The Dangers of
Magnetic Hotel Key Cards

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Ever wonder what is on your Magnetic Hotel 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 into 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 re-issues 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! Information courtesy of: Pasadena Police
Department

You can also carry along a small magnet and pass it across the
magnetic strip several times, then try it in the door. It will not work.
It erases everything on the card.
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