Originally Posted by
USPhilly
I hate that about the hotels in Europe. It was discussed somewhere on FT before and many of those things will work with a random card, it doesn't have to be the room card. I've been using one of my old FF cards which has seemed to work and this way if I forget it, it's nbd.
That is why I always carry a "spare" hotel card key or ask for 2 at check-in.