RFID hotel key card, as an advanced wireless identification technology, is widely used in hotel management systems to help hotels achieve seamless access, customer management and security control. RFID hotel key cards replace traditional magnetic stripe cards or mechanical keys, provide contact or contactless access control, reduce the health risks brought by physical contact, and realize rapid identification and data interaction of key cards through wireless signals, thus improving the security, efficiency and customer experience of hotels.
Hotel room card is a wireless radio frequency identification technology RFID, the entire room card management system by software, card issuing machine, card reader (door lock), room card composition
The hotel room card on the market is the most used contactless card, also known as RFID card or proximity card, mainly composed of chip, antenna (coil), encapsulated in a standard PVC card, chip and antenna without any exposed parts.
Proximity card in a certain distance range (usually 5-10cm) close to the reader surface, through the same radio communication frequency transmission to complete the data reading and writing operation, the communication frequency between the two is 13.56MHZ or 125KHZ (related to the card chip type).
The card itself is a passive card. When the reader reads and writes the card, the signal sent by the reader consists of two parts: one part is the power signal, which is received by the room card and generates an instantaneous energy with its L/C to supply the chip to work. The other part is the command and data signal, instructing the chip to complete the reading, modification, storage, etc. of the data, and returning the signal to the reader to complete a read and write operation.
When issuing guest card, the card writer at the front desk of the hotel sends out instructions to the room card to complete the storage of information such as guest room number and occupancy period. When the guest room card is close to the hotel door lock (the door lock at this time is equivalent to a card reader), the reading head of the door lock reads the card information, and then converts it into an electric signal and sends it to the controller. According to the received information, the controller judges whether the cardholder has been authorized to enter the room in this time period through software, and finishes unlocking, keeping locking and other works according to the judgment result.
RFID key card application process in the hotel management system is highly integrated, from customer check-in to check-out of the full cycle to achieve intelligent management.
Check-in and card issuance: Upon arrival at the hotel, the front desk quickly encodes the key card with RFID reader, binding guest information such as name, room number and permissions. The system can set access password or logic encryption to prevent data tampering.
Room access and facilities use: guests use RFID key card close to the door lock reader, the system automatically unlocks after verification. The card supports long-distance reading (depending on the chip frequency band), making it easy and fast to pass. At the same time, the card can integrate magnets to ensure stable attachment to mobile phones or wallets.
Customer management and data collection: Hotel management systems track guest behavior data through RFID, such as the number of times you enter a gym or restaurant. This data is uploaded to a back-end database that is used to analyze customer preferences and implement personalized services, such as push coupons.
Billing and check-out: At check-out, the system automatically reads the consumption data recorded in the RFID card, generates bills, supports passive chip operation (powered by the reading antenna), and ensures reliability and long life.
RFID key card materials and chip selection tends to durability, safety and environmental protection. Common materials include:
PVC or PET materials: these plastic materials are lightweight, wear-resistant, suitable for high-strength packaging and can withstand harsh environments such as humidity or high temperatures (-20 ° C to 60°C). PVC card cost is low, easy to print hotel logos and patterns.
ABS or composite material: used for high-end cards, providing better bending resistance and impact resistance, internal encapsulated magnets, easy to attach mobile phones.
Eco-friendly materials: such as degradable plastics or recycled PET/PETG/PLA, responding to green hotel trends and reducing environmental impact.
In terms of chips, hotels usually choose:
LF (low frequency, 125kHz) chip: short reading distance (5-10cm), high security, suitable for access control systems, such as T5557 or EM4100 chip.
HF (high frequency, 13.56MHz) chip: support NFC, medium reading distance (10-50cm), in line with ISO14443A standard, commonly used MIFARE Classic or NTAG series, easy to interact with mobile phones.
UHF (Ultra High Frequency, 860-960MHz) chip: read distance (1-5m), suitable for batch management of large hotels, such as IMPINJ Monza series, in line with ISO18000-6C standard.
These choices are based on the size of the hotel: small hotels prefer LF/HF chips for low cost and high security, medium and large hotels prefer UHF chips for remote reading. Currently, 80% of five-star hotels worldwide use RFID key cards with HF chips to balance security and convenience.
RFID hotel key card in the hotel management system is driving the industry to intelligent transformation. Through their roles in security, customer management and operational efficiency, these cards have become key to hotel competitiveness. Choosing the right materials and chips, such as PVC and HF chips, can further optimize performance. If you are looking for high quality RFID hotel key cards, please contact Guangdong Xinye to explore customized services and enhance your hotel brand image.
