poser

I have my first Homewood Suites stay... I wish every place had a map like that!

Skimanant

Hilton Bromsgrove. Available to book, but through e-check in no upgraded rooms at all.

deac83

My experience so far is mixed. I'm staying at the same property every week so I know the rooms (took a picture of the floor layout on the back of the door).

Last week, the rooms the offered on Sunday, nothing worth grabbing. Day of arrival got a different answer, with a room on the Executive Floor (but at this property there is no lounge so minimal benefit).

Today, a bunch of crappy rooms. My res requests high floor and the three offered were all on low floors.

Sort of hard to believe that the day before, they have a total of three rooms you can choose from.

My understanding from the front desk is if you echecking that room is supposed to be held for you, but I supposed nothing stopping them from saying 'sorry but....'

rfett2

First time I have run into this, but are you able to do OLCI while you are checked in at a different property? I am currently traveling for business and won't be checking out until tomorrow morning, but am unable to perform the olci for my other stay at a different property tomorrow evening. Is this normal?

accidental_tourist

First time ever that I have seen that e-check-in button (I'm based in the backward continent called Europe and travel mostly to Asia). Tried duly to see what Hilton proposes for a HH-Diamond P&C double-double room @ Millenium Hilton NYC. Default room: 1012, with nothing better than the 20th floor... That hotel has 55 floors and every HH member knows that you need to work your way UP at this property...

I fully agree with an earlier review, that it's worthy to check it out - now I have a map to negotiate exactly what I want...

Will post what I got at the end of the day.

OfficeGlenn

Tried online checkin at the Embassy Suites in Portland at 6 AM the day before my stay this morning.

Some higher floor rooms available, but no upgraded rooms available (I am HHonors Gold).

Will check again this evening, and tomorrow and see if anything else comes up.

OB one

While an upgrade might appear, an upgrade is not a benefit for Golds at ES.

OfficeGlenn

Yes.. thanks.. I noted other Golds staying at the same hotel were upgraded so keeping my fingers crossed..

OfficeGlenn

No rooms other than the rooms in my room class showed up during online checkin.

So checked in at the hotel, and was upgraded to the "Miller Nash" suite on the mezzanine floor.

AK-business-traveler

I have received emails suggesting that I check in online 24 hours in advance of several of my Hilton stays in the past couple of months. I haven't done so, thinking that if something disrupted my travel plans (plane delay, etc.), the early check in would keep me from being able to cancel last minute if I needed to do so.

I know that Hilton has now changed their cancellation policy to require 24 hour notice for cancellations. I have a reservation for tomorrow that was made before the 1 Jan cutoff so it is still possible to cancel until tomorrow if need be. (I don't expect to cancel, of course, but as we all know sometimes these things happen).

My question is this - have you experienced any benefit to doing the online check in ahead of time? Do you get better upgrade possibilities, etc.? Save a huge ton of time when you arrive? Just wondering if most folks find this a useful tool or not.

hhonors fan

I have used the early check in a few times and have never been upgraded even though it says you're still eligible for an upgrade. So, the only times I use it now is when I am at a hotel where all the rooms are the same and the location of the room (particular floor or particular side of the hotel) matters to me for some reason. I can however tell you that you can still cancel a reservation after you have done the online check in as long as you are still meeting the cancelation requirements you agreed to at the time of booking. I have had to do this twice.

helosc

See this thread for more discussion of the subject :
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...on-custom.html

arlflyer

Short version:

Pro - less likely to get walked.
Con - seemingly eliminates chance of upgrade.

Mods will likely merge this thread with existing discussion.

AK-business-traveler

Thanks for posting the link to the existing discussion. I had done a board search for "online check in" but not "digital check in" so didn't find it.

Cheers!

Miesque

I agree with that and also add that I think that if you use it, you should not check-in the day before (unless you happen to really like the room you were pre-assigned) and wait until the morning of your arrival as if you are going to get upgraded, that has usually been decided and taken into account the night before.

It is a really nice feature if you will be checking in later in the evening.