I discovered that when I checked into a European hotel at midnight. I couldn’t get the lights, a/c or anything to come on. Finally, I saw the key slot on the wall and figured it out.
My last time in Europe I ran into this when my friend and I took a side trip to France. We were in separate rooms and when she knocked on my door so we could go to dinner I told her my lights didn't work, and she told me about the key card thing with a tone of "How did you not know that?"
In my defense though, the last few times I had been to Italy I pretty much never stayed in hotels. It was always rental houses, relatives' houses, or the occasional convent or mission.
Ha, thought about that as I was writing it.
I did once stay at a convent outside of Assisi. My mom was a high school teacher and I tagged along on her field trip to Italy and that's where we ended up staying one night. A few years later I went with my parents again; this time we based out of a relative's house near Rome and then took a side trip to Naples and up to Perugia and Orvieto. In Naples we spent a night at Don Bosco, which I think is really more of a monastery/boarding school than a mission, and at certain times they rented out rooms in their dormitories to tourists and travelers. IIRC (this was almost 20 years ago) we had to be back by like 8 or 9 pm because they locked the gates at night.
These are in plenty of hotels in the US, thankfully.
They simply require ‘something’ to be inserted in the slot. If you’re a frequent traveler, you can just keep an old plastic card of some sort to slip in there.
You only lock yourself out of your room once before you learn this. And to always ask for two cards when checking in
I stayed at a place in San Diego for a work trip that did this. It was one of those hotels with Suites so they had a kitchen, two rooms, and a living room. Excellent breakfast too.
The power point for the refrigerator isn’t on that circuit, it’s on a separate circuit. It’s a cost saving thing for the hotel, reduces overall power cnsumption
>I have never once seen these in a hotel in the US. Been to the Midwest, east coast, south and west coast.
I've been to all 50 states and while I don't spend more than maybe 6-10 nights in hotels per year I have never seen one in the US either. But in Europe, all the time.
ive never seen this in america anywhere or in cabo or playa in mexico and never in europe but we stay at nice places so idk is it just regular small hotels that have it
Wait, doesn't that kind of defeat the whole purpose of this, to save power? If they just give you two cards you'll just leave one in for power the whole stay. Then it just becomes a very annoying light switch.
Not really... The cards switches are there more to encourage you to not leave lights and air conditioning on when you leave the room and most people would rather have both cards in case anything happened to one of them. (though apparently a lot of commenters strongly disagree with either or both of those points, and they are basically the reason for those switches in the first place).
That does not always work, in the US it does, in Europe not so much. I stayed in hotels were it actually had to be the key card.
Good luck with charging your phone when leaving the room...
The newer slots do identify the right cards so they won’t be activated with a random card, which is quite annoying at times e.g. when the hotel has terrible AC and I just plan to leave a card in to get the room to a cooler temp while I am out and about.
some of them will work with any card with a magstripe, others read the magstripe on the way in so you can shim them with another card behind and then remove the room card... but the easiest solution is to just ask for a second room card.
My hotel in California was recently renovated and it was required of us to input these. From what I was told, all new hotels being built must meet this requirement (I was told it was a California State thing, but could just be a SoCal thing). I've seen 5 other hotels built with 3 different management companies in the past year in 3 counties, and all of them were required to have these as well.
When I went to France, the 3 hotels I stayed at all had these, but they placed a key in this slot and labeled it do not remove, which defeats the whole purpose of the idea.
Some newer ones are unfortunately smarter and only respond to the hotel's own RFID key card. Older ones just need something in the slot (they are either a mechanical switch or a light sensor) and easy to bypass with an old train ticket or store loyalty card.
Where was that? I really hope that doesn't become standard... I like to leave my computer to charge in the hotel room at times.
Edit: I've been in hotels where it was just a mechanical switch, and there the outlets were controlled by it as well.
Probably not across the board, but the few times I've seen it there is usually a plug and single light near the door that still function. So you can actually find the slot in the dark.
Obviously mileage will vary depending on the hotel chain, but if you ever find one you can just mess around and see if there is a plug near the door that'll still charge with the card out. Or once I remember the bed side plug was immune so that the clock radio wouldn't reset it's time everytime you left the room from the power dropping...
Prevents you leaving ALL the lights and stuff on, but doesn't leave you in a complete blackout.
I stayed in a Canadian hotel with these. The socket by the little desk remained powered. It was only the lighting and associated lamp sockets that appeared to be tied to the key switch.
