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Bangkok's Chaophya Park Hotel Has The Best Multi-Use Key Cards Ever
Security issues aside for the moment, Chaophya Park Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand has what are possibly the best hotel room key cards ever: they also function as one-day subway passes. It's the first hotel in Bangkok to offer the amenity of hotel-keys-as-subway-passes since it lies along the MRT route of public transportation. But it won't be the last; the MRT is looking to partner up with further hotels in Bangkok and make this a regular perk.
Still, the Chaophya Park might look like your typical business hotel in the picture above, but judging from this new feature and the fact that they've got iPod docking stations in the rooms, have greening initiatives, and are the first hotel in Thailand to offer free internet, the Chaophya Park is more dynamic than boring.
Now let's talk security...
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Holiday Inn Builds a Hotel Made Entirely Out of Hotel Key Cards
Ever wondered what to do with all those hotel key cards you’ve accumulated? Maybe you’ve thought about building your own hotel out of the them. No? Well, that's okay, because Holiday Inn had that bright idea, and will be unveiling the Key Card Hotel—yes, a hotel made out of many, many key cards (more than even we have)—tomorrow in New York.
The elaborate stunt is part of the chain’s “Key to Change” promotion, which gives guests the chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to a relaunched Holiday Inn of their choice, anywhere in the world.
That’s right: this is not your daddy's Holiday Inn. Spending $1 billion on the relaunch roll-out, IHG expects that 1,200 of its properties will have been relaunched by later this month.
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Up Next in Room Key Technology: Proximity-Based Keycards?
Most of our talk about hotel key cards lately has concerned whether they're recyclable or not, but the whole "ease of use" factor is a pretty important to us, too. They can be fiddly things when you have to insert them a particular way or swipe them at just the right speed, and we've been frustrated by them more than once.
Thankfully, over at the X Room at the Courtyard Newark University of Delaware, the prototype room where they try out lots of new gadgets on real guests, they are looking carefully at proximity-based keycards. With these, we won't need to worry about inserting them in the right direction or even finding them in our bags: just holding them vaguely near the door should open it, and the X Room people are also considering using this technology to sign restaurant checks and access other hotel services, like gyms or pools.
This is the kind of technology trial that makes experimental rooms like the X Room useful – much better than that distressing running alarm clock that forces you out of bed to turn it off.
[Photo: rick]
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Are The James Chicago's Eco-Friendly Keycards User-Friendly?
We already know Chicago's James Hotel is well ahead of the pack when it comes to sustainable, eco-friendly amenity madness (see the donut-esque soap which brought us great glee last week), but PSFK — who brought the green soap to our attention — also noted another environmentally-conscious feature from their recent visit: 100% recyclable keycards.
But as we learned from the great Denver Wooden Keycard Disaster of 2008, sometimes these things can be tricky and not-so-user-friendly.
Says PSFK:
The James card feels like a thick business card and has a matte finish on the front with a glossy varnish protecting the magnetic strip on the back.
So what we want to know is this: do these recyclable keycards function any less reliably than their not-as-green plastic counterparts? Anyone ever tried 'em?
Tell us. And someone please tell us, if these babies work just as well as the others, why all hotels haven't hopped on the bandwagon yet (er, providing they're somewhat affordable for hotels to get).
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The Carlton Hotel Introduces Patriotic Key Cards
It's not just DC and Chicago hotels that are cashing in on Barack Obama's Inauguration Festivities. In Manhattan, The Carlton Hotel has begun to issue patriotic key cards.
The key cards have the American flag and the key holder says “In celebration of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration”.
We just hope they work better than the "wooden stinkers" handed out at hotels during the Democratic National Convention.
The Carlton is currently undergoing a $60 million renovation from the prolific David Rockwell group which will be completed in mid-2009 and will feature a new "social destination" area in the lobby. The rooms have all been renovated to include iHome docking stations, leather-topped work desks, private bars, and complimentary in-room wireless Internet access.
