Hotel room card customized pitfall avoidance guide

Sep 15 , 2025
By: Guangzhou Zhanfeng Smart Card Technology Co.,Ltd.
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Hotel room cards are the "first contact point" for guests to check in, but problems such as "induction failure", "discoloration on the card surface", and "chaotic permissions" are often criticized. As the source manufacturer of smart card customization, we have compiled 4 high-frequency pitfalls and solutions to help you customize high-experience and low-cost room cards.


Pit 1: Induction failure? Signal interference or low matching


Question: Guest feedback: "You have to try the door lock closer to it" and "open the door automatically at the elevator entrance".


Reasons: The door lock sensing area is subject to metal/electromagnetic interference (such as next to the elevator), poor chip packaging of the room card (low-price cards are prone to loosening), and the chip frequency/protocol does not match the door lock.


Avoid pits:


✅ Before customization, provide hotel door lock brands (such as Bida and Keyu) to ensure that the chip frequency (125kHz/13.56MHz) and protocol (HID/EM) are fully compatible 

✅ Choose anti-metal coating card (reduce signal interference) to avoid frequent use in dense elevators/equipment areas 

✅ Sample testing: Verify the induction distance (3-5 cm is best) and stability in the actual environment.


2. Pit 2: Is the jam surface easy to get damaged? Printing fades, chips fall off


Question: The LOGO will be blurred after a few days of staying in it, and the chip position will be raised.


Reason: Ordinary ink printing is not resistant to friction/wetting, the chip is pasted with inferior glue, and the substrate is too thin (<0.3mm)


Avoid pits:


✅ For printing, UV embossing/stitching (wear-resistant), ordinary text is printed with imported ink silkscreen 

✅ “embedded chip packaging” (the chip is embedded in the PVC layer, not surface-pasted), and the substrate is 0.38-0.76mm thick high-quality PVC 

✅ Test bending: The chip part is repeatedly folded for 10 times and constantly cracked


3. Pit 3: Confused permissions? Temporary card/employee card is not distinguished


Question: The cleaning card can open all rooms, but the visitor card mistakenly opens the elevator.


Cause: Uncategorized permissions (such as room/cleaning/employment card permissions are fuzzy), and door lock rules are not synchronized during customization


Avoid pits:


✅ Clarify the type and permissions of the room card: Room card (only designated rooms + public areas), cleaning card (no elevator permission to open multiple rooms), employee card (restricted by department), temporary card (effective for limited time) 

✅ Provide door lock permission logic during customization (such as segmented management of HID card numbers), and the manufacturer directly writes chip data


4. Pit 4: Design failure? Incorrect size, incomplete information


Problem: The card is too thick and cannot be inserted into the slot, or only the room number is printed without contact information.


Cause: The size of the door lock slot is not confirmed (standard 85.5×54×0.76mm), and the card surface information is missing.


Avoid pits:


✅ Provide door lock models or measure the size of the existing room card to ensure that the customized card is perfectly adapted 

✅ Necessary card surface: hotel LOGO, room number, validity period; recommended printing of front desk phone, emergency contact person, floor guidance (high-end hotels can add guest names/welcome words)



Source manufacturer advantages: understand door locks and better understand needs


As the source manufacturer of smart card customization, we are familiar with mainstream hotel door lock systems, which can accurately match chip frequency/protocol, and control the entire process from material selection to permission settings, avoiding the embarrassment of "not being used after customization".


If you have any hotel room card customization needs, please contact us! We provide free samples + full-process after-sales service, making each room card a plus for hotel services.

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