Reader Katie writes:
I have an persistent problem with my keycards for hotel rooms deactivating. The hotel chain does not matter -Starwood, Hyatt, Hilton-all the cards deactivate. My husband claims it because I store them in my wallet which I then put in my purse which also holds my blackberry. I say that although his theory for deactivation is possible, it is ridiculous that this happens. Where else would I supposed to store my room key except my wallet? So, my question(s) to you: do other people have this problem? Is the problem largely limited to women (or men) who carry purses which contain both their wallet and cellphone/blackberry? Can hotels fix this issue? And most importantly, is there anything I can do to prevent this-aluminum foil around the card or some other crazy hack?
This never would have happened with those hole-punched VingCards! (Ahh, memories!)
Your husband may be right, but it’s still not clear what the precise cause is, or why it happens so consistently.
Since the key card is really a magnetic strip attached to a piece of plastic, it can be affected by other things that have magnetic force. What kind of magnets are you carrying?! 
I thought a cellphone would be a good bet, especially if it’s a flip phone, since those are often held shut with magnets. (I recall that my Motorola came with a warning to keep credit cards away from the phone for just that reason.) But if it’s a Blackberry or other non-flip-phone, then that’s not it.
Other cards, such as credit cards, are magnetic, too, but rarely exert enough of a charge to disable key cards, unless you are directly rubbing magnetic stripes together. Especially so consistently! (I always carry my keycards in my wallet, right next to the credit cards. Never had a problem.)
So to be honest, I’m stumped. As a solution, though, I’d consider a small static sleeve. My bank gave me a mylar sleeve for my ATM card years ago, and hotels often give the keycards in a paper pouch. Maybe that might help.
I’ll throw it open to readers: Do others have similar trouble? Any theories? Suggestions for how to prevent deactivation? Hit the comments!
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March 27th, 2007 at 6:39 am
Actually, the standard hard plastic holster for most (perhaps all) Blackberries has a magnet at the bottom. (It’s the small silver disc visible on the clip side. The Berry uses it to sense when it’s holstered.)
I don’t know whether the magnet is strong enough to affect card magstripes, though.
March 27th, 2007 at 6:59 am
So where does Katie store her credit and ATM cards, if not in her wallet next to the key card? Does she have a problem with those getting “deactivated”?
March 27th, 2007 at 7:49 am
Katie here. The problem is limited to hotel keycards. ATM and credit cards work fine. Perhaps they made differently. Hotel key cards are definitely made for continual de-and re-activation.
The blackberry holster definitely does have a strong magnet on it. I’ll have to experiment with keeping the Blackberry out of its holster (although that’s not an ideal solution as it lends itself toward getting the Blackberry scratched) and keeping the key in its sleeve.
But any other solutions are welcome–Thanks all!
March 27th, 2007 at 8:40 am
It ALWAYS happens to me too. I just get two cards by default now, assuming one will be deactivated.
The hotel has told me that my treo’s what’s deactivating the cards, but that’s always sounded weird to me.
My ATM/credit cards are always fine too
March 27th, 2007 at 9:09 am
75% of the time for me it is from human error during programming — the person working the desk created the card with the wrong departure date, but loves to use the “you must have deactivated it” excuse rather than admit his/her error.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:55 am
I have the same problem. Carry both a color Blackberry and flip phone in my pocket…but have only noticed the problem since having the Blackberry.
Now, one thing I heard on a trip to Portland, where cards at two separate hotels were deactivating, was that a bad batch of cards was made by the manufacturer, and that they’ve constantly had to issue replacements.
March 27th, 2007 at 10:05 am
I travel a lot for work, and I’d say that at least half the time, it’s human error. I’ve actually watched the person “reprogram” my card and put in a departure date earlier than when I was scheduled to leave (I had to deal with this repeatedly at one point, as I kept having to extend my stay at a hotel from the original two weeks to ultimately six weeks). They would only program it for the next two-three days, even though I had extended my stay for at least a week.
Also though, if you have an eelskin wallet, that can demagnetize cards. As my dad learned repeatedly. It only took him about 10 years of having to get my mom to go to the ATM for him to finally buy a non-eelskin wallet.
