Tracking Chips Help Deter Hawaii Towel Thieves
Waikiki hotel guests apparently have been taking more than just tschotskes back home with them.
A Honolulu hotel is one of three in the nation using a new tracking technology for their linens to help protect their inventory of towels, robes and sheets.
Linen Technology Tracking of Miami has created a washable radio-frequency chip that can be sewn into linens to help hotels keep track of them.
The tech company’s executive vice president, William Serbin, told a Honolulu property started using the chips last summer, and has seen nabbed pool towels drop from 4,000 a month to 750 — an 81 percent decrease. The decrease, he said, is saving the hotel $16,000 a month.
Serbin declined to name the properties (the other two are in Miami and Manhattan), but an industry insider told Civil Beat the in Waikiki is the unnamed hotel referenced in the story. Two spokespeople for the Hilton Hawaiian Village did not immediately return emails seeking comment.
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