You either love them or you hate them for their ease of use or lack thereof, but it's a safe bet hotel key cards are here to stay. For the business traveler, this is an advantage. A hotel key card slips right into your wallet or pocket, there's no awkward key fob to fumble with, and if you lose your card you don't have to worry about anybody trying to break into your room.

The advantage hotel key cards have over regular keys is that should a stranger find your card, it will be rendered useless once it's reported lost. A hotel clerk needs only to reprogram the card and issue another one to you. That can't be done with a regular key! However, lately the rumor is going around that hotel key cards offer more information than just a room number. A friend tells us about a trip to Vegas, and how her companion advised her to hold onto her card after checkout. Our friend was told that within the plastic of that card was an electronic strip with the holder's personal information. Name, home address, credit card number...everything that can help someone commit identity theft. Our friend was so spooked she took the card home and cut it to ribbons!