MBM3

I thought the same thing.

serfty

It's in here

julyrose9

Thanks. I will pay more attention when reading the details in the future.

channa

Get A Step Ahead With eCheck-In

On your next Hilton Family hotel stay, save the time you normally spend checking in and simply pick up your room keys!

Our new eCheck-In service allows you to select your room the day before your arrival or up to two hours before you plan to check in. When you arrive, you'll be relaxing in your hotel room faster than ever. Maybe.

Hilton HHonors Gold and Diamond VIP members can be among the first to
experience eCheck-In and enjoy the following:

- QUICK REVIEW
Go online to quickly review your reservation, see if we screwed with your rate, "accidentally" deleted your HHonors number, or perhaps d*cked with your bed type. Of course the computer can't look at you with a straight face and say, "Sir, it says you reserved two doubles, smoking all along," but we still can mess with your reservation!

- VIP LOUNGE ACCESS
You'll be able to see how far your room is from the VIP lounge -- whether it's on a different floor, or possibly even different building. Sure you'll still get lounge access with your VIP status, but hey, we're not gonna make it easy.

- COMPARE AND CONFIRM
Ok, sometimes we have to shaft you with a smoking room, or a room near the elevator. As a statused member of Hilton HHonors, you don't have to accept it. Don't like the elevator room? That's fine, you can switch to the one by the ice machine. Can't stand cigarette smoke? We got a room that was smoked in by a cigar smoker. It's your choice.

- EXPEDITED CHECK-IN
When you arrive at the hotel, your keys will be ready. But we won't just hand them over. Our $7 an hour clerk will say, "Huh?" when you tell them about eCheck-In. You'll have to show your photo ID, but maybe also your HHonors card, and even your credit card. I know you did this all online, but with some of our clerks, what do you expect? Remember the TSA when the airlines started online checkin? Same sort of deal here.

FIND A HOTEL AND eCHECK-IN TODAY!

korea71

Did a search but couldn't find much info about my question. Would E Checkin allow for mattress run without physically checking in? Right now, they are allowing ECheckin for Golds and Diamonds on a trial basis for select hotels. The list is not very long. If possible, this would make it much easier for those that need/want to keep status but don't have the time/desire to physically do mattress runs.

http://www.hiltonhhonors.com/process...px?lp=echeckin

Gr.Dane

Any law people here?
Looks like extra charges to me.

The room number you are assigned through eCheck-in is subject to change based on room availability and hotel discretion.

Your credit card will be used for guest charges during your stay. Rates are subject to applicable sales, occupancy or other taxes. I agree that my liability for this bill is not waived, and agree to be held personally liable in the event that the indicated person, company or association fails to pay for any part or the full amount of these charges. I consent to the reservation of credit on my credit card at 20.064 USD per night in addition to the contracted-for room rate plus applicable taxes.

If the debit/credit card you are using for eCheck-in is attached to a bank or checking account, a hold will be placed on the account for the full anticipated dollar amount to be owed to the hotel, including estimated incidentals, through your date of check-out, and such funds will not be released for 72 business hours from the date of check-out.

If you would like to check out prior to your confirmed departure date, please advise the front desk upon arrival. If you fail to do so and you check out prior to your confirmed departure date, you may be charged an early departure fee. Early departure fees are subject to hotel policy.

Modifications to this reservation can only be made directly with the property. Please call the hotel directly to make any changes.


(online checkin threads merged by MOD squeakr)

Xyzzy

Looks like they want a "reservation of credit" for (probably) 10% more than the room rate+taxes (I have no idea what your room rate+taxes is here). They probably do that anyway when you check in at the hotel but they never tell you about it.

grayland

Nevertheless....why do it? There is no real advantage as far as I can see.

This just gives the hotel another thing on which to hang their hat is a dispute arises.

Rut Dog

Gr.Dane, welcome to FlyerTalk.

What is "e check in"? I haven't seen that one.

I'm confused at what you are finding objectionable. If it is the "reservation of credit" xyzzy is correct that they do that any time you check in.

And, IMHO, it's a fair and sound business practice. In olden days any intelligent innkeeper would have been collected the rent up front. Today in the age of plastic currency they smartly do the same by holding a piece of your credit line towards the hotel bill.

If you then go on a shopping spree your card will max out when you hit the amount held by the hotel. When you settle the bill, only the hold is released and the actual charges post. Seems reasonable to me.

What I do find objectionable is the policy of imposing early check out fees that are not disclosed when you book a reservation. We are all used to the endless disclaimers every time you purchase an airline ticket, the change fees, etc. Hotels should do the same.

I've been arguing on this forum for a while that anyone who gets popped with one of these fees should refuse to pay them unless it was disclosed in the terms of the reservation. I've never had any hotel try to enforce one on me, though, so I can't say from experience what it is like to fight it.

doglover

I too want to understand what benefit echeckin provides. I tried to do it one time to see how the process works -- and it didn't let me. I'm guessing because the hotel had already pre selected my room for me based on my preferences.

BobH

I didn't spot much that they're doing here that's new -- except their telling you about it -- hotels routinely put holds etc on credit cards when you check in the old fashioned way.

Bob H

Gr.Dane

I am Embassy suites Seattle right now. Received a email from the hotel and the same next week in Niagara Falls.

"When you're ready to eCheck-In, starting anytime of the day before your arrival and as late as two (2) hours before you plan to check-in, Sign In to your HHonors account and click on "My Travel Planner". You can review your reservation details, view available rooms along with their particular features and select the room that best meets your needs. Then all you need to do is stop by the front desk when you arrive at the hotel to pick up your room key; no surprises and little or no waiting. It's just another way for the Hilton Family to make your stay as convenient and rewarding as possible."

You are able to see all available rooms, it also tells you what rooms are upgraded rooms.

At least you can see the rooms before you pay.

pinniped

I have used e-Checkin once. Chicago Hilton on Chicago Marathon weekend. Pretty full hotel, but I managed to score a rock-bottom rate 3 days before the race. Total luck.

Anyway, I knew it was on the e-Checkin list so I thought I'd try it out. I kept my other hotel reservation a mile away from the starting line alive...knowing I could cancel up until the day before at 4PM.

I go into eCheckin the day before the stay, and eCheckin has nothing but smoking rooms. So I call the hotel directly and get connected to the Executive Level, and explain the situation to the agent. Agent says "Forget about e-Checkin - we will set you up." She assigned me a King, nonsmoking room on the Executive floor, and I was able to log back in 5 minutes later and see it in eCheckin. It ended up being a freakin' huge room with a sweet view. Anyway, we had a great stay, but eCheckin would have made it worse if I hadn't made a phone call.

As for the credit card thing, at least HH only reserves 10% of the room total. Marriott took a big fat pending charge of about $1000 on my card for a cheap weekend stay in Orlando a few weeks ago. Not that it really affects me, but it's still annoying to see that big reserve hanging out there on my account for 4-5 days after a stay.

Rut Dog

Unlike airline agents, who seem to have very little personal latitude any more, hotel employees actually can take care of you.

The whole concept of eCheck-in seems antithetical to my face to face upgrade strategy.

KathyWdrf

On the other hand, it might actually work! I'd at least give it a try. If I had an experience like that related above, where only smoking rooms, or rooms undesirable in some other way, were available through e-checkin, then of course I would cancel the process and do a normal checkin.

I like the concept of being able to look at the available rooms, which is something new. Sort of like looking at the seat map when buying your air ticket, and when using e-checkin for a flight. It makes you feel like you have more choice and more control.