It’s pretty rare these days that you actually get a room key when you go to a name-brand hotel. Over the last several years the industry has changed to various types of cards. In the beginning the locks were mechanical and the cards had holes in them (almost like old-fashioned programming punch cards for computers). These days they are digital and the cards have mag stripes on them like credit cards. There is an urban myth about the cards holding personal data on them (name, address, credit card information, etc), but that simply is not true. The keys only hold the the room number and the check in/out data.
While I was walking the other day, I found a Marriott Niagara Falls Fallsview & Spa keycard on the ground. Their keycards are very nice. There is a colour photo of the hotel and the Falls. On the back there are logos for Terrapin Grille, Serenity Spa, and the hotel. Usually they want you to turn in the cards when you are done so they can be reused (reprogrammed), but I’m sure many people end up taking them as a souvenir.
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