kappa

I may be repeating what's already been said above.

It is simply a custom to leave your key at the hotel desk except for the key cards when you go out. Why ? Probably this way they can see generally which guests are in and which are out. Also they don't want you to lose it while you are out.

Me too I'm suprised about this question but then I realize from the posts above, you don't do that in USA! My question is : NEVER?

In Switzerland, if a guest realizes he forgot to turn in the key after checking out(yes it happens with even such heavy ones with a big bell like metal thing.), he can just drop it in a mail box on the street, at the station, etc. Not even need to put in an envelope. It is supposed to be delivered to the hotel. Probably the hotel have to pay the cost of delivery upon reception, I imagine. Once you are out of Switzerland, this will not work.

sandi_travelnut

I travel on business in the US all the time and I have never left my key at the front desk...ever.

Celia

A lot of people here are showing their (young) age! Leaving the key at the desk was the custom everywhere until about a generation ago.

Tallulah

I'm rather astonished that given the number of posts on here along the lines of 'Is Europe Safe?' or 'What about pickpockets/muggers/murderers/rapists/frauds in Blackpool?' that some of you DON'T like your key to be safely back in the hotel reception?!? At least if it's there these dreadful, dangerous foreign people can't get your key and run off with your passport!! ;-)

PatrickLondon

kappa makes an important point. The hotel would need to know which rooms are likely to have people in, in case of fire. The electronic key-cards might be linked up to a computer system that could tell them, but manual locks wouldn't.

zootsi

I dodn't mind leaving the key at the front desk - what does bother me is having to use the key to lock your room from the inside, and then needing the key to get out of your room. This could be a disaster in a fire. I always leave the key in the lock when I lock it from the inside.

suze

Yes it *really* is customary for the hotel to keep your room key.

I never thought a thing about it... you drop it off each time as you go out, pick it up upon return. I haven't traveled everywhere, but everywhere in Europe I have traveled this was how it's done.

StCirq

Every hotel in Europe I've been in that doesn't have electronic keys has asked me to turn in the key. Every hotel with electronic keys has not. As more and more hotels switch to electronic keys, I think it's safe to say this custom will change.

Giovanna

The first time we went to Rome I thought it odd that they kept our key because I wasn't used to it. However, it had a large, carved wooden handle type thing attached to a loop and then the key, so it would have been impractical to try to carry it. Since then it has pretty much been routine in every country we have visited. We have had no problems and losing a key is one thing we don't have to concern ourselves with.

Cigalechanta: Thank you for reminding me about the lavender bag attached to a room key. I had forgotten that we had a key like that when we were in Provence, and the bag was made with one of the beautiful, bright Provencal prints. I can almost smell it.

111op

I still think that it's the guest's prerogative as to whether the key is left at the desk. It seems incredibly silly to me that the hotel would insist that a guest do something. Customary, yes, but not compulsory....

Of course, if I'm specifically asked, I would. But I'm not going to unless I feel like it.

And for smaller hotels, the practice is completely non-existent, as I mentioned that the desks are not even tended at night. In those cases, you're sometimes given an additional key (to the front door) so that you can get in after hours.

nicegirl512

Every hotel I stayed at in Italy on my recent trip gave keys attached to some sort of heavy fob that you turned in when you left. I actually liked this, no worries about losing the key.

suze

Another convenience about having your room key at the front desk is if you split up during the day from your traveling partner(s) if doesn't matter who gets back to the hotel first.

Giselle

I had this happen in a hotel I stayed in in Amsterdam. I thought it was sort of amusing, like needing a pass to get back to my college dorm room. That was the only place I've stayed where that was done.

It was a very nice 4* hotel with a great buffet breakfast and I was pleased with it, so the key thing I just thought was quaint. Yes, a little wierd, so I see your point.

Huitres

It is absolutely customary for hotels in Europe to keep the keys....aside from the obvious fact that (during the day) they need to clean the rooms and can tell from their keyboard who is or isn't in the rooms. There is always someone at the night desk so late returns have not been a problem. I think it is more of a security issue with the hotels and knowing that no one else has their key(s) out on the streets. I find this very normal and it is done this way in Italy as well.

jsmith

When I travelled in the late 50s and early 60s, it was standard in the US to leave the key at the desk. I travelled on business 48 weeks a year for 6 years.

m_kingdom2

How old fashioned. Every decent hotel has electronic room keys so there isn't this issue of having to return keys. However, when the keys were indeed cut keys, I always used to detach it from the keyring. If it's a large hotel they can't keep tabs on you.

cyberUK

I like the practice of dropping off and retrieving my room key, it is a way of interacting with the hotel staff.
I am often surprised at how quickly the staff gets to know your room # and your name. Walking into the hotel in the evening to pick up your key and being greeted by name is a nice welcoming touch.
The Western style hotels in Japan also follow this practice.

LilyLace

Yes, from my experience it is quite common in Europe. Many small inns here in the US also have the same policy. It did backfire on me once a long time ago, when i was in Germany and stayed out very late at a nightclub. My dh called the hotel and the clerk told him "she hasn't returned for the evening yet" this was around 3 am AND my travel companion was a guy AND the hotel staff had referred to him as my husband several times! We were not sharing a room although they did ggive us connecting rooms.....it was all perfectly innocent BUT it did look bad!

LOL, I can still hear my dh saying "but the girl that answered the phone said that your key was still at the desk!"

SeaUrchin

Electronic keys mean corporate/convention type hotels in my book. I prefer small intimate hotels and they have always kept my keys when I am out. When I forgot to turn mine in a few times, a manager explained that it is the way they know who is in the hotel at any given time. I like it for the convenience of two of us returning at different times, too.

Yes, in all the old movies which feature European hotels, at least one of the characters will grab a key when the clerk is distracted. Or the heroine will ask for her key and the clerk will turn to get it and then looks confused and say "but your husband just picked it up!"...."but my husband is in Zanzibar!"..."then who?".....then clerk runs up the stairs and..........

tcreath

I too think this is a somewhat normal practice. The hotels we stayed at in Italy and in Vienna did this.