Like I mentioned above, many hotels have return boxes, but maybe it’s time to make those more visible and include more information about how keys are recycled and what happens to the data stored on a key after it’s returned. A lot of these comments started with “I think” or “I assume,” which leads me to believe that hotels could probably get even more keys back to be reused if they were more upfront about what happens with them after the fact. Recycle,” was a common response.īut a trend that I found in these responses was that a lot of people who return their keys for recycling seem to be unsure if that’s actually the case. Many hotels do recycle keycards, as they can often be reprogrammed over and over again. “If they can keep using them for the next guests, I’d leave it rather than it being useless,” one person shared. On the other side of the debate, folks had some strong reasons for giving them back, starting with the most environmentally friendly reason: recycling. (Photo by Tanner Saunders/The Points Guy) With that in mind, it’s important to keep track of your hotel keycard - especially when the card could still unlock your door - but nobody can steal your identity or credit card number if you do lose it.

The data stored is pretty much limited to the room number, a timeframe for which the key should unlock that door and maybe a guest number that helps track your stay in the hotel’s computer system, according to an investigation by USA Today. Generally speaking, hotel keycards contain very little information and essentially nothing about your personal identity or payment details. That’s easy to understand, as so many hotels now offer digital checkout, allowing for guests to be on their way without ever thinking about the key in their wallet.Īnother reason people keep room keys is because they believe that the cards have personal information stored on them that could be misused in the wrong hands. “I just forget I have it,” many people responded. Another said they collect them like Pokemon cards.Ī major trend for people who keep the keys is that it simply happens by mistake. “I write down where I stayed, the date and the reason and bring them out to think of memories,” one person responded. Like the conversation with my colleagues, our readers’ thoughts ran the gamut, but I was quickly able to identify a few trends.įirst, the majority of people who keep hotel keycards on purpose tend to do so because they save them as mementos from really great trips and use them to track their travels. I got hundreds of responses, both on Instagram and on Facebook, further proving that people really do have a lot of thoughts about this normally unspoken topic. Next, I asked people to comment about why they do or do not take hotel keys when checking out. I started by asking a simple question: Do you keep your hotel keycard when you check out? Of the 3,966 people who responded on Instagram, roughly 61% (2,436 people) said no, while 39% (1,530 people) said yes. While I was hoping the question could be easily answered by some fine print and legal jargon tucked away in the terms of service, that simply wasn’t the case.ĭetermined to get more perspective on the matter, I decided to poll readers on the TPG Instagram account and in our TPG Facebook group for their thoughts about whether or not it’s acceptable to keep hotel cards. Of the four, only Hyatt responded saying that they didn’t have anything to share.

I then reached out directly to Hyatt, Hilton, IHG and Marriott to see if they could point me in the direction of a policy or give an official statement on the issue. I scoured the websites of the major hotel chains to see if there were any official policies and couldn’t find any definitive answer. In fact, off the top of our heads, nobody could point to a specific policy saying you are required to return your used keycards, though some mentioned that they’ve seen receptacles specifically designed to return the keys, oftentimes with a sign claiming they’re recycled. The answer: Well, it turns out there are many schools of thought here, ranging from people who take every single key as a souvenir to others who think it’s straight-up stealing.įor more TPG news delivered each morning to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.Īmong travel experts, it appears that there’s no right or wrong answer. The question: Is it OK to keep your hotel keycard after you check out? A recent conversation at TPG turned into a rather unexpected debate - albeit a fun one.

Keycard bank