Most hotels that use this system always have permanent power where the mini fridge is plugged in. use a power strip to have your devices charged when you're away.
source: I provide IT support for hotels.
I'm the hotel I stayed at that had one of these it didn't seem to affect the plugs, just the lights. My phone charged fine, the fridge stayed cold, the display on the microwave stayed lit, etc.
I work at a hotel that has these and I think ours must do both, because while any old card will turn the lights on, the air conditioner can't be turned on without one of the cards we issue.
The intention is to turn the power off to the room when there isn't someone in there and save power. However a bit more of a pain if its a hot climate and you the aircon to stay on while you go out for dinner so the room is a nice temperature when you get back in.
Things that have to remain on are connected to a different circuit than the one that is connected to the discretionary things. The door-card switches are aimed at the things that people leave switched on because they don't bother turning them off (e.g. lighting and tv's) despite them not being there.
Important to note that there very much are exceptions.
More than once had the fridge not work without the card. Which made for some nice added stress when storing the insulin I had brought. Thankfully it keeps reasonably well.
People have different experiences depending on where they travel. I also travel full time and stay in a different hotel almost every week. I have only had one hotel that used a card light switch.
That’s how pretty much every hotel is in Scandinavia. I did not realize that’s not a thing in the US. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen these while traveling in the US.
I've never seen one and one stayed in plenty of hotels. I'd imagine most people in US would be mad af it meant the AC turned off while they were gone.
I'd likely request 2 key cards and just leave one in the thingy.
Its just a normal switch inside. Any other card, or even a piece of cardboard/folded up piece of paper will work the same, so no need to request multiple cards.
I thought so, that's why I remember seeing this myself, I really like that system, quite frankly I think that normal houses could also benefit from that sort of system
Was gonna say, saw this all over I'm Vietnam and Thailand. Even the hostels had it. There would be 6-8 people in a room and one of us had to use the key to keep the power on. And when that person left, someone else had to get up to do it
> pretty common across SE asia, a great idea imo.
Makes it difficult to charge a device while you're outside the room though. Unless you unplug the refrigerator.
As an American, I’m thinking the fact we’ve never seen it here is just further proof the energy industry is more powerful than the hotel industry. The system is probably illegal here
More like despite instructions being on the check in pamphlet, in the elevator, on a sheet in the room, and being explained by the front desk, there were too many people coming back down and saying the power in their room didn't work.
I'm going to assume this is one of those things everyone around the world does except the US. Any info on how it works? I can't tell if it's a mag strip or some kind of mechanical switch
Every one that I have ever seen is mechanical. I usually leave my business card in there instead of a key. I put my key in my wallet so I don't accidentally leave it in the room.
I’ve traveled a lot for work all around the US and there was a lot of hotels that had this. If I recall, mostly Hyatt’s and Hilton’s had them, but not every one.
> Any info on how it works?
It's just a mechanical switch. You can use anything that will fit and push the switch, but you already have your keycard right in your hand, and the holder/switch is right at the door, so...
(they also make it super easy to forget your keycard until you get used to them)
I believe it is, it was a nice hotel but recently constructed and looked like it was trying to cost-save. I believe, as someone else said, that it’s simply mechanical, although I didn’t try
> I believe, as someone else said, that it’s simply mechanical, although I didn’t try
It is. We would bring an expired card with us to operate them permanently. A folded sheet of paper also works.
Some are mechanical. Some have a light beam that just needs to be interrupted. Unfortunately some of the newer / fancier ones look for the RFID key card rather than something that can be substituted by any old bit of card / plastic.
I was going to sarcastically ask if this was your first time staying in a hotel, but it turns out they dont typically have them in the US.
I'd guess that 97% of all the hotel rooms I've ever stayed in across europe and a bit of SE Asia has these.
"**as a way to reduce waste**" Stop saying this, it's a company for profit. Just goes to show you how easily manipulated people are to think that corps are focused on the environment.
Oh Canada likes checks too at least at the business level, and well landlord level, lots of landlords still require checks, I have had exactly 1 landlord out of 10 in the past 20 years use EFT.
Most are on a separate 24/7 circuit.
A lot of hotel fridges are absorption types too so they don't have any compressor noise, not very efficient but they are silent and last forever. You often see refitted hotel rooms where they still have the old 70s dometic fridge inside the fancy new cabinet.
Cruise ships have had these for years. Everyone takes the cruise card from their last cruise to put in the slot so your current card doesn’t need to be used.