March 27th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
The show Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel looked at eelskin to see if it could actually deactivate ATM cards. They pretty thoroughly proved that there is no possible way for eelskin to mess up mag-stripe cards.
March 27th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Is it made of electric eel?
March 27th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Cases and flip-phone closures aren’t the only part of mobile phones with magnets… the earpiece speaker has one, too. (and if there’s an external speaker for speakerphone features, it will have one as well).
It’s a fairly strong magnet at that: many mobile phones are now using neodymium rare earth magnets which are extraordinarily strong for their size. The reason is that you need a good magnet to operate the speaker (and get quality audio), and neodymium magnets allow phone manufacturers to keep the size small. It’s easily possible that the magnet present in the Blackberry’s earpiece is the source of magnetic deactivation.
Couple that earpiece with a mag stripe on the hotel card which is designed for continuous alteration (as opposed to the stripe on ATM/Credit Cards which is set only once), and you’ve got a good recipe for futzing up the card.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Thanks for that. It makes a lot of sense, but isn’t something I ever thought about before.
March 27th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
By the way, have you read the fine print on the photo of the key card? Hilarious. “Our front desk personnel have eyes like hawks.” hahahaha! Sure they do.
Nice photo pick.
March 29th, 2007 at 3:48 am
IIRC, hotel key cards are usually low-coercivity cards, which means they’re much less resilient when it comes to magnetic fields. Credit cards and atm cards, on the other hand, are high-coercivity cards, which means that it takes a much stronger field to wipe them.
Honestly, I’ve never actually had a key card be wiped accidentally. But if you stick them around too many magnets, it is possible for them to be damaged.
As for people seeing mistakes made during the programming, don’t most major chains tie the encoders directly to their software these days? –I know that all major card systems have APIs (I’ve had the “fun” of working with a couple of them).
March 29th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Patrick, thank you for the most convincing explanation. I agree with you on the human error aspect–I can usually figure when those instances occur. For instance, when I try to take advantage of Starwood’s 4 pm Platinum checkout time.
Unfortunately, the solution remains unsatisfactory or unavailable: it appears I either need two purses or need to wear my blackberry on my belt. Both of these present obvious fashion problems.
Diagnosis: Blackberry magnet. Solution: Unsatisfactory or unavailable. Alas.
April 1st, 2007 at 8:44 pm
A phone’s vibrating “ring” can create a stronger magnetic field than the speaker. You could test this quite easily by switching the vibrating ringer off when it’s next to one of these cards. Then try it again with the vibrating ringer on.
April 4th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
I carry a magnetic money clip. If I put ANY magnetic card in the same pocket as the money clip, it is useless when next used–even a few minutes later. So, there must be a magnet culprit somewhere here!
April 25th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
I work in a hotel, and it’s NOT 75% human error! If you extend your stay, your card will deactivate on your originaly departure date unless you ask it to be reprogrammed. I have personally, CORRECTLY programmed many cards. They do deactivate next to credit cards and cells phones because the key cards carry a very low power magnetic strip, so that they do not deactivate your credit cards, which gives your credit cards power to deactivate them. We (front desk workers) know it’s annoying, and trust me, we wish it didn’t happen. So keep that in mind the next time you frustrated travelers decide to ream us for something we have little control over.
May 24th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
I work for a company that makes magnetic key
systems for hotels. Several years ago we tried
exposing cards to magnetic fields of varying strengths and found it took a very strong field to damage the data. I can also tell you however that if I put a card in the same pocket as my cell phone it won’t work five
minutes later. I always get two cards when I go to a hotel and put them in my wallet, but then after using one will unthinkingly place it in my pocket with my cellphone. If I try to use it a few minutes later it won’t work.
The second key which has remained in my wallet still works fine. This is definitely
not operator error.
June 14th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
My story: have a purse with several magnets to latch down the pockets for over a year now, got a blackberry in the second week of April. Now, for the first time (note all was well with the magnet purse and blackberry for several weeks) on the following, in the second week of June, while on family vacation, I kept deactivating hotel cards and daily cards for the subway system. Upon my return, discovered I’d also deactivated my parking lot gate entry key at work. My car clicker has gone nuts – have to bury it in the house to avoid my car locking and unlocking regularly, and my husband’s car locks by itself when I walk by. Any my internet token device is starting to go nuts – not displaying all LED characters randomly. Coincidence or have aliens abducted me in the last few weeks and put in an implant? Seriously (and I’m not kidding about any of the above issues or timing), whatever causes it is of interest to me, but more importantly, how do I solve this problem? New purse and sleeves for all weaker keycards?
