Joe_in_Silver_Spring

A couple years ago, I stayed at a hotel in Stockholm for a conference with friends from Denmark and the UK. Having traveled in Europe quite a bit, I automatically turned in my key as I left the hotel. And it became something of a joke because the others tended to forget to, although all of us agreed that it's the traditional European custom.

LoveItaly

Patrick, I have notice the same thing, but never had a problem but ----
"when in Rome"

Kayb95

When staying at our timeshare in London, we pay a £5 key deposit and get a key to the front door and a skeleton key for our unit. We've only stayed at one place that made us leave the key.

It's not offensive, but kind of a pain when you come in from a day of touring (and usually need to use the loo) and you have to wait for the person at the front desk to finish a phone call or finish with another customer. I'd rather be able to go straight to my room. (I don't like valet parking either, for the same reason!)

And what's to stop a thief from walking in and saying "I'm in room 215", gets the key and robs the place?

crefloors

Don't you remember Inspector Cleusseau (SP) asking for the key to his room? "You want the key to your room?" "That's what I said you fool".

MaureenB

We were in Vienna and didn't realize their custom is to leave the key at the desk when we left for the day. They were polite Austrians and never made a point of asking us for our key. Then I felt really dumb later because I asked if we could have two keys-- the man at the desk hemmed and hawed about it, which I didn't understand until I figured out the custom after we'd checked out.
In Prague and Munich, though, they were more forthright in telling us about the practice.

PatrickLondon

I'm alightly amazed - does no-one watch old (and not so old) films any more? You couldn't have a scene in a hotel which didn't involve leaving or collecting a key at the desk, thus creating the necessary opportunities for chance meetings, hilarious misunderstandings and/or criminal shenanigans. This was as much in supposedly American as European locales.

I would expect smaller, family-run hotels and B&B places to give you a key to keep yourself, and the newer electronic cards look designed to be kept with your credit cards.

I would be slightly surprised not to be given the option of hanging on to the key if I wanted to, but if goatee found nothing missing, I would just put this down to experience. Given its location, I wonder if this was the kind of hotel where they might have had cause to worry about people passing the key on to non-paying guests..?!

caroline_edinburgh

You mean there are hotels where you *don't* hand in (non-electronic) room keys ?

GregY2

I'm with Patrick on this one; I'm sure that I have seen many old movies,(which would have been mainly American I think)in which people drop off and pick up their keys at the front desk.

swandav2000

Hi goatee,

As others above have said, yes, it is the custom, and has been for generations. I was lucky enough to have travelling parents, and getting those monstruous keys, handing them in when we left the hotel, seeing the rows and rows of keys on hooks when we retrieved ours -- are all happy memories of travelling in Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. I **hated** to see small and electronic keys.

I also loved those "doubled" doors to the rooms, where you passed through a series of two doors with a small foyer-type space between them, to get into your room. I even go back to hotels even if that's the only element of the hotel I liked . . .

Yes, those were the days.

s

111op

This may be customary, but I find it more bizarre that the hotel insist that you leave the key with them.

On a recent trip (albeit not to Paris), I probably left my key with the desk only on one or two occasions. No one insisted. In fact, some of the hotels are probably small enough that it'd have been better for me to carry my own key with me. (One desk, in particular, was left unintended in the evening.)

I think that the guest should have the option to do as he/she pleases.

LynnP

Unless we stay in a big hotel in Europe with electronic keys, we always hand the key in, never think otherwise.

mamc

I have been to Paris many times and to other places in Europe frequently. I cannot recall any hotel where we were not asked to leave the room key when we left the hotel. Frankly, I'd just as soon not have to keep tabs on the key as well as everything else so it is a convenience.

francophile03

This is a common practice in the Parisian and other European hotels I've stayed at. Found nothing strange-it's just how it's done in Europe. Unless it's a huge highrise hotel or such it's a keycard like what we have in the US. In Paris I've gotten keys attached to pretty large objects such as said bell or other object. At the Verneuil I think it's a large tassel thing. I find that I'm actually looking forward to seeing what type of key attachment I'll get at a new hotel. If the reception staff sees you walking out without handing over your key they will definitely let you know.

zootsi

I have no problem leaving the key at the front desk - what I do find uncomfortable is that with nearly all European hotel locks, you have to use the key to lock your room at night from the inside. Therefore in case of a fire, you need the key to get out of your room! I keep the key in the lock when I'm in the room so I always know where it is.

francophile03

Zootsi, that's true what you said. I didn't find that the case with all Parisian hotels I stayed at. For sure I recall clearly that you do need to use the key from inside at the Verneuil's rooms.

TopMan

This is a common practice but it varies from hotel to hotel, i.e., in hotels with electronic door locks operated with a keycard one is generally not asked to surrender the card at the front desk.

ellenem

I've always left the key at the desk in all my European travels. My first trip in high school, it was explained that it was the custom. However, I've never had a hotel "shake us down" on the way out the door. As others have stated, usually the key is attached to an object too large to carry comfortably anyway. An added bonus we discovered on that first trip: If you are sharing a room and spend part of the day separately, the key is always waiting for whomever returns to the hotel.

radiofanatic

we were asked to leave our key at the front desk in London - it was a first, but I really liked it. I didn't have to stress during the day about losing it.

ira

>And what's to stop a thief from walking in and saying "I'm in room 215", gets the key and robs the place?<

The staff knows the guests by sight.

sandi_travelnut

When we stayed at Hotel St. Germain in the 6th, we left the room key at the front desk each time we went out...at their request.