when traveling solo. American Express and other banks are advertising partners of this site. Please note that I receive compensation for many links on this blog.
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