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Hotel Tracks Towels With RFID Chips
nonprofiteer writes "An unnamed hotel is now putting RFID tags in their towels: 'The Honolulu hotel (the hotels have asked to remain anonymous, just to keep you guessing) says it was taking a bath to the tune of 4,000 pool towels per month, a number that it has reduced to just 750 (a savings of $16,000 per month). And that's just at the pool.' It's unclear what they do if the towel flies to the Midwest."
My Uncle, and his family own a dry cleaning business in north Carolina and they have been doing this for years. It has caused the dry cleaners to make more money, as well as their clients. Plus as everything comes into the plant, it gets sorted so easily. You can run a cart through a scanner, and the computer reads everything in the cart, telling it where to go, and it is tracked from start to finish. The best part is, the cleaners and their customers make the agreements on the items that are supposed to be cleaned, not the actual pieces being cleaned, so they can tell the hospital who didn't turn in their shirts that week, yet collect for cleaning them. It is the future of dry cleaners.
The Hilton Hawaiian Village. Signs all over the place that the towels are tracked and you will be charged if it is not returned.
Free towel, I guess.
Haida Manga
I often pop my towel in the microwave for a few seconds to make it nice and toasty. I wonder if I've ever nuked me any chips?
this story is about 2 months old. The RFID triggers a sensor and then you may be asked to take the towel out of your luggage, or be billed for a towel. This type of news could also be a hoax and people read the sign and don't take the chance. Theft is theft, it shouldn't happen.
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Seen a modern maid's cart in a nice hotel lately?
Like a giant safe. Locking rollup doors on all four sides, and a locking flip-top lid. She goes into a room and pulls this thing flush to the door frame. It may even lock to the doorframe (that's next if it's not already).
No more casually walking by and grabbing whatever you need. You have to get her to intervene, and then you're tracked.
That's what I can't wrap my mind around (no pun intended). Even the most plush hotel towels are laundered and reused by guests, and the vast majority of hotel towels aren't really that high quality to begin with. Is the economy so bad that people are resorting (again, no pun intended) to taking used hotel towels instead of buying their own for a few bucks?
Despite the use of what must be copious amounts of chlorine and near-autoclave cleaning, just imagine what some people leave on those towels. You still want them?
Kleptos ruin it for everyone.
But, if this RFID thing goes viral, you can expect the return of towels and robes and sheets and blankets that make you want to go to a hotel even if you don't have a reason.
Now if only they could do something consistent about the fucking bedbugs.
Why are people stealing that crap?
Because they can.
Doesn't matter what it is, or how crappy it is, sadly some pathetic folks just feel feel a compulsion to steal, others just feel entitled...
Talk to a hard core song or movie pirate. Doesn't matter how crappy the song or movie is, they just want it in their collection (they often do not even listen to the song or watch the movie). That my friend is compulsive behavior...
Talk to a person that constantly whines about faceless corporations underperforming, or overcharging them for stuff, or descriminating... Then you will understand the sense of entitlement that brings a person to steal.... Stick it to the man!
I have been in hotels all over the planet. Average to luxury, Asia, Europe and the US. One thing nearly all of them have in common (including high end Hawaii hotels) is that the towels are a joke. Small, thin, low cost junk. Why are people stealing that crap?
The last time I was in a super-luxury hotel they had a small shop by the lobby where you could buy hotel-branded towels if you wanted a souvenir of your stay. They were better quality than the ones in the rooms, and very reasonably priced -- I doubt they made a profit, but I bet they had less towels stolen because of it.
This article is two weeks old, and RFID tagging in hotels has been known in the industry since 2009. Wakey wakey people!
So, what, it's the first week of January 2010 for you? What the hell time zone are you in?
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I see a new demand for Faraday luggage!
"There's a frood who really knows where his towel is."
take a towel from the maid's cart. It isn't registered to anyone and they are always sitting there in the hallway unattended.
One question: Why?
Some privacy policy Slashdot.