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Stupid hotel trick: inflexibility in check-in time.

Stupid hotel trick: inflexibility in check-in time.

Old Apr 25, 2007, 10:59 pm
  #1  
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Stupid hotel trick: inflexibility in check-in time.

Why do so many airport hotels insist on having a 2:00 pm or even 3:00 pm check in time? Think about it: an airport like LHR is going to have huge numbers of flights arriving 6:00-11:00 am, and the hotels seem to think it's good business to ask their clients to wait around the lobby exhausted with jet lag for several hours.

No doubt the hotel management would come up with some sort of business school Dilbert-talk reason having to do with "maximizing the bottom-line synergy leverage of person-hour staff time." But anyone who's studied economics in business school should know that in a capitalist system what is supposed to determine business policies is customer demand. Obviously there's a huge demand for early check in times at airport hotels, but hotel management seems to look on the idea of meeting this demand as something incomprehensible. They're like the ant in that movie Antz: "Go around the leaf??? Uh, gee, I don't think we could do that ..."
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Old Apr 25, 2007, 11:15 pm
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Most hotels (especially airport hotels) have a day rate. If you have status with a hotel, they may not even charge you.
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Old Apr 25, 2007, 11:46 pm
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I've had good luck checking in at the Frankfurt Airport Sheraton twice around 11am, and always try for the latest possible morning arrival, where choice is available. (For example, from DCA to LHR, I picked the flight arriving around 11, so that by the time one arrived downtown on the subway, it would be after Noon...and sure enough, a room was available).

It would seem that many people staying at these airport properties would be likely to check out fairly early, so having some rooms available relatively early would seem to be within the realm of the possible.
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Old Apr 25, 2007, 11:57 pm
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I always assumed that it was so you would be forced to buy the room for the preceding night as well.
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Old Apr 26, 2007, 12:00 am
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I believe the 4pts LAX has a 24hr checkin policy. If you check in at 9:56 am you have till the next day at the same time.
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Old Apr 26, 2007, 12:54 am
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Originally Posted by flyingsaucer
I always assumed that it was so you would be forced to buy the room for the preceding night as well.
One time in Toronto (I forget the name, but it was a nice place) let me check in at 7am. I had no status.

Last year at the Hilton Garden Inn I was allowed to check in at 6am. I was gold. Sometimes it dosen't hurt to ask.
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Old Apr 26, 2007, 12:57 am
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I do believe the airport hotel for SIN sells rooms for 6 hr blocks of time, no matter what time you arrive. And it is inside security which is a big plus. ^
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Old Apr 26, 2007, 1:40 am
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You are so right, Reindeerflame. Folks often stay at airport hotels exactly because they have to catch a very early morning flight the next day.

Personally, we have never really run into any problems checking in very early, even 6 or 7 a.m., as long as we are willing to take whatever room is available and don't want to wait for the suite that they had tagged for us is cleaned and ready.

A couple of weeks ago we arrived at AMS very early in the day and had to wait in the club for about 20 minutes while they prepared our suite, but that was OK. The upgrade was worth the wait.
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Old Apr 26, 2007, 2:07 am
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I almost always had a problem with early check-ins with Intercontinental upon the inevitable early Europe arrival from USA. With Marriott it was better: 'Welcome, Mr. 3Cforme. Your room is ready.'
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Old Apr 26, 2007, 2:28 am
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starwood at the AMS airport let us get in early once but we cannot rely on nor plan on this ever happening again. That was nice of them and it was mid week so it was not busy anyway, but I think the hotels should allow it and have a way to make it happen. They dont, they stink, so I look for ways to scam them if and where ever possible in return. Call me what you will, we all need to survive on our own out there.
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Old Apr 26, 2007, 2:59 am
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i think the idea started when hotels expected to have <20% vacancy rates, so they needed ppl to check out before others could check in. Also there needs to be time for housekeepign to clean the room etc, which is why most hotels traditionally applied the 4pm checkin.
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Old Apr 26, 2007, 3:35 am
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I have been surprised more than once when arriving in Sydney, Australia, where intercontinental flights from Europe, Asia and North America all arrive right after 6.00 am, that I get a taxi to a major hotel in the city, arriving there by 8.00 am, and I'm then treated like a Martian walking in from the street, amazement that anybody could arrive at this time. Do they not see this every day ? Do they not understand they are in the international travel business ?

Here in Britain it depends on the manager. Some still believe they are in the hospitality business and try to organise things to have rooms available at all times. Others live in the corporate autospeak world, and believe that if 2.00 pm is the stated check-in time nobody could possibly wish for anything else, and that is the end of it.

As housekeeping invariably start by 08.00 (as we all know because they wake us up by their noise out in the corridor from this time) having nothing available until many hours later is just poor management on the administration side.
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Old Apr 26, 2007, 7:01 am
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Isn't it because they need to have a room cleaned, ready and available?

I've never had a problem arriving early - about 10-ish, and getting a room.
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Old Apr 26, 2007, 7:48 am
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Checkin and checkout times are the hotel policy most often allowed to be "broken" or at least "bent". I usually deal with hotels regarding airline crew contracts where checkin and checkout times can be extremely strange and flexibility on checkin/checkout times is a prerequisite for your tender to even be considered.
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Old Apr 26, 2007, 8:25 am
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This is why I look forward to the opening of more 'Yotel' type establishments. Although, jet lag is best staved off by staying active until a normal bedtime, so sleeping during the day is not helping much (although I break this from time to time.)
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