Jack,

The content of your message is very, very old. I believe that in fact there was one instance where a hotel was recording guest personal information to room keys, but this is very, very, very, VERY much the exception.

Room keys, as well as slot cards are only written to with a very long number sequence. That sequence is unique to the card and when the card is swiped through a reader (room door or slot machine) only then is the "sequence number" matched to personal information in a computer database.

That information should only reside on the computer and not the card. Credit cards are done the same way. In order to invade someone's privacy, generally speaking, you need access to the database.

Jim