keycards and cells don't mix!

[HotelMinion]

So, I was checking in a Cell Phone Addict, usually when people come in, the polite thing to do is say goodbye, and hang the f up. Not Ms. My Life is SO Much More Important Than Yours SC.
Me-in my uniform looking oh so dapper
SC-wearing a faux fur mink coat, gaudy gold jewelry and tons of cheapo perfume

Me: (big smile) Hello, checking in?
SC: Blah blah blah oh no he didn't oh yes he did! blah blah blah (tosses me her ID and when I say toss I mean she threw it so hard it slid off the counter and falls behind the computer)
Me: (reaching, trust me easier said than done) Ugh. Okay I got it. (grunts) Okay. (does transaction, new check in spiel) These are your keycards. Please keep your keycards AWAY from your cell phone, otherwise the magnetic strip will erase and your keys won't work. Okay?
SC: Blah blah blah, yadda yadda (staring at me uncomprehensively as she walks away) really, omigawd, nuh uh (keep in mind this is a 60 year old bat)

As she walked away toward the elevators, I couldn't help but notice she was holding her keycards and her cell in the SAME HAND, jabbering away. I called out to her, to remind her pleasantly not to do that, but she did not turn around. Sure enough, she came down furious, saying it was all my fault for giving her faulty keys. Okkkk...you can lead the horse to water but making it drink? Nope...

I wish I were making this up. LOL

[Sheldonrs]

"Okkkk...you can lead the WHORES to water but making it THINK? "

Fixed it for you.

[Victory Sabre]

When I stay in a hotel, and that happens, I go down to the desk, and kindly ask for help. I never have any problems fixing the door card. I wonder why?

[LillFilly]

That must have happened twice a night at my old hotel. Of COURSE it's the hotel's fault though, that's SC logic for you.

[MoonCat]

Too bad the keycard can't short the phone out instead.

[Megg]

Do you know why the phones erase the cards? I would assume there is some sort of magnet in the phone or something, perhaps involving the speaker, but I never heard of that. Odd. Of course, I rarely see the inside of hotels, so that could be why too. I also don't walk around with the fool thing attached to my head 24/7.

I hate people who live in their own little world, never letting anything intrude, and then get pissy because that causes them problems in life. Go yell at your mother, she's the one who raised you!

[Mikkel]

Do you know why the phones erase the cards? I would assume there is some sort of magnet in the phone or something, perhaps involving the speaker, but I never heard of that.

Radio waves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum, I guess that holding the cards close to the antenna will mess the cards up.

[ApolloSZ]

Being a nice little compact electronic device, the phone will have an electro-magnetic field aswell as the transmitted signal (which alot of phones have an internal antenna now)
I'm guessing as the magnetic strips are re-coded so often they are rather a weak magnetic field itself, and easily get scrambled/adjusted by the field/transmission. Doesn't need to be wiped for the door lock to not like the card.

Thats my guess anyway.

[Kogarashi]

Sounds fairly plausible, ApolloSZ, and would explain why the same doesn't happen to my credit cards. (My wallet is frequently in the same pocket as my cell.)

[Stryker One]

Yup, this has happened to me. I now know to keep the two things away from each other.

[bhskittykatt]

Yeah, the strips on the keycards are much weaker than your credit cards. Cell phones can very easily demagnetize them. Putting them too close to a credit card can demag them. Hell, sometimes they just say "F*** it!" and demag for no apparent reason other than to screw with you.

[Mr Hero]

One trick I like to do when someone checks in while on their cell phone is to wait in silence until they get the hint.

[JustaCashier]

Well obviously that damn cell phone erased the magnetic strip in her head!


Mike

[MrSmiley]

These are your keycards. Please keep your keycards AWAY from your cell phone, otherwise the magnetic strip will erase and your keys won't work. Okay?

For a short time, we had a manager who said to everyone "I don't want to hear anybody telling customers this ever again" because it made it sound as if our keycards were cheap or something (they are! that's part of the appeal of being both "disposable" and "reusable"). They didn't actually give anyone a good reason as to why this was a shocking! horrible! bad! thing to be telling people.

Anyway, this manager didn't last and the keycards remain and everyone at work just uses this as an example of a clueless decision made for no good reason.

[slavetoabunny]

I was traveling on business for an extended period of time. It was very handy just to stick my keycard in the outside pouch on my purse that I kept my cellphone in. After a full week of having to go to the desk and get my keycard reset, the clerk finally asked me if I kept it near my cellphone. DUH! I wish they would have given me this little gem of information sooner.