June 20th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Carole – the same aliens must have gotten to me as well. I’m on 90% travel and am plagued by the demagnetizing key issue. Doesn’t matter which hotel, which city/state/country, which purse, or which BlackBerry or cell phone. It happens even when I put the key directly in my pocket, in it’s sleeve, and never expose it to phone/BB/wallet/credit cards. It’s become almost comical. I’m beginning to think I have some electromagnetic field that interferes with my room keys… Come to think of it, I also have trouble with light bulbs burning out… Should I consult an exorcist or a physicist? Or perhaps a psychiatrist?
July 27th, 2007 at 1:13 am
Business 101 THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!!
DON’T BLAME THE CUSTOMER FOR THE PROBLEM EVEN IF THE CUSTOMER IS WRONG. JUST SAY SORRY AND FIX THE CARD !!!!
September 10th, 2007 at 3:47 am
As manufacturers of both bank Atm cards as well as key cards
http://www.plasticcards-india.com
http://www.hotel-keycards.com
I can say with conviction that the only reason why this happens is that hotel key cards are Loco that is 300 oersted, whereas bank cards are Hico 2750 Oersted. This means that it need a magnetic field of 9 times strength to erase a bank card. In comparison a hotel key can get erased by all the items like cellphone,blackberry etc etc.It is time the hotel industry also migrates to the Hico format.For your information the cost differnce is not more than 2 cents.
October 2nd, 2007 at 4:14 am
I have the problem of demagnetisation with some of my bank cards. I keep my wallet in the same bag as my Blackberry 8700g which has a holster that closes with a magnet. I requested a new bank card a couple of weeks ago and it has demagnetised again! I am quite sure that it must be the Blackberry or its holster. It is not the vibration mechanism because I don´t use that. From now on, no more holster near my bank cards.
October 24th, 2007 at 10:41 am
customers are not always right. but they are still the customer. hotel keys suck! Most of the time its not the clerks fault. I would NEVER blame the guest. I would blame the key card manufacture. MAKE KEYS THAT WORKS WITH TODAYS TRAVELERS. I know that we (front desk clerks)get crap all the time about this. We get yelled at and keys thrown at us. Remember that we clean your rooms and cook your food and know were you live.
November 10th, 2007 at 11:55 am
I’m calling shenanigans on “frustrated”’s comment as follows:
“75% of the time for me it is from human error during programming — the person working the desk created the card with the wrong departure date, but loves to use the “you must have deactivated it” excuse rather than admit his/her error”
As a hotel employee I have often made this error – but I only make it about 15 percent of the time – the reason you overestimate it to 75% is because some people choose to extend their stay while they’re at the hotel – they need to recut their keys but they often don’t at the time. The other reason people have miscut keys is because the keys are made prior to their arrival and then they change the date for later as well or sometimes arrive before their normal checkin time and have to switch keys with a room that was already set aside with precut keys for another guest
November 10th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Actually – I’d say I cut the keys 95% correct if not 100%. It really is deactived by almost any phone magnet – I’d even say it might be deactivated by the frequency when the atomic clock updates a phone – I have zero scientific proof of this, but I just know many guests come to me with keys entirely deactivated – and when they come with a deactivated key I always try to “read” the card first to verify the guests room. When they show up blank, which they do 95% of the time – it means it was deactivated by something, not cut incorrectly – for if it was cut incorrectly it would still be able to be read.
November 10th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Sure we know all that stuff, but thats not the attitude to have – cut the crap on your terroristic threats – just deal with it. I hope we never cross paths – I would never hire an employee that thinks like you do. You get keys thrown at you because you probably have this expectation that they will and thats why it happens – you’re bouncing negative attitudes off onto others.
December 28th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Whoa! Avejoe was being humorous. Get a grip and get a life. I can put a hotel key in any pocket, shirt, pants, put it in my wallet, etc. Does not matter. It will be deactivated by time I go to my room later in the day. Nothing magnetic on me. I have a flip phone but never get them together. Even leave it behind and the thing will demagnetize. I can’t carry one. Have to let my wife use hers. Hers always works unless I carry it.
