in hotels, if you lose your room key card, how are they able to reprogram the new one so it works and the old one doesn’t?

Question

Is there some system that transmits information to your door card reader on what the new key is, or is it something different entirely?

In: 1028

Answer 1

Well ok, I’ve read the answers and they make sense, however many times I’ve lost my key, but my wife still has hers. I’ll go to the front desk and tell them I’ve lost my key to room X. After verifying I’m me they will just hand me a new card. Yet the card my wife currently has still works. So how do they know which card to invalidate? Now I’m not positive, but I don’t remember if we have to hand over the unlost working key or not. (Maybe I’m forgetting and we actually do give them the remaining card)