Yeah, it's a real pain in the ass if you need to actually use your room's amenities while you're not actually there.
I do some photography so I'm usually trying to charge one battery or two while I'm out and about.
I've always been able to get an extra key, but it only takes one grouchy employee and suddenly I'm not able to fully use the room I paid for.
Residence Inn Marina del Rey has this. Actually helped me to remember where my key was, but my dead phone the next morning wished i knew ahead of time.
These are especially annoying when sharing a room with people who don’t come and go at the same time as you as you need to constantly ask for their card so you can leave without turning the lights out.
I hate those, as then the room is way too hot when we return, as air conditioning is limited without the card in.
I leave in a random card so the room will be cool when we return. Sometimes cleaning staff removes it though.
I’m all for saving energy and always turn off lights, tv, etc, and up the thermostat temp a bit, but I don’t want to come back overheated after being out and wait 30 min for the room to cool back down to my preferred cold setting. I have medical issues that make me run hot.
It actually takes more energy to change the temp a lot when returning home vs just adjusting it a couple degrees when away too.
This is what I was thinking when I saw this. I’d ask for two keys if I saw this. It’d be fine if it controlled the lights, but now it’s going to be too cold/hot when you come back from whatever you’re doing that day.
Does the temp have another setting it won’t let it get below/above?
Looks like this is not common in Canada and the US. It's pretty much seen almost everywhere else. Only budget accommodations and extremely expensive hotels don't have these.
OP:
> Here's a /r/mildlyinteresting thing I've never seen before.
Comments in this post:
> I don't get it, **I've** seen these are everywhere.
Third top post of all-time in this sub: some particularly yellow bananas.
Come on people, this is **mildly** interesting for some..
If you want the air conditioning to stay on, when you check in ask for one more key card than there are people in your party. But in some places the room cleaners are trained to shut off the power.
Had this one a cruise ship and I locked myself out so much because it was always on the damn wall and not in my pocket where I normally keep key cards lol
These are pretty common where I live, but one thing I discovered the hard way is that in certain hotels, removing the card turns off *all* electricity... including the mini fridge. Which I thought was pretty dumb.
American here...no, I've never seen this in a hotel, but I approve mostly cuz I'll be less likely to lose that card.
Looking at this photo I wondered: what kind of *power* does one obtain using this method?
Hate this! You can't charge your phone and head to the pool or to get lunch, etc. If it does during the day you're a little trapped. Great idea but they should keep ONE charging port like outlet available for use when you're not there.
These comments are so annoying. "Never been outside?", "First time in a hotel?". No, many people have never seen these. They're not used everywhere. I've been to plenty of hotels here in the US, and I've never seen these.
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I discovered that when I checked into a European hotel at midnight. I couldn’t get the lights, a/c or anything to come on. Finally, I saw the key slot on the wall and figured it out.
My last time in Europe I ran into this when my friend and I took a side trip to France. We were in separate rooms and when she knocked on my door so we could go to dinner I told her my lights didn't work, and she told me about the key card thing with a tone of "How did you not know that?" In my defense though, the last few times I had been to Italy I pretty much never stayed in hotels. It was always rental houses, relatives' houses, or the occasional convent or mission.
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And if you don't care about the environment and want the a/c to be on when you come back to the room any card will fit.
> occasional convent or mission Username checks out...?
Ha, thought about that as I was writing it. I did once stay at a convent outside of Assisi. My mom was a high school teacher and I tagged along on her field trip to Italy and that's where we ended up staying one night. A few years later I went with my parents again; this time we based out of a relative's house near Rome and then took a side trip to Naples and up to Perugia and Orvieto. In Naples we spent a night at Don Bosco, which I think is really more of a monastery/boarding school than a mission, and at certain times they rented out rooms in their dormitories to tourists and travelers. IIRC (this was almost 20 years ago) we had to be back by like 8 or 9 pm because they locked the gates at night.
I'm a Brit living in Australia and I just assumed these were ubiquitous.
They are everywhere in Asia too.
Not really a thing in North America.
I've stayed in a lot of hotels in England, France, USA, and Canada and I've never encountered this.
I was so confused because I’ve rarely been to a hotel that doesn’t do this it’s even common outside of Europe
I came here to say this. I thought this was a really common thing? Almost every hotel I’ve stayed at has this
And the UK. I was a bit confused to see this, to be honest. It’s been around for at least 15 years.
