Comments on: Reader mail: Why do my hotel keycards keep deactivating? http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/ Living the first class life -- at coach prices Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:21:15 +0000 hourly 1 By: Jo http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-73923 Jo Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:03:55 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-73923 Patrick Says: August 4th, 2010 at 12:43 pm There are even some PEOPLE that carry their own magnetic fields and can erase a hotel key card by just touching them. I managed to demagnetize or wipe my hotel key twice on the way from the reception to the hotel room, two different cards, same problem. Note that I did not have any cellphones or cards on me.The receptionist thought that there could be a problem with the lock itself, but it was fine when she tried to open the door with her card. Patrick Says:
August 4th, 2010 at 12:43 pm

There are even some PEOPLE that carry their own magnetic fields and can erase a hotel key card by just touching them.

I managed to demagnetize or wipe my hotel key twice on the way from the reception to the hotel room, two different cards, same problem.
Note that I did not have any cellphones or cards on me.The receptionist thought that there could be a problem with the lock itself, but it was fine when she tried to open the door with her card.

]]> By: Jason http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-68765 Jason Sun, 18 Sep 2011 12:47:59 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-68765 I have had problems with keycards whether they were exposed to a magnet or not. During a 2 week stay at a certain hotel I had to replace my card daily. I made every effort to keep the card safe but the problem continued. Then I began to notice that my card was fine until after housekeeping had been in my room. I asked for 2 cards and after checking that they both worked I left one in the room with a friend and took the other with me. When housekeeping opened the door they would see it was occupied and move on. I then tried my card and as usual it was dead. my friend would let me in and the card I had left in the room was also tried and found to be useless also. I performed this experiment 3 times and every time both cards failed to work after housekeeping used their card. Weeks later during a stay at a different hotel my card failed and was reprogrammed for me. I put the card on an empty table and sat down to watch tv. A few minutes later a maintenance man entered the room. He told me he had been in the room earlier to replace the 2 filters in the rooms climate control set up. He had left because he didnt have the right filter with him. I immediatley tried my keycard and.....it failed. SO...why are my cards needing to be reset ? Also, arent the door locks activated by battery powered electro magnets or am I wrong? if so the magnet theory kinda loses some credibility. The mystery continues. I have had problems with keycards whether they were exposed to a magnet or not. During a 2 week stay at a certain hotel I had to replace my card daily. I made every effort to keep the card safe but the problem continued. Then I began to notice that my card was fine until after housekeeping had been in my room. I asked for 2 cards and after checking that they both worked I left one in the room with a friend and took the other with me. When housekeeping opened the door they would see it was occupied and move on. I then tried my card and as usual it was dead. my friend would let me in and the card I had left in the room was also tried and found to be useless also. I performed this experiment 3 times and every time both cards failed to work after housekeeping used their card. Weeks later during a stay at a different hotel my card failed and was reprogrammed for me. I put the card on an empty table and sat down to watch tv. A few minutes later a maintenance man entered the room. He told me he had been in the room earlier to replace the 2 filters in the rooms climate control set up. He had left because he didnt have the right filter with him. I immediatley tried my keycard and…..it failed.
SO…why are my cards needing to be reset ? Also, arent the door locks activated by battery powered electro magnets or am I wrong? if so the magnet theory kinda loses some credibility. The mystery continues.

]]> By: MICHAEL http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-62881 MICHAEL Sun, 06 Feb 2011 18:33:06 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-62881 Hello All, I stay at the Hilton a lot and some other hotels, I have never had any problems with any hotel keycard ever except at the Hilton last time I stayed I requested at late checkout but the lady didn't put it on the computer and at 12.00pm the card Auto-deactivated. After reading all the messages before my last. I tried and tried everything to make my keycard room key to deactivate. I am sorry to report nothing I tried made this occur. I have a Blackberry as well and my wife has a iPhone. I stored it in my wallet with 2 credit cards plus other keycards, I ran it along the blackberry case magnet along the strip. My wheelchair has magnets on it even that did not work. I also put it on on the computer screen. This comment is not true, Well not when we tested it out! Bruce stated the following on the Sept. 7 2010 at 11:29pm "The magnet from any cellphone speaker will indeed wipe clean the room information embedded on a hotel key card." We had a business meeting we all use blackberry and Radio's for communications both VHF & UHF none of the phones or Radios effected my room key. The room key was also dropped in a heated Swimming Pool (this was a accident) but still in working order. Here is the truth behind ALL Deactivations. If you get told it's your fault you know they are covering up the below truth frustrated Says: 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. The cards also get deactivated automatically at a pre-set checkout time like 11am with Hilton unless the desk clerk codes it for a later time. Hello All,

I stay at the Hilton a lot and some other hotels, I have never had any problems with any hotel keycard ever except at the Hilton last time I stayed I requested at late checkout but the lady didn’t put it on the computer and at 12.00pm the card Auto-deactivated.