January 12th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Yes, I have an issue with my bank card getting deactivated, I do keep it with other cards all in one pocket in my wallet, this is my third card. It is crazy, but I do not understand why?? I hope this new card will not give me any problems.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:31 am
I agree, I work at a hotel front desk and I also have people come up to me all the time saying that their keys don’t work. 94% of the time when I try to read the card, it says the card is blank, therefore it must have been demagnetized. 3% of the time, they’ve changed their stay and not had the cards updated. 1% of the time its operator error(putting the cards in upside down, etc.), or the cards are encoded wrong by the front desk. Less often, a lock will mess up and need reprogrammed.
I’ve heard that if you sit them on a tv or keep them near your cell phone it will wipe them. I had one guest who needed her keys reactivated several times during the week. She said it was her, so I was assuming either her phone did it or she had some sort of metal plate that was magnetized on her person somewhere. Either way i didnt ask lol.
It happens a lot though, employee cards get demagnetized all the time as well, and I am forever revalidating them.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:42 am
You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Did he ever say he was rude with his guests? He can have issues with things that happen without being discourteous, so don’t shout at him something everyone who’s ever worked in customer service knows. I highly doubt he says “oh well this is your fault but I’ll fix it.” This is a website and hes every right to voice a frustration. he said “We (front desk workers) know it’s annoying, and trust me, we wish it didn’t happen.”
He didn’t say “my guests are stupid.”
February 7th, 2008 at 3:37 am
Also having problems with Hotel key cards and certain ATM cards (I am on my 10th in 5 month). It seems to coincide with my company issuing me with a Blackberry – however I previously had my own personal Blackberry and never had any problems. The difference? This new Blackberry came with a magnetic holster. Having read the previous chain I think it is time to bin the holster.
March 8th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
on a band trip this year, we stayed at a beautiful hotel in Baltimore. all the kids kept storing their keys in the cracks of their cell phones and the key would deactivate. the hotel had to make a bazillion extra keys for us.
yes, cellphones and most likely bkackberries deactivate keys!
August 17th, 2008 at 6:44 am
I really have problems with hotel key card failures when traveling in third world countries. Even after the hotel changes the lock battery the card may only work 50% of the time. Is there preventive mainteance that must be done to these locks?
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I have found that the problem with most hotel keycards (and other cheap cards) is that they use what is know in the card business as “Lo-Co” or Low Coercivity mag stripes. LO-CO mags take less energy to encode and therefore do not hold up well. Most ATM/Debit and Credit Cards now use HI-CO (High Coercivity) mags on their plastics. I am in the card business and have run a number of magnetic tests on bankcards with very few problems. A simple way to check the mag’s coercivity is by the color. HI-CO mages tend to be very dark, almost black in color while LO-CO is more of a brown color. Although this is not always the case, its usually an easy way to tell. One exception to this is colored mag stripes. I have to run them thru an analyzer to check if the vendor does not supply me the information. Of course this isn’t going to help you from wiping out the mag, at least you have a better understanding of how they work. I was always having a problem with one of my gas cards getting fouled up and wiping out the mag so I lookied at the card and found out the mag on it was a LO-CO. I took the card into my office, copied the mag data and re-wrote it onto a blank white card that had a HI-CO mag then I wrote the name of the gas card on the front with a sharpie and have been using it for “pay at the pump” for a long time with no problems. Nice to be able to do this without having to call the bank every couple of months to get a replacement card.
December 4th, 2008 at 7:17 am
I can confirm that the small magnet at the bottom of a BlackBerry slip case is death to hotel key cards and parking exit tickets. As I tend to put these in a top shirt pocket with my phone it’s a damn nuisance remembering to put the key/ticket elsewhere
December 25th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Eel wallets do not damage cards, period.
in fact, they are not even eels most of the times.
it is the magnets.
On the phones and hotel cards, the stripe on those cards does not hold a magnetic “pattern” as well as others cards, due to them being erased all the time.
It is not the magnet in the phone, it is the magnetic fields being created when the phone transmits or receives….which it does ALL the time (updating your mail, checking for coverage, etc.) regardless if you are using it or not. That is why the battery is used when not talking.