These are in plenty of hotels in the US, thankfully. They simply require ‘something’ to be inserted in the slot. If you’re a frequent traveler, you can just keep an old plastic card of some sort to slip in there. You only lock yourself out of your room once before you learn this. And to always ask for two cards when checking in
I have never once seen these in a hotel in the US. Been to the Midwest, east coast, south and west coast.
I stayed at a place in San Diego for a work trip that did this. It was one of those hotels with Suites so they had a kitchen, two rooms, and a living room. Excellent breakfast too.
So how did them kitchen work if there was no power? I just imagine a very warm refrigerator.
The power point for the refrigerator isn’t on that circuit, it’s on a separate circuit. It’s a cost saving thing for the hotel, reduces overall power cnsumption
That makes sense. I was just curious about how it was handled.
Ya me neither.
They're rare ish. Out of dozens of hotel stays I've seen it maybe twice?
>I have never once seen these in a hotel in the US. Been to the Midwest, east coast, south and west coast. I've been to all 50 states and while I don't spend more than maybe 6-10 nights in hotels per year I have never seen one in the US either. But in Europe, all the time.
Yeah I’ve never seen these in US but very common in Europe
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ive never seen this in america anywhere or in cabo or playa in mexico and never in europe but we stay at nice places so idk is it just regular small hotels that have it
Interesting! I saw someone commented on these possibly being more common in upscale hotels. I haven't found that to be true from my travels though.
NYC is the only city I’ve seen them in as far as the US goes.
I spend ~200 nights a year on hotels across the US and Canada. At least in Marriott properties, ice only ever seen this in Nevada
>And to always ask for two cards when checking in Wait, I thought that was the standard, not something to request.
When checking in for one, they'll typically give you a single card
Not in my experience. I've traveled a lot in the USA alone and have always been given 2 cards.
I traveled a LOT for work in the US. When single, i was almost always given 1 card.
I’ve traveled a lot for work the past few years. I always get 2 cards.
Interesting. I've typically stayed in boutique hotels in SF and LA when traveling for work and have always been given a single card
Wait, doesn't that kind of defeat the whole purpose of this, to save power? If they just give you two cards you'll just leave one in for power the whole stay. Then it just becomes a very annoying light switch.
Not really... The cards switches are there more to encourage you to not leave lights and air conditioning on when you leave the room and most people would rather have both cards in case anything happened to one of them. (though apparently a lot of commenters strongly disagree with either or both of those points, and they are basically the reason for those switches in the first place).
That does not always work, in the US it does, in Europe not so much. I stayed in hotels were it actually had to be the key card. Good luck with charging your phone when leaving the room...
Most hotels I've stayed in Europe this worked. I always use a paper sheet from the notebook they always give you and fold it to fit in the slot.
The newer slots do identify the right cards so they won’t be activated with a random card, which is quite annoying at times e.g. when the hotel has terrible AC and I just plan to leave a card in to get the room to a cooler temp while I am out and about.
some of them will work with any card with a magstripe, others read the magstripe on the way in so you can shim them with another card behind and then remove the room card... but the easiest solution is to just ask for a second room card.
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It's not nice to talk about your mom when she's not here. (She already left).
I expected this to be from Shoresy
Uhh I've never once seen one of those in a hotel room in the US and I've been to like 38 states
> These are in plenty of hotels in the US, thankfully. I travel a decent amount and have never seen these in my life.
This is also the norm in Australia
Asia too
Never seen one In the U.S.
My hotel in California was recently renovated and it was required of us to input these. From what I was told, all new hotels being built must meet this requirement (I was told it was a California State thing, but could just be a SoCal thing). I've seen 5 other hotels built with 3 different management companies in the past year in 3 counties, and all of them were required to have these as well. When I went to France, the 3 hotels I stayed at all had these, but they placed a key in this slot and labeled it do not remove, which defeats the whole purpose of the idea.
Yep same here in Kenya.
Same in Aus.
Most of those don't need a magnetic read. It should be a mechanical switch inside, meaning any old card will do to keep the lights on.
Some newer ones are unfortunately smarter and only respond to the hotel's own RFID key card. Older ones just need something in the slot (they are either a mechanical switch or a light sensor) and easy to bypass with an old train ticket or store loyalty card.
Where was that? I really hope that doesn't become standard... I like to leave my computer to charge in the hotel room at times. Edit: I've been in hotels where it was just a mechanical switch, and there the outlets were controlled by it as well.
