Hotel Key Card

[babuhavas]

Is Good to Know about Hotel Room Key Cards

This is pretty good info. Never even thought about key cards containing anything other than an access code for the room!

HOTEL KEY CARDS

Ever wonder what is on your magnetic key card?

Answer:

a. Customer's name

b. Customer's partial home address

c. Hotel room number

d. Check-in date and out dates

e. Customer's credit card number and expiration date!

When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner. An employee can take a hand full of cards home and using a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense.

Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee reissues the card to the next hotel guest. At that time, the new guest's information is electronically 'overwritten' on the card and the previous guest's information is erased in the overwriting process.

But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!

The bottom line is: Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them. NEVER leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them into the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card (it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader.

For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket. Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip!

If you have a small magnet, pass it across the magnetic strip several times. Then try it in the door, it will not work. It erases everything on the card.

Information courtesy of: Metropolitan Police Service.

[MB1]

Interesting as it may be, I found this little gem highly amusing.

They will not charge you for the card (it's illegal)

Do you really think that it's illegal in Thailand ?, it may be in the UK but try telling a Thai hotel worker it's illegal and see where it gets you if their wanting to charge for the card, if not handed in on checking out, Met police advise may be ok in UK but not In T hailand.

[Ulysses G.]

Just what I was thinking.

[mahtin]

Hotels I stay at, you won't get the 200 deposit back

Not that they ever saw my credit card.

[angiud]

Mmmm, every six months this topic get out again, and again, and again, usually together with some spam mail.

Information courtesy of: Metropolitan Police Service.

Ah, almost forgot, there is also Microsoft pay you 350 Us $ for something...

[givenall]

Just what I was thinking.

There has to be a way to mess up or destroy the data on the card before returning it to hotel

[MJo]

<deleted>

If you look more closely most even bigger hotels in asia has separate computer and "writer" to activate the cards. Most with software that looks like MS DOS based where they key in the check out date. I never seen them to swipe my credit card into that reader and copying it to the door card

OP if you send me your card, id, passport and banking details i can make sure no hotel is able to access your funds. Guaranteed by my moo baan poo yai.

[webfact]

The information the OP posted is quite interesting but cant be verified without a given source.

Metropolitan Police means all or nothing to me.

Furthermore I can't see where this topic has anything to do with Thailand.

//CLOSED//