Wooden hotel key cards: the sustainability claim a guest can hold

A property can spend real money on heat recovery, water reduction and refillable amenities, and a guest will never see any of it. What a guest does see, several times a day, is the key card.

That gap is what this guide is about. The key card is one of the smallest lines in a sustainability programme and the only part of it a guest holds, keeps in a pocket for a week and sometimes takes home.

It is also a decision that gets made badly in both directions. Some properties switch to wood without checking that the credential inside still works with their locks, and discover the problem at the front desk. Others reject the idea entirely on the assumption that a wooden card is a novelty rather than a working product. Neither is necessary: the material question and the credential question are separate, and this guide keeps them separate.

01. The one part of the programme a guest holds

Nobody at check in inspects a heat exchanger or an insulation specification. Guests see the towels, the amenities and the key card, and of those three the card is the one they carry for the whole stay.

That makes it a disproportionate signal. A property that has done serious work on energy and waste and then hands over a plastic card is telling two stories at the same time, and the plastic one is the story in the guest's hand.

A small line in the budget, a large line in the impression

Sustainability remained important to 84% of travellers in Booking.com's Travel and Sustainability Report 2025, a survey of 32,000 people across 34 countries and territories carried out in January 2025. The card is not what makes a property sustainable. It is the part of the work that is visible.

There is a second reason the card carries weight out of proportion to its cost. It is handed over at the single moment when a guest is forming their first impression of the property, by a member of staff, across a desk. Almost nothing else in a hotel gets that setting. A card with weight and grain lands in that moment differently from a piece of printed plastic, and the difference in cost per stay is small.

02. What changes when a property switches, and what does not

The card body changes, while the RFID/NFC specification must still match the property's lock system. Kaway wooden cards are contactless only and do not support magnetic stripes.

Wooden cards are CR80, the same size as the PVC card a property already issues. The length and width follow the ID-1 format defined in ISO/IEC 7810, while thickness and equipment compatibility need to be checked separately. They support RFID and NFC technology and full colour printing. Kaway wooden cards do not support magnetic stripes. The chip and the lock system are specified exactly as they would be on any other body, and the compatibility guide covers how that specification is established.

Thickness and equipment compatibility

Thickness. A wooden card is 1.20 to 1.30 mm against the 0.76 mm of a standard PVC card, which is most of the reason it feels the way it does. That extra thickness is not a problem for a wall reader or for a pocket, and it is a problem for anything with a slot: a card holder sized for 0.76 mm will not take one, and neither will a printer or a dispenser built to the standard. The guide to thickness sets out where that line falls. In practice it means the card holders get replaced at the same time, which is a small cost that should be in the budget from the start rather than discovered at delivery.

03. FSC is the difference between a claim and a document

Wood by itself is not a sustainability credential. Wood with a certificate behind it is. The words "eco friendly wood" carry no weight in a procurement file, an ESG report or an audit, because there is nothing to check.

What can be checked is a chain of custody certificate. Wooden cards are produced at an FSC certified facility, FSC-C195226. That is a claim about the plant where the cards are made, which is not the same thing as a claim about the company that sells them, and the distinction matters in a procurement file. Any certificate number can be checked at search.fsc.org, and the register names the legal entity that holds it. Ask any supplier whether the holder on the register is the supplier itself or the facility it manufactures in, and whether the product being quoted is inside the listed scope.

Ask for the number, then check it yourself

A supplier that cannot give a certificate number, or gives one whose scope does not include the product being quoted, has not given you anything you can put in a report.

This is also what separates a wooden card from most other material claims in a credential programme. A recycled PVC core is a real improvement backed by a supplier declaration, which is a document the supplier writes about itself. A chain of custody certificate is issued by a third party and listed in a public register anybody can search. Where each material lands in a procurement questionnaire is covered separately, and the short version is that if the questionnaire scores a named third party scheme, wood is the answer and nothing else in the range is.

04. The four bodies

Wooden cards are produced in basswood, cherry, black walnut and bamboo, at 1.20 to 1.30 mm. Grain and tone vary between species and between boards, so no two cards come out identical, and that variation is part of what the material is for.

Colour and grain read differently in a photograph than in the hand. Ask for a physical sample in the species under consideration before the artwork is signed off.

The variation is worth saying out loud to whoever approves the artwork, because it is the one property of the material that behaves unlike plastic. On PVC, a card that differs visibly from the approved sample is a defect. On wood, it is the material doing what wood does, and a brand team that expects four thousand identical cards will be disappointed by a product that is working correctly. Set that expectation at sample stage and it becomes a feature; discover it at delivery and it becomes a complaint.

05. What the surface can carry

A wooden card takes the same decoration as a PVC card, with one constraint: the grain shows through whatever goes on top of it. Print, laser engraving, UV highlights and variable data are all available, and the choice between them is usually decided by whether a mark has to be felt, read by a scanner, or simply seen.

