Hotel key cards store your credit card information
| Hotel key cards store your credit card information | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "Hotel room key cards contain your name, address and credit card number, so thieves can steal your identity from cards you leave behind." | |
| Domain | Consumer Products & Everyday Life |
| Tactic | Fabrication |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | 2003 |
| Origin | An email warning attributed to a police detective in Pasadena, California, in 2003, repeated in later social media posts |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-29 |
| Further reading: books on Consumer Products & Everyday Life | |
A warning that hotel key cards store your credit card information has circulated since 2003. Tests by journalists and statements from lock manufacturers found that key cards typically store a room number, check-out date and access codes, not personal or payment data.
The claim
Readers are told to keep or destroy their key cards rather than return them.
What the evidence shows
- Tests. Computerworld reporters examined key cards from many hotels in 2003 and found no personal data.
- Industry practice. Lock makers say cards carry only the information needed to open a door for a set period.
- Source. The Pasadena Police Department said the original warning was not an official alert.
Lessons for readers
- Returning a key card is safe; payment data is stored by the hotel's systems, which have their own security risks.
Sources
- Computerworld, test of hotel key cards, 2003.
- Snopes, "Hotel Key Cards Contain Personal Information."