After reading all the messages before my last. I tried and tried everything to make my keycard room key to deactivate. I am sorry to report nothing I tried made this occur. I have a Blackberry as well and my wife has a iPhone.

I stored it in my wallet with 2 credit cards plus other keycards, I ran it along the blackberry case magnet along the strip. My wheelchair has magnets on it even that did not work.

I also put it on on the computer screen.

This comment is not true, Well not when we tested it out!

Bruce stated the following on the Sept. 7 2010 at 11:29pm

“The magnet from any cellphone speaker will indeed wipe clean the room information embedded on a hotel key card.”

We had a business meeting we all use blackberry and Radio’s for communications both VHF & UHF none of the phones or Radios effected my room key.

The room key was also dropped in a heated Swimming Pool (this was a accident) but still in working order.

Here is the truth behind ALL Deactivations. If you get told it’s your fault you know they are covering up the below truth

frustrated Says:
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.

The cards also get deactivated automatically at a pre-set checkout time like 11am with Hilton unless the desk clerk codes it for a later time.

]]> By: Bruce http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-40374 Bruce Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:29:31 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-40374 Every cell phone -regardless od make and model- has magnets in the speaker componets. Hotel key cards are embedded very 'lightly' because they need to be programmed and reprogrammed many time over. ATM and credit cards arte not programmed in teh same way, they have a much 'deeper' embedding in the magnetic strip. The magnet from any cellphone speaker will indeed wipe clean the room information embedded on a hotel key card. Every cell phone -regardless od make and model- has magnets in the speaker componets. Hotel key cards are embedded very ‘lightly’ because they need to be programmed and reprogrammed many time over. ATM and credit cards arte not programmed in teh same way, they have a much ‘deeper’ embedding in the magnetic strip. The magnet from any cellphone speaker will indeed wipe clean the room information embedded on a hotel key card.

]]> By: Patrick http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-38636 Patrick Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:43:27 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-38636 Anything with a magnetic field will deactivate the key card. People don't realize how many magnetic fields we encounter every day. Cell phones, magnetic clasps in purses or wallets, money clips, key remotes for cars, bluetooth devices, laptops. If you pass through a metal detector or a security gate at your office or business, it will erase the card as well. There are even some PEOPLE that carry their own magnetic fields and can erase a hotel key card by just touching them. The front desk does make some errors but I don't believe that it would account for 75% of the problems. Anything with a magnetic field will deactivate the key card. People don’t realize how many magnetic fields we encounter every day.

Cell phones, magnetic clasps in purses or wallets, money clips, key remotes for cars, bluetooth devices, laptops.

If you pass through a metal detector or a security gate at your office or business, it will erase the card as well.

There are even some PEOPLE that carry their own magnetic fields and can erase a hotel key card by just touching them.

The front desk does make some errors but I don’t believe that it would account for 75% of the problems.

]]> By: Birky http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-36747 Birky Mon, 31 May 2010 19:21:35 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-36747 Why don't they build a better card. If these are so cheap it would save everyone a great deal of frustration if they were made better! Some people travel all the time and are under alot of stress because the travel is for work not play!! Who ever said they clean our rooms and know where we live needs to get another job! Try Burger King.I heard they are hiring! That way when your lack of people skills kick in you can spit on there burger! Explain how both of our cards quit working when one was in my briefcase and one in my wallet. The one let me in hours before but neither would work two hours later. That's an error on the front desks part. Just make a better card! Why don’t they build a better card. If these are so cheap it would save everyone a great deal of frustration if they were made better! Some people travel all the time and are under alot of stress because the travel is for work not play!! Who ever said they clean our rooms and know where we live needs to get another job! Try Burger King.I heard they are hiring! That way when your lack of people skills kick in you can spit on there burger!
Explain how both of our cards quit working when one was in my briefcase and one in my wallet. The one let me in hours before but neither would work two hours later. That’s an error on the front desks part. Just make a better card!

