Well Heck.....

[AP Panther Fan]

I just stayed at the Comfort Inn Suites and turned in my key cards to the front desk.



This is valuable information, especially for those who travel.

Always take a small fridge magnet on your
holiday, they come in handy at the end of it.
Thought you all needed to know this.

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 'over-
written' 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.

[LionFan72]

Thanks for sharing, I sure didn't know about the cc info.

[rockdale80]

I just stayed at the Comfort Inn Suites and turned in my key cards to the front desk.



This is valuable information, especially for those who travel.

Always take a small fridge magnet on your
holiday, they come in handy at the end of it.
Thought you all needed to know this.

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 'over-
written' 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.

This was debunked and isnt true.

[AP Panther Fan]

This was debunked and isnt true.

Which part? What information is stored on the magnetic strip or that a magnet will erase it?

[Txbroadcaster]

Which part? What information is stored on the magnetic strip or that a magnet will erase it?

they dont store personal infomation..the system used to make the key active is usually not even conected to the database..all the key holds is a serial number that has room nmber and dates active

[ronwx5x]

According to Snopes this is not true.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/hotelkey.asp