Custom RFID Tags for Laundry

When guests check into a hotel, they rarely think about the bedsheets, the fresh towels, or the crisp uniforms worn by staff. But behind the scenes, in the steaming, humming chaos of a commercial laundry room, every piece of fabric is a logistical puzzle.

At one prestigious Swiss hotel, the laundry room used to be a bottleneck. Linens went missing. Staff spent hours manually counting loads. Deliveries were delayed, and the occasional complaint from a guest—about a missing robe or a stained towel—was enough to set off a frantic search.

It started with a simple idea: what if every towel, sheet, and uniform could talk?

Not literally, of course—but that’s essentially what happened when the hotel installed its first batch of custom RFID laundry tags. These small, discreet chips were sewn or heat-sealed into textiles. They could survive hundreds of washes, endure high temperatures, and resist harsh chemicals.

But the real magic wasn’t in the tags—it was in what they enabled.

Now, every item entering the laundry room has its own digital identity. As linens arrive from guest rooms or the spa, RFID scanners placed at various points silently read each tag—no need for manual scanning or visual checks. Machines know whether a towel belongs to the gym or a guest suite. Sheets are automatically routed to the right wash cycle.