WHY DOESN’T MY ROOM KEY WORK?
Locked out of your room even though your key was working earlier?
When staying at hotels and resorts that use electronic room keys a common problem is that the key suddenly stops working. In most cases, the guest accidentally disarmed their key, but how?
Cell Phones!
It seems that the electromagnetic field produced by cell phones can demagnetize the strip on the room key.
Electronic room keys contain magnetic strips that can be programmed with access to a certain room and areas in hotels and resorts. Usually, they are only activated to be used with your own room, the exterior doors, the pool, and fitness area. They electronic keys can even be programmed to expire, so if you try the same key a few days after checking out, chances are that it will no longer work.
However, if your key suddenly stops working during your stay, chances are that some device that produces an electromagnetic field erased the magnetic strip.
CPI Card Group, a card manufacturer based in Littleton, Colo., believes it has evidence of the cell phone-mag stripe correlation. CPI manufacturers a mix of magnetic stripe cards, including payment cards as well as gift cards, hotel key cards and casino gaming cards.
Cardholders typically protect their credit cards in an enclosed place such as a wallet, but hotel key cards are often carried in a person’s pocket next to their cell phone. “The mag stripe is often exposed to magnetic fields that can cause the encoding to degrade or erase,” Hermanson says.
As a rule of thumb, modern travelers are learning not to carry their room keys in the same pocket as their cell phones, or they will soon be asking "Why won't my room key work?"
About this post
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I am beginning an effort to use steemit posts to answer common questions that people ask their smart phones in an attempt to draw more attention to this platform. I'll post more about it later tonght, but this is why I included the "About this post" section.
Maybe they stopped working when you cut the giutar picks out of them!
@kus-knee (The Old Dog)
Like this?
You might have a point there Old Dog!
This is a hilarious comedy routine on that topic by my favourite comedian. Brian Regan is family friendly. I could only find the audio but it's much funnier when you see him.
http://kism.com/400-funnies/brian-regan-on-hotel-keys-that-dont-work/
Thanks man!
I can testify that I have cell phone wiped a hotel room key on occasion. Very disconcerting the first time it happens. Very humiliating the second time it happens :-)
I think someone will soon build something to allow us to unlock the door using our mobile phones during our stay.
thanks
One time this happened to me, but not because of the cell phone.
I had thought I booked 2 nights, but only did one and so my key was deactivated until I went back to the front desk and got it sorted out.
Thanks for this information. I always blamed the card not working on going through the airport scanners.
I didn't even know this was a possibility! Thanks for the warning :-)
Last time we were at a hotel, we thought the room key wasn't working and went back to the lobby to ask... turns out it just needed a little more force... oops!
The cell phones.. this happens to me all the time... and everytime I forgot :D
It's a habit! Me too!