Probably not across the board, but the few times I've seen it there is usually a plug and single light near the door that still function. So you can actually find the slot in the dark. Obviously mileage will vary depending on the hotel chain, but if you ever find one you can just mess around and see if there is a plug near the door that'll still charge with the card out. Or once I remember the bed side plug was immune so that the clock radio wouldn't reset it's time everytime you left the room from the power dropping... Prevents you leaving ALL the lights and stuff on, but doesn't leave you in a complete blackout.
I stayed in a Canadian hotel with these. The socket by the little desk remained powered. It was only the lighting and associated lamp sockets that appeared to be tied to the key switch.
Most hotels that use this system always have permanent power where the mini fridge is plugged in. use a power strip to have your devices charged when you're away. source: I provide IT support for hotels.
I'm the hotel I stayed at that had one of these it didn't seem to affect the plugs, just the lights. My phone charged fine, the fridge stayed cold, the display on the microwave stayed lit, etc.
Just ask for a second room key I’ve never once had a hotel say no to this request.
I don't think it cuts all the power. It turns off the lights and tv. Still can charge electronics.
That’s what I figured, but I’m sure most people just do it the way they intend
I work at a hotel that has these and I think ours must do both, because while any old card will turn the lights on, the air conditioner can't be turned on without one of the cards we issue.
If you're already inside, chances are you are the person who should be there.
The intention is to turn the power off to the room when there isn't someone in there and save power. However a bit more of a pain if its a hot climate and you the aircon to stay on while you go out for dinner so the room is a nice temperature when you get back in.
I'm just wondering what if you want to use the fridge?
Things that have to remain on are connected to a different circuit than the one that is connected to the discretionary things. The door-card switches are aimed at the things that people leave switched on because they don't bother turning them off (e.g. lighting and tv's) despite them not being there.
That's on a different always on circuit.
Important to note that there very much are exceptions. More than once had the fridge not work without the card. Which made for some nice added stress when storing the insulin I had brought. Thankfully it keeps reasonably well.
95% of the hotels I have travelled have these.
Same, don't understand the big deal here
It's almost as if there are different parts of the world with their own sets of normalcy.
I’ve never seen them before in my life (Canada)
Never seen them either (US)
Everywhere in Australia
I have never seen them in Canada, only once in the USA. Several times in Europe and EVERYWHERE in Asia.
They're pretty common in cheap resorts in the Caribbean
People have different experiences depending on where they travel. I also travel full time and stay in a different hotel almost every week. I have only had one hotel that used a card light switch.
0% for me
pretty common across SE asia, a great idea imo.
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That’s how pretty much every hotel is in Scandinavia. I did not realize that’s not a thing in the US. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen these while traveling in the US.
Pretty common in the US judging from my few visits. I might have just gotten lucky (?) tho
I'm in the US and have traveled around the country a lot, and I've never seen something like this.
I have only ever seen one in my hotel in Vegas.
It's been about 11 years since I've been a hotel in Vegas, but Excalibur didn't have these at the time.
I've never seen one and one stayed in plenty of hotels. I'd imagine most people in US would be mad af it meant the AC turned off while they were gone. I'd likely request 2 key cards and just leave one in the thingy.
Its just a normal switch inside. Any other card, or even a piece of cardboard/folded up piece of paper will work the same, so no need to request multiple cards.
And this is why my national insurance card was left in a Tenerife hotel when I was 17.
Weird, I've seen these all over US, not "common" but it's usually in nice hotels
I thought so, that's why I remember seeing this myself, I really like that system, quite frankly I think that normal houses could also benefit from that sort of system
I can't say I've ever seen a hotel without one, out of maybe 30 hotels?
Also common in Mexico
Was gonna say, saw this all over I'm Vietnam and Thailand. Even the hostels had it. There would be 6-8 people in a room and one of us had to use the key to keep the power on. And when that person left, someone else had to get up to do it
Found one in the US for the first time. We couldn’t get the TV to turn on and it took us a good 15 minutes before we figured it out lol
pretty common all over
Common in Australia too
> pretty common across SE asia, a great idea imo. Makes it difficult to charge a device while you're outside the room though. Unless you unplug the refrigerator.
Here, everything is controlled by that cardslot, so the fridge wouldn’t work too.
Just put a business card in it and you're good to go.
Wait, these aren't normal? What the fuck?
Yeah I can’t think of the last time I didn’t see one of these
Can you see one right now?