Also, it is not the proximity to a magnet, it is also the motion of the card compared to the magnet…i.e. the moving of the card in/out/across the magnetic field.
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Many people do not realize that many money clips are magnets, put the biggest problem are the magnets that are in ladies wallets and purses that keep the flap closed.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:29 am
First off, I wasn’t aware that Front Desk Clerks cook and clean @ the hotel?!
Secondly as a former Front Desk Clerk now Manager, when a guest stays 1 night the key works till the next day 11am which is check out time. When you key the card it cycles through pre set times/dates i.e. you only hit enter a few times if keying one card for one night! So there is no room for human error on that part.
I carry my Visa Check Card, DL, College ID all in my cellphone pouch (had a magnetic clasp) which holds an AT&T Tilt and they have never deactivated. Now I did have a Walmart gift card in that same pouch and it seems to not work anymore though I know I have some money on there.
The Mystery continues on why/what deactivates hotel key cards…
March 28th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
As manager of Security at our property I can attest to the fact that keycard demagnetizations occur quite regularly and I have asked guests whether they carry a blackberry or cell phone with them with their cards. I estimate that 70-80& of the responses are positove for blackberry and cellphones.
I would also have to agree that there must be a connection between the frequency of certain cards being demagnetized and the fact that some cards are Lo-Co and others Hi-co . I would have to submit that there is likely a great probability that many hotel keycards are mode with Lo-Co from a cost perspective as hotels go through thousands of these a week and purchase in very large quantities from suppliers that I would suggest use the lower cost card mag stripes. It looks like this is one issue that will continue to be an issue for many hotels.ON a connected but different note I have to say that hearing all this makes me even more concerned for young children today who use cell phones because if the phones and blackberry’s can do this to a credit card mag strip, what the heck can they be doing to the fragile tissues of the young brain !! I think we may well have a major health problem on our hands in 20- 30 years which is why most European countries have begun to give severe health warnings to the public about the use of cellhones by young children and youth.
July 19th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I work at a hotel in the downtown DC area and we have a huge problem with keys deactivating. Our key machine is directly connected to the property management system so if a reservation is for three nights, the key will be programed for three nights. Still we get a huge number of guests that complain about deactivated keys. One thing that we find is that many of these people have been into the museums and buildings with high levels of security screening and this frequently deactivates the keys. We have also started rotating the use of the keys so the same keys aren’t being programed every day. Apparently they can only be programed a certain number of times. This seems to have helped.
July 31st, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I have often had my hotel room electronic room keys get deactivated. And it does appear to be connected to putting them in a pocket with my cell phone (in my case, an HTC smart phone). I am currently researching a similar issue with a secure building access card which also seems to be deactivated by this cell phone. And I echo the concern someone else posted related to the damage these phones may be causing to our brain cells.
As of now the only solution I have access to is somehow keeping the cell phone and the magnetic card apart. I assume there must be some type of sleeve for the cards that would protect them, but I haven’t started to look for one of those yet.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Twitter Comment
Why hotel keys demagnatize [link to post] read Patrick’s & Terry’s comments. Cell phones contain magnets to make the speaker run.
– Posted using Chat Catcher
August 28th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
I work at a hotel and yes ANYTHING with a magnant can deactivat your room key
September 11th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I WORK AT A HOTEL 2…ALIENS???? PLEASE PEOPLE!!!! HAVENT YOU EVER HEARD OF THE TERM MAN MADE???? I PERSONALLY PROGRAM CARDS AND ACTUALLY SET THEM TO DEACTIVATE A DAY AFTER THE GUEST’S DEPARTURE JUST BECAUSE OF THIS REASON.GUESS WHAT?…I STILL HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM.I HAVE “FRUSTRATED” GUESTS CHEWIN MY ASS OFF ALL THE TIME FOR SOMETHING THAT ISNT EVEN MY FAULT.ITS VERY FUNNY HOW PEOPLE CAN ACT SO RUDE AND INCONSIDERATE (VERY SPOILED CHILD LIKE).IM GOING TO PRINT THIS AND SAVE COPIES JUST FOR GUESTS LIKE YOU THAT ACTUALLY HAVE THE NERVE TO TALK YOUR SH!T!!!! HAHAHAHA