Web-only rates start at $206 a night next week for a standard room with a full-sized bed. A room with a queen bed is available at $269 a night.
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Fake Hotel Key Cards for Sale at Paris' Colette
[Image via Highsnobiety]
If you think you're obsessed with hotels, then you haven't heard of artist Matt Goias, a New York-based influencer who has created a Paris exhibit out of his fascination with hotel detritus. Central to his current installation, L’attraction de la Boue, at the trendy Colette boutique, are manufactured hotel key cards in honor of World Aids Day.
Hoteliers may want to keep an eye on Matt however, as his favorite mediums seem to be other hotel keys, candid hotel photographs, and random stolen hotel paraphernalia.
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Wooden Electronic Key Cards at DNC Hotels Still Getting Mixed Reviews
Wooden Electronic Key Cards--do they work or do they not work? That is the question going on around hotels in Denver during the Democratic National Convention.
As you might know already, the NY Sun said the key cards were a bust and we wrote about that. Then a PR rep for the key cards said that wasn't true and the general manager of the Sheraton (where the cards were reported to be abandoned) backed up that claim, saying the key cards were working just fine after an initial "user error." The Sun then issued an update.
Yesterday, we got word that the key cards were working just fine at the Hotel Gold Crown near the Denver airport.
So it seems like these wooden key cards are working and everything is fine and green dandy. Not quite. Thanks to a tipster who did some research for us, there have been some more incidents of these eco-friendly key cards not working. After the jump, see the problems people are having with the key card.
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DNC Wooden Key Cards Update :: Not So Bad at All
This week, hotels all over Denver served to host the world premiere of the sustainable wooden hotel key cards we'd heard so much about.
First, we heard they sucked. But then the source we'd consulted had issued a correction (rumors happen!) saying all was fine and dandy with the cards -- but we wanted to wait and hear from someone who had actually used the cards before we allowed ourselves to remain hold out hope for eco-friendly keycards to catch on.
So we were delighted when reader Amy, who used the new keys at the Hotel Gold Crown just south of Denver, wrote in to give them the thumbs up:
I used the wooden key cards, and they worked great for me and my group.
Yay! Thanks for the report -- and if anyone else has any insight as to how this whole thing is working out, email us!
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So, About Those Sustainable Wooden Key Cards at the DNC...
UPDATE: Turns out the wooden electronic key cards are not a big "suckfest" nor do they "totally blow." Apparently, problems with the cards were just "user error", so say the PR reps. And contrary to what the NY Sun reported, the whole plan has not been ditched. Wooden key cards are still in effect. If you are in Denver, and are using a wooden electronic key card, please email us and tell us what you think.
Remember those sustainable wooden key cards that were supposed to make their epic, earth-saving debut in the Democratic National Convention hotels in Denver this week? Yeah. Turns out they totally blow.
According to the New York Sun, the biodegradable keys -- made from sustainably harvested birch wood and emblazoned with the DNC logo -- turned out to be a suckfest extravaganza and the whole plan was ditched within hours. Fail.
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Democrats Will Be Using Sustainable Key Cards Next Week
When Democrats begin checking into Denver-area hotels next week for the Democratic National Convention, they will find themselves holding some very unusual room keys---wooden key cards.
That's right. Over 70 hotels will be using Sustainable Cards next week. In total, there will be over 70,000 of these eco-friendly key cards in use.
The cards are made from sustainably harvested birch wood and are emblazoned with the DNC Logo, actually making them a collector's item. Oh yeah, and they are really good for the earth too:
By switching plastic cards to biodegradable wood, hotels and resorts can reduce plastic waste by 1,300 tons annually – the amount of plastic waste that traditional hotel key cards generate in the U.S. alone. The weight and density of this waste is equal to the volume of seven 777 airplanes.
Sustainable Cards are the first wooden electronic key cards to be used in the U.S. and it's estimated that 35,000 hotel guests will use these cards for the first time in the U.S. next week. Now, we just need to get used to saying wooden electronic key cards.
Full list of hotels offering Sustainable Cards is after the jump.
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