The days of having a metal key with your hotel room number engraved into it are long gone.

Keys these days aren’t even keys.  They are flimsy pieces of plastic, about the size of a credit card), and instead of having a room number on it, it has a pretty photo of your hotel along with operating instructions about how to insert it into an electronic reader on your room door. 

The plastic key usually comes tucked into a small envelope, or a larger folder, with the room number written on it.  But the larger envelope or folder is often too large to tuck into a pocket or purse, and so we leave the room with only the plastic key.  And when it’s time to return to our room, we have to trust our sometimes faulty memory about what the room number is.

If you’re a frequent traveler who has forgotten to turn in keys from a previous stay, it’s even worse!  I have dug into the bottom of a purse of briefcase to find a handful of keys, and then have to wonder which one if for this stay.  Sometimes I even have the outside folder or envelope, so I know the room number(s), and then have to remember which folder and room number is for this visit.

Here are a twp suggestions for remembering your hotel room number:

• Enter the hotel phone number into your cell phone (or PDA), and add your room number to the entry.  You should have the hotel phone number handy anyway, and if you stay at the same hotel frequently, all you have to do is update your room number for each stay.  If you have the ability to add in the hotel address, even better.
• Send yourself a text message after checking in with your hotel room number in the message.

If all else fails, you can always stop back by the front desk and ask them to find your room for you.  Just make sure that you have ID handy.

Do you have a way to remember your hotel room number?  If so, leave your method in the comments.

Photo credit:  flickr

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