Introduction
Individual heads of departments are responsible for all their areas. The housekeeper is usually responsible for more keys than any other department heads. Here are the different types of keys which we are discussing in this blog.
Types of Keys
The housekeeping department is majorly concerned with the following categories of keys. These are:
1. Emergency Key
- It is also known as E-Key, which can opens all the doors in the property, even those doors that are double locked.
- This kind of key also double locks the room against all other keys.
- Emergency Key should be stored in a secured place such as hotel safe, a safe deposit box, or a metal cabinet that only the General Manager or the Security Officer can access.
- Some properties may also keep the E-Key off the premises.
2. Master Key
- These key open all guest room that are not double-locked.
- They are separated into four level of access. These are as follows:
(i) Grand Master Key: This key opens all hotel guestrooms as well as hotel storage rooms. It can also double lock a room if access to that particular room is denied by hotel authority. This key can be used in emergency situation when it is necessary for a manager to enter some or all areas of the hotel. It is kept under lock at the front desk of hotels. This key is kept by Executive Housekeeper / Front Office Manager.
(ii) Pass Key / Master Key : This key is kept by the Assistant Housekeeper and it will open any internal door that has not been double-locked.
(iii) Sub-Master / Section Master Key : These keys open all rooms in one work section of a hotel. A supervisor may be issued more than one key of this type as it may be required to inspect the work of more than one Guest Room Attendant.
(iv) Floor Master Key : A Guest Room Attendant is given this key to open the rooms he or she is assigned to clean on a floor. The floor key opens all rooms on a particular floor that are not double-locked. Floor keys typically open the store room for that floor too.
3. Guest Room Keys
- These are keys issued to guests upon their registration.
- The guestroom key opens a single guestroom as long as it is not double-locked.
- Many properties do not list the hotel’s name, address, or room number on guestroom keys.
4. Supply Keys
- These keys are used by the Supervisory-Level Staff to ensure that stocks and equipment are safely store away when not in used.
- Store keys, office keys, and linen room keys are examples of such keys.
5. Card Keys
- This type of room locking mechanisms uses regular door locks and special plastic cards that acts as keys to unlock the doors.
- The plastic cards look like credit cards with holes or without holes punch in them.
- Some card keys have a magnetic strip instead of holes.
- The system uses a computer that codes the card to lock and unlock the door.
- Rather than re-keying the door locks in case of loss of keys, the computer is used to create new room lock codes for each room.