Hotel Key Cards

A small inn starts with 250 keys, and a resort that loses cards in guest pockets every day orders thousands. Every other plastic card sits on plastic cards printing.

Hotel key card size, the standard CR80 at 3.375 by 2.125 inches

A hotel key card is a CR80 card, the same footprint and 30 mil thickness as a credit card, about 85.7 mm x 54 mm, with rounded corners. Lock readers, key card holders and wallet slots are all built around CR80, so it is the only size a property needs, and everything else on the order sits inside that footprint.

What Are Hotel Key Cards

Hotel key cards are plastic room keys that also carry the brand and can work as a promo or loyalty piece a guest keeps. For the same plastic as a wallet card rather than a room key, see the Plastic Credit Cards; our plastic print ideas show other jobs the stock handles, and the rounded corner collection shows other cards cut the same way.

What Finish and Ink Can You Choose

UV gloss keeps color bright; silk laminated matte feels soft and hides fingerprints. Print full color on the front with a blank back, or on both sides for branding or check-out instructions on the reverse.

Lock system and encoding compatibility

The stripe ships blank, and the property writes the key at the desk on its own encoder when a guest checks in, so one stock of cards serves every room and every stay. Two things have to match your lock system before you order. The first is coercivity: LoCo stripes are written with less energy and suit cards rewritten constantly, while HiCo stripes hold their data against stray magnets and suit cards that live longer. The second is the track your system reads, so confirm both with whoever maintains the locks, since a run cut for the wrong stripe cannot be used. Print a test card and run it through your own reader before the full quantity.

These cards carry no RFID or NFC chip. If your doors read chips rather than a stripe, check the card type with your lock provider first.

Barcodes, Numbers and Badges

Where the door is not the only reader, barcoding in Code 128, Code 39, UPC-A or EAN-13 lets the same card work at a pool gate, a parking scanner or a point of sale. Variable data puts a unique number or code on every card, and embossed numbering raises the digits at 14pt or 18pt, plain or with gold or silver tipping. A signature panel handles anything that has to be signed, a scratch-off panel hides a PIN for prepaid access, foil stamping adds a metallic mark, and a lanyard slot on the short or long edge turns the card into a staff, conference or spa badge. For a numbered card built for members rather than rooms, see the Plastic Membership Cards.

For finished art, the blank hotel key card template is built at the real trim size with the bleed and safe margin drawn in, so no logo or room note lands under the stripe or in the cut.

How Much Do Hotel Key Cards Cost

At 250 a card costs about 90 cents, and at 10,000 it lands near 25 cents, which is why a property tends to order a season of keys at once. Set the slider below to your room count times the keys each stay uses to see the run total and the per-card cost.

Reordering and keeping keys in stock

Work back from the date you expect to run out, with 15 business days of production plus shipping in hand. Size the reorder from room count and occupancy: the keys a room turns through in a stay, times rooms and expected turns, plus the cards that walk out in guest pockets. If the artwork changes for a season or a rebrand, run the current design down to the date of the change instead of ordering a large quantity, and keep the property name and logo on the face with the seasonal element on the back.

How Do Hotel Key Cards Compare to the Rest of the Plastic Range

The same stock and CR80 cut run across the range, so a property can keep one look on every card: plastic gift cards for stored value at the restaurant or the shop, and plastic discount cards for a rate card or a partner offer at check in. The chart below sets hotel key cards beside gift card holders, plastic card sleeves and plastic identification cards on price and turnaround.

How Fast Can You Get Hotel Key Cards

Plastic cards take longer than paper, so plan for 15 business days of production. A wrong stripe setup or room number is expensive to reprint, so choose the free online proof and check your artwork, stripe and numbering before anything runs, or send it straight to production when the file is final. Every order is backed by the Gold Standard guarantees.

See the Rest of Our Cards

Our hospitality collection covers hotel gift card printing, menus and the rest of a property's print, and the full print product range lists everything else.

Print Your Hotel Key Cards Today

At 4OVER4.COM, quality comes first, and it is backed by a satisfaction guarantee and 25 years of printing since 1999. Choose your stripe, set your numbering, and print your hotel key cards today.