Full colour print

Offset and silkscreen, Pantone matching, gradients and photography, laminated against wear. The artwork rules for a card apply here as they do on PVC, with the added constraint that the grain shows through.

That constraint is worth designing around rather than against. Pale inks over a dark walnut read as muddy, and a large flat area of solid colour fights the material it is printed on. Designs that work on wood tend to use the grain as the background and reserve ink for the marks that have to be sharp. The printing methods and finishes guide sets out which process suits which design.

Laser engraving

A permanent, tactile finish burned into the wood. It can be combined with print on the same card, which is the usual choice for a logo that needs to be felt rather than only seen.

UV printing

A gloss highlight on specific areas of the design, used to pick out a mark against the matt grain.

Variable data

Sequential numbering, QR codes, barcodes and chip encoding with a UID list, so the card can carry room information or point at something the property wants the guest to open after check in. This and the rest of the personalisation work happens on the same floor as the printing. One practical note: a barcode or a QR code needs a printed light patch under it, because bare grain does not give a scanner enough contrast to be reliable. The variable data guide covers the rest. Where the question is how far a card can be customised before it stops being a standard product, what custom actually covers on an RFID card draws that line.

06. It still has to open the door

A card that looks right and does not work is worse than a plastic one that does. The body material has no bearing on which lock system a card opens. That is decided by the chip and its configuration, and which chip to specify is a separate decision from which material to use.

Lock systems these cards can be encoded for

ASSA ABLOY VingCard. SALTO. dormakaba. Onity. Saflok. Encoding depends on the chip and on the system's technical requirements, keys and authorisation. Properties moving to AES encrypted credentials should settle that question before the material one.

Confirm compatibility in writing before production, not after delivery

Send the lock or reader model the property already runs. Kaway confirms the chip against it in writing before anything goes into production. A general claim that a supplier works with a lock brand is not the same as a confirmation that names the model on the door.

07. What to confirm before you order

1. The lock model, named

Not the brand. The model and the version actually running on the doors, and the encoder the front desk uses. A confirmation that names that model is the only one worth having.

2. The FSC certificate number

The number, and which products the claim applies to on the order. Wooden cards are produced at an FSC certified facility, FSC-C195226. Check the number at search.fsc.org and read which legal entity holds it.

3. The species, from a physical sample

Grain and tone are the reason for choosing wood, and they are the two things a screen cannot show you.

4. The quantity

Minimum order is 500 units. What a minimum order is actually for is covered separately.

5. The lead time

Standard production is 12 calendar days for PVC and wooden cards.

6. The card holders

Because of the thickness, existing holders sized for 0.76 mm will not take a wooden card. Confirm what the property uses now and budget for the replacement in the same order rather than afterwards.

7. The acceptance criteria

Grain variation is normal and a failed read is not, so the two have to be separated in writing before production. A quality plan is where that separation is recorded: a test method and an acceptance rule against each requirement, so nobody argues about whether a card is a defect after it has been delivered.

Quote requests are answered the same working day. The rest of the commercial detail sits on the FAQ, and Kaway manufactures at the plant in Dongguan, China. Where a property is running a formal comparison, how to compare hotel key card suppliers sets out what to put side by side.

08. Technical references

• The Forest Stewardship Council, the body behind the chain of custody certification a wooden card is sold under, and the operator of the public register where a certificate number and its holder can be checked: fsc.org.
• ISO/IEC 7810, the physical characteristics of identification cards, which defines the ID-1 format a wooden card keeps so that it stays interchangeable with the PVC card a property already issues: iso.org/standard/70483.html.

09. Frequently asked questions

Do wooden cards work with existing locks?

Yes, when the chip is specified against the lock model you run. The body material is not what the lock reads. Send the model and it is confirmed in writing before production. Encoding depends on the chip and on the system's technical requirements, keys and authorisation.

How long does a wooden card last?

In normal hotel use, comparable to a plastic card. It is a sealed laminated body rather than bare timber, so it handles pockets, wallets and rain. What it does not like is prolonged soaking, which is not something a guest room card is usually asked to do.

Are wooden cards more expensive than PVC?

Yes, meaningfully. They are chosen for what the guest holds and for what the certificate lets a property say, not to save money. Where the budget will not stretch, a recycled PVC core is the cheaper improvement that changes nothing operationally.

Can wooden cards be recycled or composted?

The body is wood, but the card also contains an inlay with a chip and an antenna, so it does not go into a garden compost heap or a paper stream. The honest claim is about where the material comes from rather than about what happens at the end.

Will every card look the same?

No, and that is the point. Grain and tone vary between boards, so cards from the same run differ visibly. It is worth telling whoever approves the artwork before the run rather than after it.

Can a wooden card carry a magnetic stripe?

No. Kaway wooden cards support contactless RFID/NFC technology and do not support magnetic stripes. If your system requires a magnetic stripe, choose PVC or recycled PVC.

Can we order a small quantity to trial it?

Minimum order is 500 units. Ask for a free sample in the species under consideration: it is the right way to settle the grain and weight question before committing.