Staying at a Hotel? very good info be sure to read

Always take a small magnet on your holiday; they come in handy at the end of

it. Thought you all needed to know this.... This is  pretty good info. Never

even thought about key cards containing anything other than an access code

for the room!  

HOTEL  KEY CARDS
 
Ever wonder what is on your magnetic key card?

Answer:
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 reissues 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  into 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!

If you  have a small magnet, pass it across the magnetic strip several times.
Then  try it in the door, it will not work. It erases everything on the  card.

Information  courtesy of:  Metropolitan Police Service.