What's Going On There have been several reports of guestroom burglaries attributed to suspects using laptop computers and key cards in California, Florida, and Texas. AH&LA alerted members in July that a hacker had created a device to open Onity guestroom door locks. Members also have reported the use of similar, smaller devices concealed in iPhone cases and Dry Erase marking pen bodies that plug into the door locks. These show up on the lock readout as a “portable programmer” use, but no serial number for the portable programmer is noted.
What You Can Do • Provide AH&LA’s Guest Safety Tips to your guest as they check in, or place in their rooms. • Make sure your front desk and reservations agents are aware of the issue and can address with guests. • Hotel staff should be vigilant while they are on the guest floors and pay attention to guests walking through hallways. • Encourage guests to utilize safety deposit boxes to store valuables. Resources The AH&LA Safety & Security Committee is working closely with Onity to determine the number of rooms using this particular model of lock, as well as to upgrade the locks. At present, Onity is charging hotels to supply the upgraded locks.
Please contact Onity directly at (800) 924-1442 with any questions you may have.
AH&LA Statement on Guestroom Burglaries Attributed to Onity Locks There have been reports of guestroom burglaries attributed to suspects using laptop computers and key cards to open Onity guestroom door locks. The device can be concealed in an iPhone case and a Dry Erase marking pen body and plugs into the door locks.
The lodging industry is working closely with Onity to address vulnerabilities identified in certain models of Onity hotel locks. Although Onity is currently requiring all hotels to pay for two fixes the company provides, the hotel industry has been working closely with the company to determine what Onity models are affected, which hotels the locks are installed in, which of the two fixes to obtain, and once received, assigning the employees to implement the fix as quickly as possible.
The lodging industry views guest and employee safety as a top priority. According to industry figures for 2011, there are 4.9 million rooms and 52,000 properties in the U.S., which all use different lock vendors and models. In the 30 years since electronic locks were introduced, they have been a great asset to hotel security. The hotel rekeys each time a guest checks in as opposed to replacing actual keys, and the electronic keys allow for an audit trail to identify who has entered the room.
To view AH&LA’s award-winning Guest Safety Tips, click here.