Comments on: Reader mail: Why do my hotel keycards keep deactivating?

By: Zach

Zach — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:51:39 +0000

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.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 11:44:41 +0000

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?

By: Band Geek

Band Geek — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 20:32:38 +0000

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!

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:37:35 +0000

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.

By: Bee

Bee — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:42:16 +0000

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.”

By: Bee

Bee — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:31:51 +0000

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.

By: Oli

Oli — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:29:14 +0000

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.

By: John

John — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 21:31:56 +0000

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.

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:24:39 +0000

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.

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:01:41 +0000

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.

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 16:55:55 +0000

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

By: avejoe

avejoe — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:41:37 +0000

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.