A plastic magnetic key card is an inexpensive but very effective way to protect yourself and the client, as well as simple and convenient to use. A locking system using a magnetic card allows you to control the movement of people around the complex and prevents unauthorized entry into hotel rooms and office premises.

The most widely used plastic key card in hotel complexes. The door, which is planned to be opened with such a key, must be equipped with a special device – a reader (information reader), into which a plastic key is inserted. As soon as the information is read (this procedure takes literally a second), the door opens automatically. Different systems use keys with a chip, HiCo or LoCo magnetic stripe.

The price of locks on hotel and hotel cards is an order of magnitude, or even more, higher than the price of mechanical locks. So what are the benefits of the owner from installing more expensive electronic locks:

• The convenience of the guests. An electronic card or bracelet can be both a number key and a means of payment. This is especially important in hotels, hotels that have any food points: hotel restaurant, hotel, hotel lobby bar, hotel. So the guest can open a loan, or ask to make his deposit in the hotel management system (PMS), after which the guest can use his electronic card (bracelet) as a means of payment, closing the receipts of the restaurant, other services to the account in the hotel system using his card … The guest is relieved of the need to use cash for payment, which in turn reduces the likelihood of theft at the points of sale of a hotel or hotel.
• Hotel, hotel are relieved of the problems of lost keys taken away by guests. After the end of the guest’s stay, the room card becomes a useless piece of plastic. You can also block the card at any time. When using mechanical locks, for good reason, it is necessary to change the lock cylinder in the above cases.
• Guest safety. You can always read the information from the castle and find out who and when entered the hotel room using an electronic card. All entrances to the room are recorded in the memory of the electronic lock of the hotel room, hotel or on the server: whether it is a guest himself, a maid, a security officer or anyone else. Often the guest loses something without understanding, accusing the hotel staff of stealing. This information helps to understand what happened.
• Security of the owner of the hotel, hotel. Unfortunately, it is no secret to anyone that the reception staff can steal rooms. Selling them without registration in the system (PMS), giving the key to the guest in his hands.
• The electronic lock system makes this much more difficult. In general, it is impossible to give a guest a key to a hotel or hotel room without placing the guest in the hotel’s accounting system (PMS).
  Hotel electronic locks are more reliable than mechanical locks. In them, opening occurs automatically, which will not pull the key, twist it with effort when the key is from another room.

So what are the electronic locks of a hotel? In general, locks are divided into two subgroups:

• Locks based on magnetic technology – magnetic cards. Although the technology is considered outdated, it has a huge advantage over contactless technology – it is the cost of a key (from 10 cents). On the other hand, the magnetic key has a very small service life, only a few dozen read write cycles.
• Locks based on contactless technology – contactless cards, bracelets. More modern technology in relation to magnetic card technology. The service life of keys is several orders of magnitude higher than that of magnetic keys. The downside is the cost of cards (from $ 1), which are essentially consumables.
• Standalone offline locks. They are programmed once, information from them is read by a special device. The advantages include precisely the very autonomy. The operation of the lock does not depend on any external services or power supply. The disadvantages are reduced efficiency in blocking the lock (key), reading the information of the locks.
• Offline locks. Such locks are permanently connected to the server, where these locks can be controlled in real time and information can be read from them. The disadvantages include just the dependence on the operability of the network, and the cost, which is about twice as high as the cost of solutions based on autonomous locks.

Which technology to choose – it needs to be looked at individually, analyzing the quality and cost characteristics, features of the hotel segment, etc.

A common mistake that is made when choosing a particular supplier or decision is inconsistency with the hotel management system (PMS). Locks are often bought ahead of the PMS selection. This can cause the locks to be incompatible with the hotel management system.