Do hotels want their keycards returned?
If you’re in and out of hotel rooms frequently, chances are you don’t have a systematic method of checking out. Travel is inherently chaotic because you’re moving from one unknown place to the next with events and destinations that are jockeying for position on the schedule.
The last thing you’re worried about is making sure your one or two (or more) hotel key cards are returned.
After accidentally taking off with hotel key cards more times than I care to count, I’ve amassed a stack of souvenirs. I wasn’t sure whether or not to feel slightly guilty or not.
I always try to find them during the last minute frenzy but the typical dialogue is something like the following.
“What was I wearing last night when we came back?”
“Remember you used mine to get ice so you have both of them.”
“I put it in right on the table there…”
“You said you kept it in your wallet this time.”
I decided to do a quick investigation to find out what the etiquette is on returning hotel key cards.
Do hotels even care? At all?
Turns out, the subject of hotel key cards has an extensive and controversial history.
One of the more popular email chains dropping into thousands of digital mail boxes years ago and resurfacing on social media from time to time is the warning that all your personal information is stored on those key cards. The rumor was that Items like home address, credit card info, and other data was stored on the cards.
While there are several technologies being used today such as magnetic stripes and chips, the most common data stored is simply the room number and the dates of stay. More complex systems can add permissions to different parts of the property or collect in and out times of entrance.
Hotels prefer that you return them because there is a cost and most card manufacturers guarantee them for life. The actual cost of the cards can be less than a dime apiece.
The bottom line? Hotels generally aren’t going to spend one iota of manpower trying to get them returned after the fact. The only effort may be something printed on the card requesting return.
For future, we’ll try to return them but if we spend more than a dime’s worth of time locating it, well then… Here’s to a larger stack of souvenirs.