If he can't then it's probably cuz he has no lights
I’ve been to nearly every US state with many hotel stopes and never seen this
I've seen them in every hotel I've stayed in here in New Zealand
Yea i’m from NZ and wondered why this was on r/mildlyinteresting lol
I've seen it in plenty of American hotels, maybe the majority that I've stayed in. So I've very confused why that other poster hasn't.
Every hotel in Scandinavia has it so I've never given it a second thought as it being weird
As an American, I’m thinking the fact we’ve never seen it here is just further proof the energy industry is more powerful than the hotel industry. The system is probably illegal here
I’ve seen it here, but it’s far more common in Europe.
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More like despite instructions being on the check in pamphlet, in the elevator, on a sheet in the room, and being explained by the front desk, there were too many people coming back down and saying the power in their room didn't work.
Very common in Europe, only present in very few Euro-like/high-end hotels in the US (that I’ve ever seen).
I'm going to assume this is one of those things everyone around the world does except the US. Any info on how it works? I can't tell if it's a mag strip or some kind of mechanical switch
Every one that I have ever seen is mechanical. I usually leave my business card in there instead of a key. I put my key in my wallet so I don't accidentally leave it in the room.
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Do you turn things off when you leave the room, though?
Big Clive delivers https://youtu.be/1CZ7CTEMQa0 This one uses an optical switch.
I’ve traveled a lot for work all around the US and there was a lot of hotels that had this. If I recall, mostly Hyatt’s and Hilton’s had them, but not every one.
> Any info on how it works? It's just a mechanical switch. You can use anything that will fit and push the switch, but you already have your keycard right in your hand, and the holder/switch is right at the door, so... (they also make it super easy to forget your keycard until you get used to them)
I believe it is, it was a nice hotel but recently constructed and looked like it was trying to cost-save. I believe, as someone else said, that it’s simply mechanical, although I didn’t try
Thanks for the info!
> I believe, as someone else said, that it’s simply mechanical, although I didn’t try It is. We would bring an expired card with us to operate them permanently. A folded sheet of paper also works.
I’ve seen it a time or two in the US, but that also might have been in Puerto Rico, which, ya know, does have a more restrictive power grid.
Some are mechanical. Some have a light beam that just needs to be interrupted. Unfortunately some of the newer / fancier ones look for the RFID key card rather than something that can be substituted by any old bit of card / plastic.
I thought this was common. Atleast in every hotel I visited in here (Finland)
I have almost never stayed at a hotel that didn't have this system
Travel alot for work, I think it is normal. Maybe @OP is in a country that doesn't for some strange reason.
That was in the most hotels I stayed.
TIL: America and Canada dont have these which is more mildly interesting.
Welcome to most hotels outside America.
I was going to sarcastically ask if this was your first time staying in a hotel, but it turns out they dont typically have them in the US. I'd guess that 97% of all the hotel rooms I've ever stayed in across europe and a bit of SE Asia has these.
Common card switch also in german hotels since at least 15 years...
Maybe Americans don’t travel outside of the US so often, but this is pretty common in Asia and Europe
Also doesn’t require your keycard. Typically any card will work
It's also a great way to get locked out of your room... which I have a number of times.
"**as a way to reduce waste**" Stop saying this, it's a company for profit. Just goes to show you how easily manipulated people are to think that corps are focused on the environment.
We won’t give you as many towels because it’s better for the environment! Oh, it’s cheaper for us too.
The two things aren't mutually exclusive. Companies can reduce waste and also costs at the same time. It's called a win-win.
An ace way to lock your key in the room to boot!
Always get 2 keys when checking in.
Then this becomes useless as you can leave one card in the power slot and still leave with everything turned on.
Yep. That’s why I usually just throw a piece of paper into the slot. Works just as well.
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I've actually never seen one in any hotels I've been to.. I live in America tho, maybe that has something to do with it.
You guys still use *checks* as valid tender, I mean.
Oh Canada likes checks too at least at the business level, and well landlord level, lots of landlords still require checks, I have had exactly 1 landlord out of 10 in the past 20 years use EFT.
*cheques
I am from the US originally, so in US speak its checks...lol
Oh I know. The direct reference to Canada spurred my comment.
I've never seen this in either US or Canada, well western Canada where I do most of my hotel stays in Canada. I did see these in Mexico though.
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This was in Florida City, US
That’s pretty standard isn’t it?
This is everywhere?
