It is the duty and responsibility of the front desk staff to ensure the right guest is given the key to his room and his safety and security pertaining to issuance of key is not compromised or violated during his stay in the hotel. Front Desk Agent should never give keys, room numbers, messages, parcels or mails to any person without first requiring appropriate identification.
For Security reason hotels uses at least three types of keys, Emergency Key, Master key and guest room keys. Types of keys used may vary hotel by hotel but the process of handling them remains pretty much the same.
- Emergency Key: A key that can open all doors double locked in hotels, among others like the Guest room door (Guest Room), Door Office(Office), Door Warehouse (Store). This key is usually held by the Management Hotel or GM can use the emergency moment / emergency.
- Guest Room Key: Key available for use by the guests to open the rooms such as CARD or a special card and some form of regular keys, so-called Key Tag if the child is the key hanger.
- Master Key: A key that can be used to open the door on one floor / floor or one section area all single locked. So if the hotel consists of 8 floors / section in the hotel so there will be 8 pieces Master Key.
When Guest Request for room key:
- Request for Guest’s last name and room number.
- Cross check the information given against by guest against the reservation details on the hotel software.
- If there any mismatch is the details provided then request for any valid photo identification like passport, Driving license, government ID cards etc.
- Do not handover the room keys without proper authentication of the guest identity.
- If no picture identification is available by the guests, the Front office assistant must accompany the guests to the room to confirm the identity. When being challenged by our actions, we are to inform the guest:
“We are doing this for your security and safety. We appreciate your understanding.”
- Only in an emergency situation can we use the information on the guest passport number, date of birth, address given to the hotel on arrival etc. to ascertain against computer’s record.
- When in doubt with the identity and guest refused to be escorted to room, inform the Front office manager immediately.
If the Lobby Manager or Front Office Manager – Front Office could recognize the guest, give the duplicate key to the guest while reinforcing politely why we need to perform the identity check. Keys must never be issued to persons claiming to have the guest’s permission to enter the room unless the guest has personally given his /her verbal or written authorization to the Front Office team.
Room numbers should not be written on the keys in case keys are misplaced. A set of codes are encoded to differentiate keys being held by guests.