Hotel Key Cards: Balancing operational costs with guest experience and sustainability goals

Driving sustainability goals whilst reducing operational costs and enhancing your overall guest experience doesn’t have to be an exercise of compromise. Introducing environmentally friendly solutions into your service offering can at times be challenging to execute within budget without compromising on the quality of the products you provide to your guests. In a hyper-competitive landscape like hospitality, travellers are spoiled for choice when selecting their home away from home and whether travelling for business or pleasure, the overall guest experience will ultimately determine your hotel’s bottom line. We live, eat and breathe ratings because in today’s connected world, everything has a rating system, linked to multiple media platforms with the sole purpose of showcasing your guest’s opinions. The resulting impact raised the competitive bar considerably sparking a booming industry in customer relations management. 

From an operational point of view, procurement teams are faced with significant challenges to deliver superior quality, fast-moving consumables that delight their most valued guests within a strict operating margin. Added to this they also need to make measurable progress in achieving sustainability goals as the hospitality industry as a whole works towards a net zero carbon footprint.

According to the Glion Institute of Higher Education, Sustainable hospitality involves integrating eco-friendly practices into every aspect of the industry's operations. This encompasses reducing waste, conserving energy and water, sourcing local and organic products and adopting responsible tourism practices. Sourcing locally is often overlooked in import-dominated categories which increases liability risks when products don’t meet ISO standards. We’ve all learnt in recent times about the devastating toxicity of certain imported, fake wood smartcards commonly used as room keys which will undoubtedly find their way to a toddler’s mouth at some point or the other. Unfortunately, environmentally friendly does not always mean budget friendly hence the never-ending battle in balancing compromise.

Hotel key cards have an incredibly short lifespan with the majority ending up in a trash can. Considering that a single large hotel can go through 100,000 cards annually with ease turns this category into a massive opportunity to achieve significant gains on all mentioned business priorities.

At Universal Smartcards we design our solutions around the challenges hoteliers face daily. Our range of eco-friendly room keys include options made from recycled PVC that keep production costs low as well as our unique PPH BIO card which is fully biodegradable and made from wood pulp. No compromises in quality are made as we manufacture to stringent ISO standards, incorporating leading technologies used across major hotel groups today. For an enhanced customer experience, we also offer customisable real wood room keys and because we supply directly from our factory, we can support hotels in maintaining procurement costs well within their desired margins. Based out of San Diego we are the local supplier that will deliver exceptional quality products at lower than market rates. Let’s take a closer look at some of our eco-friendly hotel key card options….

Recycled plastics use less energy to produce than raw plastic materials, lowering CO2 emissions and providing a truly green card option. These hotel key cards are a great option when you're looking to keep the look and feel of your current cards but want to make a positive change to their impact on the environment. Recycled PVC hotel key cards are the best option for your hotel if you want to maintain cost, whilst delivering the same great cards and experience your valued guests are used to.

Biodegradable, or PPH Bio Cards, provide a unique premium aesthetic to impress your hotel’s guests. The compressed pulper fibres make them extremely durable and suitable for multiple uses, unlike thin regular disposable paper keycards.

Wooden hotel key cards are typically slightly more expensive than recycled and biodegradable cards, but they offer the greenest option when it comes to sustainability and provide a unique aesthetic that is sure to impress your hotel’s guests. Wood cards are durable, reusable, and come in a wide range of different woods including Bamboo, Birch, Walnut, Maple Cherry and Beech.

We’d love to explore how we can add value to your business. To find out more and explore the range of sustainable, cost-effective key card solutions available for your hotel or resort, contact us on 1-800-810-4959, fill out our contact form or drop us an email at sales@usmartcards.com and a member of our team will be happy to help you.