Hotel Questions

Lilly

My best friend travels 3 weeks a month. She talks a LOT to the front desk. The cards are cleaned (???) and reused. ESPECIALLY the ones with the computer chip inside them. The hotels usually charge a $20 fee for those cards not being returned.

The flimsy ones with the magnetic strip? They are reused as well.

Your travel companion was just lazy. Sorry. You don't even have to hand it to the front desk person - you can put it on the counter. Many of the cards have timers on them and will cease to work after check out time.

Hotels do have enough cards. But they do expect people to return them.

Hope that helps!

I will say that I work at a hotel and we truly appreciate it when guests bring their keys to the front desk. If you don't want to do that, you can always leave them in the guest room. I know our hotel likes to recycle room keys, and wish more people would just turn them into the front desk. Please do not dispose of them because they can and will be reactivated for the next guest.

Key cards are wiped and reprogrammed using a machine at the front desk. They don't throw them away until they're worn out or the hotel corporation issues new cards (some have advertising on them).

ETA: I usually do automatic check out, where they slide your receipt under the door. I leave my key cards on the desk in the room and housekeeping picks them up during cleaning rounds.

Yes, give it back and recycle. Less plastic in our landfills...

They aren't "meant" to be disposed of, though it is no big deal if they aren't; they won't open that room door again. Hotels can reuse them after you hand them in, but the hotel will wipe them so that, say, a person who left with a room key card cannot return to the hotel and use that card to re-enter the room, once he's checked out.

Your friend isn't being very "green," though. Throwing away a plastic card means another chunk of plastic sitting in a landfill pretty much forever, while returning the card means it can be reused repeatedly. If enough people keep and toss the cards, that adds up to a lot of plastic thrown away that could have been reused for a least a while. Maybe if you travel with this person again you can point that out....

Maybe your friend saw the clerk was busy with someone else and thought that he or she would have to wait behind that person to return the card? You knew better and just slid yours onto the desk, which was fine.

I cannot remember the last time I checked out of a hotel at the front desk. YEARS!

I know they keys can be reactivated because way too many times, our key has accidently been deactivated by being in a pocket or too close to a cell phone. Cell Phones will deactivate the magnetic strip.

Typically, If I think about it, I will leave my key in my room because I have the morning bill slipped under the door and I leave when needed.

I've been known to keep a lot of keys, especially keys from special places we have enjoyed... Beverly Hilton was the last one I kept on purpose and sometimes by accident because it is still in my purse. I don't get bent out of shape if I or anyone else tosses them in the trash later on.

Key cards are wiped clean and reused. Sometimes hotels will charge your room if you don't return the key and housekeeping doesn't find it in your room.

People have been known to keep hotel keycards because they can also be rewritten to hold stolen banking information, made into a credit/debit card dummy. Your friend should put it through a shredder rather than just tossing it.

I travel several times per year and stay in different types of hotels. I return my key 99% of the time. I just don't want to toss it in the trash later and it's easier to leave it in my room on the way out. I just stick it on the dresser or night stand and head out. If I have something I need to discuss with the front desk, I will drop it off.

They can be reprogrammed, but most hotels assume that a good number will not be returned. Most of the hotels I stay out have a "fast" checkout, in that my bill will have been slid under my door by 5AM, so that I can leave whenever needed that morning without having to stop by the desk. My sister collects hers and I'll keep mine and give to her for her to see if she wants any of them. I haven't actually checked out of a hotel by going to the front desk here in the US since I was in college and they had an actual key.

I have stayed in 2 different chains that use the card key and both have rules that if the card is not turned in, you are charged. $10 or whatever the fee is. I do know a friend of mine had 2 cards and only turned in one---they had a $20 fee charged to their credit card separate from the regular hotel charges.

'take the time to return it'? i mean, that's pretty lazy. you can just leave the dang thing in your room. it's not like you have to stand in line to get waited on while they do something to it.
some hotels don't bother, but many will charge a fee if the key walks out.
khairete
S.

The last time I stayed in a motel they said to just leave them in the room and my receipt was put under the door. (that was a couple of years ago traveling by car from FL to PA). I assume that they can reset them and use for other travelers.

When you use your credit card to book or pay for your room it is not directly linked to the door card/key. You would have to charge stuff (food, etc.) to your room not swipe your room key to pay for them. So when you check out your info was on their computer not the room key.

Most of the time the key cards are provided by advertisers. How many times have you see a pizza joint on one side? Even at the Amway in Grand Rapids the card was a coupon. I have never seen any hotel that uses them expect them back, that is why they slip the bill under your door.

As soon as you check out or that check out time rolls around they no longer work. A computer gives them a new code when you check in, they swipe the card and it encodes in on the card. Lose your card the code a new one.

So yes, they are disposable. The hotel may reuse them but they are not of any value that they need them back.

Looking at some of the answers I don't think people get the system. When you check out that card is no longer connected to your account. If you lose one while you are checked in sure someone could charge things to your account but once you check out, nope! I never have the ability to charge attached to my cards, I have older kids, old enough to have a card, young enough to lose them. Not worth the bother.

By the way I do turn mine in, to me it is a recycling issue. Except the Amway ones, we were told to keep them. Oh and no, they weren't Amway coupons, we were there for a convention, they were for a product there.

I agree with EVERYONE here but have also heard from hotel folks that your credit card number (linked to the room number) is not completely erased from the card...much like info on a computer is not completely gone when "trashed." Since I heard this, I've kept my cards. I got caught up in the Target theft....

M.

Wow. I can't believe there are still people that take them to the front desk! And most places just email your receipt now so no need to do anything. Leave it on the dresser.