Subject: - Hotel Key Safety
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
(its 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: Warren Police Department.
Bob Sturdevant
--
Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a
substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?
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