]]> By: Crazy Over Dead Keys http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-36417 Crazy Over Dead Keys Wed, 19 May 2010 09:30:33 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-36417 I have been a front desk clerk for years and I am soo tired of re-keying cards, I have racked my brain to figure this out. I remember once when I was a child my grandfather took this hugh magnet and magnatized a paper clip and he told me this takes away from the large magnet's magnatism. I work in a town that has a lot of construction and most of the people that say here are on oil refineries all day there is all kinds of magnatism everywhere and I think that this may be causeing (some) of they keys to become permanently demagnatized. So I stopped thinking of the keys as Key Cards and started thinking of them as magnets if a magnet will not stick to another magnet then it is not a magnet RIGHT??? So if you get two keys and you put them togeather and with the strips facing down and then hold on to only the top one, see if they are magnatized enough to stick togeather. If you can not get the keys to stick togeather then they are no longer magnatized and it does not matter how many times you re-key the card because it is not going to re-magnatize that card enough to work again. If we were able to do that then banks would just swipe your debit card and remagnatize it instead of wasting millions on new keys. The swipe only encodes the card with information to make it work temporarally, but if it has no magnatism it will not hold that data. I have been a front desk clerk for years and I am soo tired of re-keying cards, I have racked my brain to figure this out. I remember once when I was a child my grandfather took this hugh magnet and magnatized a paper clip and he told me this takes away from the large magnet’s magnatism. I work in a town that has a lot of construction and most of the people that say here are on oil refineries all day there is all kinds of magnatism everywhere and I think that this may be causeing (some) of they keys to become permanently demagnatized. So I stopped thinking of the keys as Key Cards and started thinking of them as magnets if a magnet will not stick to another magnet then it is not a magnet RIGHT???

So if you get two keys and you put them togeather and with the strips facing down and then hold on to only the top one, see if they are magnatized enough to stick togeather. If you can not get the keys to stick togeather then they are no longer magnatized and it does not matter how many times you re-key the card because it is not going to re-magnatize that card enough to work again.

If we were able to do that then banks would just swipe your debit card and remagnatize it instead of wasting millions on new keys. The swipe only encodes the card with information to make it work temporarally, but if it has no magnatism it will not hold that data.

]]> By: Heather http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-35152 Heather Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:57:04 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-35152 Josh: That is not business 101. Business 101: The customer always THINKS they are right. We do not say its the customers fault that the key demagnatizes (even though it probably is). I can see whether or not it is a programming error (hotel) or a demagnization issue (guest), and thats with a programmer from the 90's. I tell the guest what the issue is, whether it is us or not. If its a programming error I say so, apologize to the guest, and let them know I will go over key programming with the representative who made their keys. If its a demagnization issue I inform the guest of this and let them know the most common reasons so that they can avoid similar problems in the future. If a guest is continuously putting the key next to their phone and demanatizing it, wouldn't it be better it I informed them that this is why their keys don't work rather than just say sorry and reprogram the key? And the keys need to be easily demagnatized so that they can do important things like EXPIRE, and be reusable. How much money and plastic do you want wasted so that you never have to go down and get new keys? Josh: That is not business 101. Business 101: The customer always THINKS they are right.

We do not say its the customers fault that the key demagnatizes (even though it probably is). I can see whether or not it is a programming error (hotel) or a demagnization issue (guest), and thats with a programmer from the 90′s. I tell the guest what the issue is, whether it is us or not. If its a programming error I say so, apologize to the guest, and let them know I will go over key programming with the representative who made their keys. If its a demagnization issue I inform the guest of this and let them know the most common reasons so that they can avoid similar problems in the future. If a guest is continuously putting the key next to their phone and demanatizing it, wouldn’t it be better it I informed them that this is why their keys don’t work rather than just say sorry and reprogram the key?

And the keys need to be easily demagnatized so that they can do important things like EXPIRE, and be reusable. How much money and plastic do you want wasted so that you never have to go down and get new keys?

]]> By: Sally http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-35042 Sally Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:04:15 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-35042 I know the cards will have problems. The only issue I have is having to stand in line forever to get a new one. All hotels should have a quick way of replacing these cards and then people wouldn't be so upset. A designinated clerk maybe? I realize the hotel clerks are not to blame but, on the customer's side, it is very tiresome to have to replace the keys all the time. We are not at your establishment to stand in line to replace keys. I know the cards will have problems. The only issue I have is having to stand in line forever to get a new one. All hotels should have a quick way of replacing these cards and then people wouldn’t be so upset. A designinated clerk maybe? I realize the hotel clerks are not to blame but, on the customer’s side, it is very tiresome to have to replace the keys all the time. We are not at your establishment to stand in line to replace keys.

]]> By: Lee http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-33192 Lee Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:57:35 +0000 http://www.upgradetravelbetter.com/2007/03/27/reader-mail-why-do-my-hotel-keycards-keep-deactivating/#comment-33192 I always have the same problem. I can use the key once, put it all alone in my back pocket, a jacket pocket, my purse, my wallet, in a pouch in my purse or pack--doesn't matter. They ALWAYS become demagnetized. I always have the same problem. I can use the key once, put it all alone in my back pocket, a jacket pocket, my purse, my wallet, in a pouch in my purse or pack–doesn’t matter. They ALWAYS become demagnetized.

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