Hotel key card risk to personal information is urban legend, says experts

April 13, 2011 – 11:44 am

People everywhere are beginning to plan their vacations and with those travel plans comes concerns about identity theft. While it’s common sense to use credit cards and not debit cards, not carry your Social Security card, and be aware of your surroundings when using your credit card, it’s less common knowledge that there are some urban legends out there regarding identity theft.

One such legend is that hotel keys contain your personal and financial information. An e-mail made the rounds in recent years, stating that a key obtained from the Double Tree hotel chain contained a customer’s name, home address, room number, check-in/check-out date and credit card information. The e-mail stated that the card, upon return to the front desk, could be easily scanned by anyone, including a hotel employee, who could then access the information via laptop. The information could then be used to commit identity theft.

The e-mail also stated that hotels don’t erase this information until the card is issued to another guest. Until that time, the card is often “stored in a drawer at the front desk with your information on it.” The e-mail urged travelers to never leave the keys behind or turn them in when you check out, alleging that the hotel won’t charge for the unreturned key.

The fact is that hotels have no practical or functional reason for encoding customers’ personal information on key cards. The cards only have room numbers, access codes, activation and expiration dates encoded on them. Guests’ personal information is stored on the hotel computers. Hotel chains do not transfer that information to key cards – this would require additional time and equipment, which would not be an efficient use of employee or guest time and resources.

If you are concerned about this, you can retain the card and destroy it. You may want to inquire as to whether there is a charge for this – it can vary from hotel to hotel.

Unsubstantiated reports of identity theft through hotel room key cards surface every so often, but they are nothing more than myth, says Joe McInerney, president of the American Hotel an Lodging Association.

“It’s an urban legend. It doesn’t work,” he says.

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