I was very intrigued and impressed when I found out what this little contraption in my Spanish hotel room was:
"Master key" in Spanish hotel room (Photo by Landri Tripp)
When my roommate and I first entered our hotel room in Galicia, the northwestern region of Spain, we quickly discovered that our lights weren’t working. After making a call to the front desk, we learned that the lights were, in fact, in working order, but we had to insert our room key in the above gadget to turn on the electricity in the room. Without having a key inserted, the room is powerless. Therefore, when guests leave their rooms, they aren’t able to drain energy by leaving on the lights, television, or AC/heat in an empty room. Brilliant!
Nearly every hotel that we stayed in throughout the semester had these “master switches.” Seeing how widespread they are throughout Spain made me think: Why haven’t these little wonders hit the U.S. yet?
I recently found a New York Times article that discusses these master switches and other sustainable features that are very common in European hotels (such as dual flush toilets). The article, “Checking In – Will Americans Accept Greener Hotel Rooms?” (Bernstein, 2008) explores a few reasons why master switches have been underutilized in U.S. hotels. Guests’ potential discomfort is the main concern; hotels worry that some guests might be unsatisfied if they had to wait a few minutes for their room to heat up or cool down upon arrival.
I understand that travelers’ comfort is a major component of the hotel industry, but I think that there is something greater than customer satisfaction at stake here. Having the master key feature in hotel rooms across the U.S. would almost undoubtedly make guests consider their own environmental impact, thus hopefully helping them become more mindful in their own homes. I strongly believe that more major American hotel chains should latch on to this innovative sustainable technology; this is a great opportunity for the hotel industry to make a major impact on energy conservation and raise environmental awareness.
