TREAT HOTEL KEYS LIKE CREDIT CARDS

From the Colorado Bureau of Investigation:

"Southern California law enforcement professionals assigned to detect
new threats to personal security issues recently discovered what type
of information is embedded in the credit card type hotel room keys
used throughout the industry.

Although room keys differ from hotel to hotel, a key obtained from
the "Double Tree" chain that was being used for a regional Identity Theft
Presentation was found to contain the following the information:

a.. Customer's (your) name
b.. Customer's partial home address
c.. Hotel room number
d.. Check in date and check out date
e.. Customer's (your) 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 previou! s 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!

Now we have ALL learned something. I would never have suspected that
that much information was contained in those innocent looking pieces
off plastic.