In hotels outside the U.S., it is common to find energy-saving
technology for turning off the lights and power in a guest room. Insert
your room key in the wall slot upon entering the room and the lights can
be turned on. Remove the room key upon departing and the lights
automatically go off (some hotels offer a delay of 30 or 60 seconds so
you can easily see the door handle to exit the room, which I
appreciate).
This energy-saving technology is smart for saving electricity though
does have certain challenges. Since the topic of these room key wall
slots has come up often with travelers I talk with, I thought I’d put a
few tips and tricks together: I have never had a hotel front desk clerk tell me that I needed to
insert my room key into this wall slot in order to get my lights on.
I’m
sure it’s because they assume that everyone knows. Not so if you’re
traveling from the U.S., where these wall slots are not common at all
(yet!). So let me be the one to tell you now – when you ether a hotel
room and the lights won’t come on, check to see if there is a wall slot
near the entrance to the room. Slide your room key into the slot and
voila! Lights!
When you leave the hotel room and remove your room key, the lights
and power go off. This is usually fine for the lights but not so fine
for the power if you’ve got your tech gadgets plugged in. You go to
dinner and want your laptop to charge while you’re away, only to come
back to find to a dead battery. This downside irks many travelers
especially because they don’t realize that most of the power in the room
has gone off. Same thing with the heating or air conditioning; this may
go off once your room key is removed so expecting to come back to a
cozy room may not quite happen.
There’s a simple way to keep the power, lights or heat/air on while
you’re out of your room – simply insert another card into the wall slot.
A second hotel room key is obviously the first choice, though I’ve
found that other cards work just as well. I use my business card or a
hotel room key from a previous hotel stay (any hotel’s keycard seems to
work). This defeats the purpose of energy-savings when you’re not in the
room, but for the one or two times you need this to keep things powered
up while you’re away, it’s a great solution.
If there is a refrigerator in your room, the power stays on for this
appliance regardless of whether there is a key in the wall slot or not.
So don’t worry about food being cold, then warm, then cold again.
Even with the power challenge now and then, and being a wall-slot
newbie the first time you have such a room, this really is a great idea
for energy-savings. Hope to see this in more U.S. hotels
