When the power goes out in a hotel that has cardkey-operated
electronically controlled doors, are the doors locked open or shut?

Most hotels probably have emergency power generators, but it's not
hard to imagine situations in which they don't work or don't work for
long enough.  So I'm just wondering, when that happens, which is the
case:  that you can't get into your room, or that you can--and so can
anyone else?

And--will the answer be the same both in the U.S. and abroad?

Thank you,
Apteryx

Howdy, Apteryx!

I'm glad that my husband's background in locksmithing was able to
provide some useful info here. I know very little about locks, other
than in the sense of locking a GA question so that I can answer it.
;-)

Many thanks to themassiah-ga, whose astute comment was very helpful.

Regarding the matter of cardkey systems using batteries, I found this
interesting bit of info: it appears that sometimes the batteries are
in the card.

"All Cardkeys are of the 'passive proximity' type. Batteries are
imbedded in each card but are not active until interrogated by
approaching a card reader. The reader identifies the card as one
belonging to the system (or not)."

University of Indiana: Card Access
http://www.indiana.edu/~uits/business/facilities/card.htm 

Here's the more traditional form of cardkey lock:

"Each lock is entirely self-contained, operating on four standard 1.5V
(AA) alkaline batteries. State-of-the-art electronic mechanism ensures
minimum energy usage. The batteries will provide power for
approximately 30,000 operation."

Reth International Group: Amerilock
http://www.reth-group.com/amerilock03.htm

Speaking of cardkey locks reminds me of a true story. In 1993 my
husband and I attended the Mensa Annual Gathering at a swanky hotel in
Orlando, Florida. Since I seldom travel, this was the first time I'd
ever used a cardkey. I had a hard time getting the knack of it. But I
felt better about my ineptitude after I saw a flustered Mensa member
struggling to open the door to his room nearby. The poor fellow stood
in the hallway swiping the card in and out of the slot over and over.
I went over to see if I could help. Turned out that he was trying to
open the door with his Mensa membership card.

Google search strategy:

Google Web Search: cardkey OR "card key" batteries
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=cardkey+OR+%22card+key%22+batteries

Best,
Pink

Nice going, Pink.  Thank you.  l'll feel that much more secure in a
hotel from now on.

So you were at the Orlando AG.  Amazing!  So was I.  It was a big
occasion for my husband.

Apteryx

Gee, what a great question!

I tried to research this, but everyplace I looked essentially said
that, in the case of an electrical outage, power would be restored
virtually instantaneously by the hotel's handy-dandy generators, not
to worry, yada yada.

My hubby used to be a licensed locksmith. As soon as he gets home, I
am gonna ask him, because this question has gotten under my skin.

My guess, for what's it's worth (until Pinky's husband says what
really happens) is that, in the event of a power cut that's not
relieved by emergency generators, the locks will remain precisely as
they were when the power went off.

What else?

Bryan's comment makes a lot of sense. After all, if the locks didn't
stay in the state they were in, I can see the next round of hotel
burglaries: The crooks send someone inside to sabotage the generators,
then the power is cut to the building. After that, the gang can loot
the rooms almost at will.

But I'm wondering about something. Let's assume that the power to the
building fails. Let's assume that all generators fail. If a guest
needs to access a room, is there a battery back-up system that lets
the guest's key card operate the lock?

dtc

Apteryx,
  In most hotels, those door locks are electronically powered by
standard AA batteries.  I worked for the Econo Lodge chain for several
months during 2003 and on more than one occassion, the batteries
inside the door mechanism failed.  These can be overridden with the
manual key to let you inside, as well as by turning the door knob on
the interior side of the door.

From my experience, the answer to your question is that during a power
outage, the locks will continue to function normally.  However, if the
device which encodes the keys is without power, no new keys can be
added to the system and no old keys can be purged, which could
eventually leave you locked outside of your room until you can rustle
up a manual key entry.  It is my understanding that at no time is the
main electrical grid from the building powering the electronics inside
the door lock.

Hope this helps!

According to ( http://www.vingcard.com/page?id=484 ):

FEATURES
High security lockset with a full 1-inch steel deadbolt, 3/4-inch
anti-pick latch for added strength and 2 piece anti-friction latch.
High quality steel reinforced construction with solid brass handles. 
Self lubrication long life bearings tested to withstand more than one
million openings without visible sign of wear.
Full mortise ANSI and EURO lock case options. 
Modular components for flexibility and easy maintenance. 
"Panic release" - deadbolt and latch are automatically retracted by inside handle. 
3-hour UL fire listed. 
Powerful "Flash" Memory Technology allows the lock to be easily
reprogrammed and upgraded on site without replacing expensive hardware
or components.
100 event audit trail stored in the lock. 
Sealed electronics located on the inside of the door, enhance security
and durability.
Automatic deadbolt option (ANSI version only). 

Unique emergency Recodable Cylinder option for mechanical override. 
<B>Standard AA-battery-operated, stand-alone locks require no wiring. </B>
Simple, reliable magnetic stripe card reader. Keycards read during
removal, for maximum performance.
Flexible operation allows a selection of magnetic stripe only or a
combination magnetic stripe/smart card reader. The reader can also
process less expensive memory chip cards and/or more advanced
processor cards.

My hubby confirms that the cardkey-operated locks in hotels are
battery-operated. A power failure will not disable them.

Thanks, all!  Great first-hand info, themassiah.  Pink, since you are
the only actual researcher who replied and since you did answer it
(with Mr. Freud's help), it's definitely yours.  Care to post the
answer?

Apteryx

Should we call Pinkie's husband Bluefreud?

I seem to recall that during the Northeast blackout of August 2003,
some hotel guests in New York City wre unable to get into their rroms
because the card keys did not work.

See next-to-last paragraph:
http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1476933/08152003/amos_tori.jhtml