I got in on an earlier flight, and arrived at 6 it was a pain in the ass… I literally had to walk around for like 4 hours until things opened, and I was so tired and weary all day.
Because checkout isn’t until 11. It takes time to prep a room between guests. Depending on occupancy and staffing levels you may be able to get in earlier.
There really needs to be a business model that accommodates those travelers… Having to walk around from 6-3 in a city after a long flight sucks.
If you ask, some places can do early check-in. You might have to pay for it, because it disrupts their routine
If checkout is 11, you need to be able to clean dozens of rooms before check-in. You can’t have 20 cleaners come in for an hour, so you have 5 cleaners come in for 4 hour shifts instead.
What’s the old saying about: if one woman can make a baby in 9 months, 9 women should be able to make a baby in 1 month
You can’t have 20 cleaners come in for an hour
quitter talk
Nathan for you disagrees.
Normal checkout is around noon, after which housekeeping will do their magic. While they generally don’t need a whole lot of time per room, they usually have A LOT of rooms to cover, so this can take a few hours. So checkin at 6 is reasonable.
However, there is some leeway there. Returning customers can usually choose to check out later. I do this often so I don’t have to haul my luggage around at the final day of my business trips. On top of that, I usually phone ahead and ask if it’s possible to check in early if I arrive relatively early in the day. Otherwise I’ll just take my luggage with me to work and check in later.
This depends on whether they have available rooms. If they’re fully booked, there won’t be any rooms ready until housekeeping has done their thing. In the same way, late checkout can mean that the room won’t be cleaned until next day, unleas housekeeping can schedule it for last on their round, so they would need an extra room for that.
It basically boils down to the fact that if they have the capacity, then asking nicely will usually get you a long way.
Some places you can request early check in
Emphasis on “some”. I used to work at a hotel. When people arrived at 11 AM expecting to check in, I had no problem making them wait in the lobby. I was polite about it, of course, but also firm.
Our housekeeping staff worked harder than anyone else in the building. I wasn’t about to give them a hard time on behalf of some ignorant, inconsiderate people.
Oh you mean they just arrive early? Usually when I need an early or late check in I’ll ask the hotel beforehand. They can usually accommodate with early notice. If they can’t, I usually book elsewhere if on business, or plan around it on pleasure
Cleaning crews need time to clean all the rooms after morning checkout. Some hotels have early check-in available if you ask, if they have rooms already available.
This frequently happens to me when going to Europe from the US. And that’s an overnight flight with a 5+ hour time change to boot,so I am very jetlagged upon arrival. Very often, if there is a room available that was unsold the night before they can accommodate you. But if not, the hotel can hold your bags while you go somewhere to kill a few hours.
If you travel enough to get loyalty program status with one hotel chain, that can help too. Sometimes those higher tiers come with “guaranteed” early checkin. I’m sure that if they are totally sold out you won’t get the early room, but it’s possible someone else had to leave for an early flight and if you have the status they will take care of that room quickly for you.
I always just go, worst case scenario they were super busy the night before and don’t have any rooms ready so you leave your bags with them and go explore lighter, but most of the time they have a room and let you in.
You can also pre-book early check in but I tend to only do that if I really need it because it costs and usually you can sneak in by turning up.
Note that in some case, it’s possible to get an earlier check-in. For ordinary customer it might be a paying service, for corporate customer and member of loyalty program it may be a complementary service. Just give a call to the hotel. Same applies to late check-out it’s sometimes possible to check-out at 14 or even 16.
