relaxabit

When guests stay past checkout time, hotels--especially luxury hotels but others too-- usually make a call to the room asking if the guest needs help with bags. What's the hotel industry name for these calls?

darthbimmer

GTFOs?

Doc Savage

LOL

MSPeconomist

In luxury hotels, there's usually an attempt at tact. In less upscale properties, the person contacting the guest can be downright rude, with "when are you leaving?" being the mildest example.

Doc Savage

Not in my experience. It's more often "Are you planning on staying another night?"

relaxabit

Thanks, I guess there's no word for it. Another question: What's the name of that form with the nightly rate and reservation details that you sign at check in?

Doc Savage

The "check-in form?"

pinniped

Even so-called luxury hotels can have zero tact. Recent check-in at the Intercontinental San Juan, the check-in clerk handed me a nice welcome letter saying that base IHG members receive a 2PM checkout. I even said to him "great...thanks...that'll be very helpful for us." We definitely had a two-way conversation about the late checkout, and it was him who offered it to us.

At noon sharp on checkout day, I get the angry GTFO call. When I said "I have 2PM checkout", the clerk snaps "No you don't, it's not available, and you would have had to specifically request it if it were." I said "Well, I was offered it and I accepted it at check-in." Argument proceeds for another minute about whether I really "requested it" (which I thought I did by saying yes, thanks, that'll be helpful), I hang up, and we leave the hotel around 1:30 without speaking to anyone else. The housekeeper for the floor was working other rooms and didn't bother us at all.

I was half-expecting this to be some sort of scam to tack on extra charges, but nothing ever appeared. I saved the physical letter that the original FDC handed me stating that I had 2PM checkout, thinking I might need it to dispute a charge. Fortunately that didn't happen, but it definitely makes me think twice about ever returning to Intercontinental.

Toshbaf

LOL has a new meaning. The assassin at KLIA2 wore a LOL t-shirt. No, hotel, don't LOL me.

writerguyfl

In each of the hotels in which I worked, we'd run a "Due Out" list at the official check-out time...as in "guests due to check-out". Each day, one of the Front Desk Representatives was in charge of clearing the list. That task involved calling rooms and then sending someone (Bellman, Security, Housekeeping, or themselves on a slow day) to check the room to see if a guest had left without telling anyone.

We didn't have a specific name for the calls. But, they were related to clearing that "Due Out" list. That said, I have no clue if hotels in other parks of the country/world had different names or different procedures.

I'm dating myself here because I haven't had to sign any piece of paper when checking into a hotel in well over a decade. But, we had them back when I first worked at a Front Desk. We referred to them as "Reg Cards"...short for "Registration Cards".

pinniped

Now that leaving without telling anyone is the norm, is this job harder? If it's a hotel where I walk past the FD while leaving, and no one else is talking to the FDC, I'll still say something like "I'm out of room XXX", thinking maybe it helps housekeeping to know they can clean the room earlier. But I can never tell if this is actually helpful to anyone or not.

milepig

They can be very rude. Decidedly upscale hotel it London. Checkout time was 11. Breakfast ran long and we were finishing up packing at 11:02 when the phone rang to ask why we were late checking out. Grrrr.

writerguyfl

On an average day, it's there are always going to be a handful of rooms that need to be checked. It's not a huge issue. Most days, having guests just leave without notice wouldn't have any impact on hotel operations.

That said, I do advocate making the effort to let someone know you're leaving. Generally, housekeeping does clean "check-out" rooms first...but that only can happen if they know the room is vacant. Really, it's more about helping guests who may arrive early that same day than it is about helping the hotel.

My advice is to pick up the room phone as you're leaving. In a full-service hotel, dial "0" for the operator (not the Front Desk) and let whoever answers know that you're leaving. It shouldn't take more than 60 seconds. Alternatively, do what you wrote and tell the Front Desk on the way out.

Now, if no one answers the phone quickly or there's a line at the Front Desk, I'd simply leave. It's a nice thing to do, but it shouldn't inconvenience you.

Steve M

They know this by knocking on the door, which will start at 8am or whenever the housekeeping shift starts. The housekeepers have a list of which rooms in their zone are checking out that day, and will rotate through those rooms first before starting on the stayovers. As long as you don't leave the DND tag on the door when you leave, there's very little advantage to letting the front desk know you're gone - the housekeeper will get to the room as soon as they can, and no sooner, regardless of whether or not the front desk knows the room is vacant.

See above - telling the front desk that a room is vacant and ready to be cleaned won't get it cleaned any sooner.

In many hotels, the front desk responds to these calls with a "Thank You" and then hangs up without doing anything. In other cases, they may log your departure in the computer, but it does nothing to get the room clean any sooner.

If you doubt any of the above, consider how many hotels have an "Express Check-Out" box in the lobby where you can drop your keys (or in the old days, an Express Check Out form). How often do you think this box is emptied, keys scanned, and the computer updated? The box is probably emptied once a day to recycle the keys, which are never scanned.

writerguyfl

Steve M: My post was based on the 15ish years I spent working in the hospitality industry. Based on that experience, I pretty much disagree with all of your conclusions.