Last Updated on March 17, 2024 by Vincent Zhu

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology has been widely used in the hotel door lock system and industry. RFID non-contact key cards (room cards) have replaced the original mechanical keys to enhance the customer experience.

After more than 20 years of rapid development, almost all hotels use contactless RFID hotel door locks.

There are two main RFID card hotel locks:  125Khz Temic hotel locks and 13.56MHz Mifare hotel locks, but many customers may not know the difference between the locks and don’t know how to choose suitable hotel locks.

This article will explain the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of the two types of hotel locks. To help customers choose the appropriate hotel lock system from function, demand, and cost.

1. Overview:

Mifare hotel lock-—- Use Mifare cards. The frequency is 13.56Mhz.

Temic hotel lock—– Use Temic card, frequency 125Khz.

2. What’s the difference between the Mifare hotel lock and the Temic hotel lock

Extended usage and functions:

  • Just because the Mifare hotel locks use Mifare cards, and Mifare cards are used in hotel locks and are also widely used in all-in-one card access systems, door opening, access control, consumer systems, etc.
  • If your hotel uses a Mifare card hotel lock system, then the Mifare cards can be used as a room card to open the door lock and can be used on the access control system of other areas of the hotel. For example, if your hotel has restaurants, bars, gyms, etc., you can ask your hotel guests to use this Mifare room card to enter and spend.
  • Hotel elevator control system: At the same time, if your hotel has an elevator and wants to allow hotel guests to enter and use the corresponding floor through the hotel room card, then the Mifare card hotel lock system will be the first choice.
  • Temic cannot be used in all-in-one card systems. It can only be used as a hotel room card to open the room door.
  • Hotel energy-saving. Although Mifare and Temic cards can be used in the hotel room’s energy-saving switch to power the room, only the energy-saving switch supporting the Mifare card can use the corresponding room card to supply power. You need to know that most hotel rooms’ energy-saving switches can be accessed by inserting credit cards and other cards.

Data collection:

Suppose the hotel needs to collect the door opening and closing date from the hotel lock.

The Mifare card hotel lock system only needs to use the Mifare 4 S70 card to obtain the MIFARE hotel lock data, but the Temic hotel door lock should be collected using a data collector.

Security: 

The Mifare 13.56MHz RFID hotel lock will be better for hotel applications than the Temic hotel lock regarding security, reliability, and system scalability.

  • The MIFARE card is currently the world’s most used inductive smart IC card with mature technology and stable performance.
  • Strong anti-interference ability. The MIFARE card has a fast anti-collision mechanism, effectively preventing data interference between cards when multiple cards simultaneously enter the read-write range.
  • The storage structure and characteristics of the MIFARE card (large capacity-16 partitions, 1024 bytes) have robust system application scalability and can genuinely achieve “one card with multiple uses.”
  • The reading and writing the data recorded in the Mifare card require corresponding password authentication. Each area in the card has different password protection to protect data security fully.

Working and reading distance:

Simultaneously, the Mifare and TEMIC hotel key cards differ in using RFID door locks.

Since most hotel door locks, the primary material used for hotel door locks is metal; except for the front and back sides, the antenna will be surrounded by metal, which will attenuate RF signals. The 125KHz and 13.56MHz RFID signals will be affected.

In this environment, the higher frequency (13.56MHz) can maintain an acceptable working distance within 3-5cm, which is better than 125KHz (only 1-2cm left).

3, Mifare hotel lock and Temic hotel lock function parameter comparison

Temic Hotel Door LocksMifare RFID Hotel door locks
Working Frequency125KHz13.56 MHz
BrandTemic E5551 Atmel T5557Mifare
Major brand usedTemic E5551, Atmel T5557Philips Mifare S50
Capacity264bit / 3308Kbit 16 sectors
All-in-one card Application in hotelunavailableAvailable
Working distance from the hotel door lockLess than 2cmContactless More than 3-5cm
Stability of card data savingEasy lostNever lost
CostLowHigh
Hotel Door lock costLowHigh
Card encoder costLowHigh
SecuritySimple EncryptedDES Encryption
Easy copied by a special deviceNot easy copied
Room key Read/write lifeMore than 100,000 timesMore than 100,000 times
Data collection DeviceTemic data collectorMifare 4 S70 card
Hotel elevator controlNo supportingSupporting

Therefore, after the detailed comparison above, the MIFARE RFID hotel lock system is better than the TEMIC hotel lock system.

If you are still using the TEMIC hotel lock system, please consider replacing or upgrading the current TEMIC hotel lock system.

4, Please Note: 

And the entire RFID hotel door lock system usually includes four essential elements: RFID hotel locks, RFID guest room cards, RFID card encoders, and hotel lock system management software. These four elements are interrelated and crucial.

The hotel lock (main PCB), RFID room card, management software, and encoder must be compatible with the RFID hotel lock system. And these products must come from the same manufacturer or supplier as much as possible;

Otherwise, they will not work because different manufacturers or suppliers have encryption methods to encrypt these products. You cannot use a hotel lock from one manufacturer but software and encoders from another manufacturer.

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About Author

  • Vincent Zhu

    Vincent Zhu has 10 years of smart lock system experience and specializes in offering hotel door lock systems and home door lock system solutions from design, configuration, installation, and troubleshooting. Whether you want to install an RFID keyless door lock for your hotel, a keyless keypad door lock for your home door, or have any other questions and troubleshooting requests about smart door locks, don't hesitate to contact me at any time.

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