Is it bad to keep the keys? (A fun survey in souvenirs vs. waste)
A lovely stay, so you check out, Irish-goodbye-style, by skipping the front desk and head to the car. Plastic key card in pocket (whether forgotten there, purloined, or just hedging bets on possibly needing to pop back later.)
Is it bad form to take the keys? I’m sure they cost the hotel some small expense. I’m fairly sure they can be reprogrammed and used over and over again (not sure what the service life is though.)
From some properties, I’ve kept the key (with its nice distinctive art) as a memento: Cavelleri, Grand Wailea, Istanbul, Conrad Hong Kong, etc. Under “purely forgot the key in my backpack” category, I’m currently staring at a couple generic ES,HGI, and Hampton keys that I just pulled out of a post-trip bag I’m cleaning out after a nice holiday at the Sevilla HGI, a Waco, TX Hampton, and the curmudgeous Madrid Hilton.
So: do you keep souvenir keys? Throw them out? And is it ecologically sound to reuse them/turn in to front desk or do the hotels care to always reuse them?