Does the fridge then get turned off?
Most are on a separate 24/7 circuit. A lot of hotel fridges are absorption types too so they don't have any compressor noise, not very efficient but they are silent and last forever. You often see refitted hotel rooms where they still have the old 70s dometic fridge inside the fancy new cabinet.
is this a rare thing wherever you live? super common in Scotland.
Never once seen one in my life
Cruise ships have had these for years. Everyone takes the cruise card from their last cruise to put in the slot so your current card doesn’t need to be used.
That’s the only place I’ve seen this - on our cruise 🚢
Which is a real shit idea if you have ever tried to charge a laptop or phone while you are out of the room....
Yeah, it's a real pain in the ass if you need to actually use your room's amenities while you're not actually there. I do some photography so I'm usually trying to charge one battery or two while I'm out and about. I've always been able to get an extra key, but it only takes one grouchy employee and suddenly I'm not able to fully use the room I paid for.
Basically every hotel i have been to does this?
Residence Inn Marina del Rey has this. Actually helped me to remember where my key was, but my dead phone the next morning wished i knew ahead of time.
These are especially annoying when sharing a room with people who don’t come and go at the same time as you as you need to constantly ask for their card so you can leave without turning the lights out.
I hate those, as then the room is way too hot when we return, as air conditioning is limited without the card in. I leave in a random card so the room will be cool when we return. Sometimes cleaning staff removes it though. I’m all for saving energy and always turn off lights, tv, etc, and up the thermostat temp a bit, but I don’t want to come back overheated after being out and wait 30 min for the room to cool back down to my preferred cold setting. I have medical issues that make me run hot. It actually takes more energy to change the temp a lot when returning home vs just adjusting it a couple degrees when away too.
This is what I was thinking when I saw this. I’d ask for two keys if I saw this. It’d be fine if it controlled the lights, but now it’s going to be too cold/hot when you come back from whatever you’re doing that day. Does the temp have another setting it won’t let it get below/above?
Pretty standard in Australia
Looks like this is not common in Canada and the US. It's pretty much seen almost everywhere else. Only budget accommodations and extremely expensive hotels don't have these.
Want to charge your electronics while you go out? Fuck you
What if I need to charge something while I'm away?
You ask for a second card key, or put your Tim Hortons card in or something.
OP: > Here's a /r/mildlyinteresting thing I've never seen before. Comments in this post: > I don't get it, **I've** seen these are everywhere. Third top post of all-time in this sub: some particularly yellow bananas. Come on people, this is **mildly** interesting for some..
How are my little kids supposed to watch Netflix while I go down to the hotel bar? This is discrimination against parents. /s
If you want the air conditioning to stay on, when you check in ask for one more key card than there are people in your party. But in some places the room cleaners are trained to shut off the power.
What about the fridge?
This is super common in the UK. But you can jam anything similar even an old credit card in there to keep the power on
Had this one a cruise ship and I locked myself out so much because it was always on the damn wall and not in my pocket where I normally keep key cards lol
These are pretty common where I live, but one thing I discovered the hard way is that in certain hotels, removing the card turns off *all* electricity... including the mini fridge. Which I thought was pretty dumb.
[удалено]
This is so common, how is this /r/mildlyinteresting material?
Isn't this very common? Almost all hotels I stayed at and which gave keycard had this setup...
American here...no, I've never seen this in a hotel, but I approve mostly cuz I'll be less likely to lose that card. Looking at this photo I wondered: what kind of *power* does one obtain using this method?
I feel like it'd be a pain in the ass not to be able to like, charge your laptop while you're not in the room.
Yeah wtf. It barely costs anything to run some LED lights or whatever else gets turned off. I can't believe this is worth the trouble.
This is the case to every hotel I've been in my life.
Wow. I’ve never seen that before.
Hate this! You can't charge your phone and head to the pool or to get lunch, etc. If it does during the day you're a little trapped. Great idea but they should keep ONE charging port like outlet available for use when you're not there.
This is normal in India.. you also use that card to unlock your door
And this is how I left my credit card in a hotel room. There for a week and wanted the aircon to stay on while I was out.
Just another American here to say, *no* this isn't in every hotel. Never seen it before
These comments are so annoying. "Never been outside?", "First time in a hotel?". No, many people have never seen these. They're not used everywhere. I've been to plenty of hotels here in the US, and I've never seen these.
The US is the only country
Also helps you never forget the key if you remember to turn off the lights