Hilton HHonors - Late Checkout Hypocrisy

Hilton Garden Inn - Philadelphia (Although this scene has happened elsewhere, too). Called for a late checkout this AM - asked for 3p. She said "we are full tonight, you have to leave at noon. I said, I thought a late checkout was a gold benefit. She said it was, but they are full - 1p latest. I asked for 2p, PLEASE. She said if it was any later, they were going to charge me $.

WHAT I DON'T GET is if you are really that full, you need me out of there early notwithstanding my desire or lack thereof to pay additional charges. They were "willing" to let me stay one extra hour for $40. Yet, they were so full they really needed me out at noon (then 1p). What a crock.

Otherwise, the hotel was pretty nice - basic, good price, good location, my room was decent, etc.

If I even remotely *think* I might want to check-out late, I ask for it when I check in. Since I only ask for 1 or 2PM, they almost always okay it right then and there. Most of the time, when I've called them from my room on the morning of check-out, I get the "we're full tonight" line and they insist that I get out by noon. I've noticed that my status hasn't had much affect here...

I get the sense that the front desk probably gets quite a few phone calls in the morning requesting late check-out. If they aren't in a good mood, they probably just start saying no to everyone.

Push the issue about the benefits of HHonors membership. After educating the staff member, most of the times you will get what is promised. Failing that, talk to the manager, most front desk staff don't seem to fully understand the industry they are trying to serve/

Another way to get their attention: Call up to make a reservation for same type of room (or 2) you are in. (Don't actually make reservation) If they have rooms, then you can counter the "we are full" response.

I think the "full" response is more a ploy to fend off complaints frequently.

Same technique when they have "no upgrades".

It must be something about Philly. I stayed at a Philly HIlton and asked for late checkout and got the same answer about needing to get out or they will charge me. This despite my brining up the Gold Benefit and that other major hotels would give up to 4pm. Basically they said no, and were quite rude about it.

I did mention to Hilton Guest Assistance, but heard nothing back.

The crock is either there's the room or there is not. Not "its not available because we are full despite your "benefit" unless you pay $." In response to one of the above replies, whenever I have asked for late checkout at any other time than day of departure, I'm told to check on the day of departure.

Originally posted by Eastbay1K:
The crock is either there's the room or there is not. Not "its not available because we are full despite your "benefit" unless you pay $."

I'm going to timidly jump in here and recount an experience my family had at a Hilton resort. We had 2 adjoining rooms pre-blocked for us but couldn't get in them at the 4 p.m. check-in time because the guy who had them didn't check out until after 5 p.m. He had asked for 2 p.m. checkout but had stayed later. The manager told me that he was going to have to pay housekeeping staff to stay and clean the rooms after their normal shift. So at least in this case there was a good reason to charge the guy extra. (And no, there weren't 2 other adjoining rooms available so we waited.)

I actually am in favor of hotels that are pretty full charging HH members to stay past 1 or 2 p.m. Especially if it encourages guests to leave so that I'll have a nice room available when I get there. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif It doesn't really bother me if I can't get late checkout, but it does annoy me if I can't check in when I get there. Just a different slant.

Originally posted by SAPMAN:
Another way to get their attention: Call up to make a reservation for same type of room (or 2) you are in. (Don't actually make reservation) If they have rooms, then you can counter the "we are full" response.

I think the "full" response is more a ploy to fend off complaints frequently.

Same technique when they have "no upgrades".

Taking this one step further, I call up and say that my three colleagues and I have to stay in town an extra night and are looking for four rooms (of similar type that I'm in) and if they say they have availability I go down to the desk, and question them about the Honors late check out policy and then ask them about availability and if I still have an issue I speak with the manager and tell him what I just did, never fails

Sad to have to resort to this! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

If you have internet access in your room, then just use Travelocity or some other reservations engine (even the hotel chain's own) to check availability. Saves having to extract the info from the hotel staff.

Is this a new HHonors Gold benefit? I just tried looking at the HHonors website, and couldn't find any mention of it. I know that Starwood has a 4pm checkout for SPG Gold/Plat. members, but I never knew HHonors has the same type of perk...

Where is this documented? The next time I stay at a Hilton or Doubletree, it would be nice to have something in writing to show to the front desk agent when I request a late checkout.

http://www.hilton.com/hhonors/benefits/membership.html
Late check-out upon request: If you need extra time in your room, call the front desk. We’ll do everything possible to accommodate your request.

Nothing noting level on this -- and vague enought to avoid if they want to.

Is there a better chance to get a late check-out at check-in or calling on the morning of departure??? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif

When they say "we're full" to a late checkout request, they're not necessarily saying that the hotel is full that night. Most hotels have a daily budget of late checkouts that they can give out. The computer keeps track of this, and when they run out of the late checkout allotment, they start denying requests.

This is mostly a housekeeping issue. Here's an extreme example: The hotel is 90% booked for the following night, and had 100% occupancy the previous night, and half of those people are leaving today. If all of them requested a 3pm checkout, then 40% of all rooms in the hotel would need to be cleaned after 3pm. The housekeeping staff simply isn't set up to do this. Plus, even if they did allow this, people for the next night will start arriving before their rooms are ready, creating problems for them, even though the hotel is not full that night.

I know it's never fun to not get a late checkout when you need it, but I understand why there have to be some limits on them.

In one situation, at a Hampton Inn, I needed a late checkout, but they didn't have any left (it was the last day of a convention, and I imagine that most people in the hotel wanted late checkout). They were not sold out for the following night, so I just told them that I'd be staying an extra day (and was willing to pay for it). I ended up checking out around 5pm, and they only charging me a "day charge" for the extra time in the room, which was about half the regular nightly rate. So, even though they didn't have a specific policy in place to pay extra for a late checkout, I was able to get it done anyway.