STRICTLY BUSINESS: MOTEL `KEY CARDS' GREAT UNTIL THEY DON'T WORK

"If at first you don't succeed try and try again" -- Winston Churchill.

If at first you don't succeed, try. Then try again. Then give up ... there's no use being a damn fool about it" -- W.C. Fields

The famous words of these notables, one a statesmen the other an entertainer, came to mind recently when I attempted to gain entrance to our motel during a weekend trip.

The motel's "key card" failed to respond to the lock, which was in an entrance door located around the building and -- of course -- on the far side from the office.

"Insert card," the instructions said. "When green light comes on, open door."

The card's instructions did not say what to do if the green light did not come on.

And it didn't.

No problem, I thought, try the second card.

Nothing.

Presenting more of a problem was the fact I had a suitcase and an armful of hanging clothes, and a car parked well down the line.

OK, try again ... nothing.

Field's words of wisdom won out. ... After a trip back to the car, another trip back to the motel lobby, a re-programming of the keys, we gained entry.

The hotel and motel industry's new electronic-lock systems are designed to foil would-be intruders.

Guests sometimes stymied

They do that, and sometimes more. They stymie guests trying to get in the building, and in their own rooms. There have been some cases where they imprison the guests who do make it inside rooms.

Blame the problem on mechanical breakdown, faulty installations, failed batteries or desk-clerk error. But whatever the cause, hundreds of travelers are now forced to fiddle with malfunctioning key cards and are often very vocal on the subject.

The precise failure rate isn't known, but one company, which sells and services electronic locks, says the failure rate is high. The company sold about 5,000 electronic locks last year and repaired 5,500.

Manufacturers don't deny some defects and problems. All lock companies have problems, said a director of marketing for Computerized Security Systems Inc., in Costa Mesa, Calif., one of the largest makers of electronic-lock systems.

One problem is that quality is getting lost in the rush to meet demand. In only a few years, electronic locks have been installed in a third of the nation's 3.2 million hotel rooms.

The pace is quickening because hotels feel the security advantages outweigh inconveniences.

Holiday Inn, Howard Johnson's and Comfort Inn chains, among others, have ordered their franchisees to ditch the "key-in-door" locks for electronic systems, which cost about $250 a room.

The arrow: Up or down?

Even functioning electronic locks can be confusing. Users of the cards must determine whether to swipe or insert the card, have the arrow facing up or down, or whether the card should be left in the lock while turning the door handle.

Then, if nothing happens, the problem is often a dead battery in the door lock.

Yep, there is a battery there.

Although most systems feature signals such as blinking lights that warn of low voltage, hotels routinely fail to replace batteries until they die, leaving guests locked in or out of their rooms.

Lock batteries can also be knocked out by freezing temperatures. In fact, most electronic locks are vulnerable to the elements. Saltwater corrodes them, humidity can short-circuit them and static electricity can wipe out their memory.

Then, there's that thing called human error.

A guest might not be able to get into a room because the front-desk clerk didn't correctly program the card.

Most alarming is when a guest becomes a prisoner in his room. That can, and does, happen if the electronic lock malfunctions.

All this, however, is OK and can be corrected as long as the motel/hotel has a front desk clerk. But what happens when clerks become a thing of the past?

'Self-service' check-in

There's a move afoot toward automated "check-in" systems, similar to automated-teller machines or automatic gasoline pumps.

Travelers will enter their credit cards at a special "self-service" kiosk, punch the right buttons and pick up their room key(card).

A number of the "touch-and-go" kiosks are already in place, and if customers accept them, the systems should let hotels cut back on the number of front-desk employees to recoup the $15,000 to $20,000 cost of installing the kiosk.