The Challenge
We wanted to allow guests to purchase food and drink at our hotel using their room key. Our room keys are sleek Pangea-themed RFID chips on adjustable wristbands. We knew that finding a product that could retrieve the RFID data from these devices would be difficult, but protecting ourselves and our customers from fraud and over or under-charging was an absolute priority; we certainly didn’t want a situation where a guest could be charged for someone else’s bill, as can happen in most hotels where the only verification required is a room number.
We knew we needed a product that could meet the requirements of staying outdoors in the Whistler winter where it can get down to -30 C. And it also had to be durable enough to withstand the inevitable knocks and shocks that come with constant commercial use. When a server’s hands are slippery, devices tend to hit the deck a lot!