AH&LA STATEMENT ON IDENTITY THEFT VIA GUESTROOM CARDS
The issue of identity theft is a public concern that is reported to affect many Americans.
According to the manufacturers of these devices, these room key cards capture information through three embedded and encrypted tracks. Most hoteliers use track "three," which contains locked information that usually lists the guest's room number and check in/out dates. The remaining tracks ("one" and "two") - if supplied by the hotel's property management system - also provides additional, limited guest information. This data is normally a folio number or name to identify guests at point-of-sale terminals located throughout the hotel. These cards do not supply guests' personal information such as credit card numbers, home address, or e-mail addresses.
The Educational Institute, a subsidiary of AH&LA, offers many resources for hoteliers, including the Key Control and Guest Privacy Today video.
AH&LA encourages the entire hotel community to continually evaluate its existing security policies and practices as a precautionary measure.
The introduction to the Security Park.net article, “Hotel key cards can present a serious ID fraud risk - fact or urban legend?” published via Smartbrief's May 7 issue was irresponsible and misleading. Although the article states that, “a number of tests have been conducted and so far no card tested was found to contain credit card information,” Smartbrief used incorrect and unsubstantiated information to promote the article. Click here to read President/CEO Joe McInerney's response.