Hotel/Motel Key Cards
> Ever wonder what is on your key card?
>
> 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 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
> in to 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 Dept