Originally Posted by
Delta3MM
It really varies by property, what they're used to doing, and how busy they are.
Typically they block rooms a few days ahead. If they are going to be busy, they know if someone else will be in your room or not. If not, getting a late check out is easy. If that other person has already checked in and the "room was not ready" - well they are going to want you out ASAP.
Usually most hotels will not discuss late check out until the last day. An hour is always granted. (MVCI's are the exception here). I've had as late as 9PM. Most want to charge you beyond 6PM, although the number of times I'ved needed that is very small.
Last trip we requested late check out for one of our rooms and got it extended from noon to 1:30PM, which is all we needed.
Early check-in is almost always 100% successuful - even at 8AM.
Billy
PS - another trick I've used in the past is checking out - then doing something like skiing all day - then back to the hotel to use the showers in the pool area. Done this many times in SLC, and they don't mind letting you have access. So if all I need is a shower later in the day, I will check out, then come back later in the day...
Thanks for the tip on the showers - probably doesn't work on chains less than FS though.
It's sad how sometimes you are almost treated as a trespassing criminal if you linger on the property past checkout time, again usually at less than FS without restaurants/bars to spend more $$ on. Its like, we got your money, now get out. At a Hyatt Place last year, other members of our group we told we couldn't use the picnic facilities to eat lunch due to those ever popular "insurance regulations".
I would love to understand the "room blocking" process since it seems to be a continuing source of friction. A typical hotel has King, Queen, Concierge - and maybe a few "special rooms" like a corner king and Suites available. Or am mistaken?
From my experience, they rarely read your requesting comments in advance. So when I ask for the CL room or high floor or balcony or other preference that's been ignored, they sigh and pound on the keyboard undoing all the "blocking".
So is that what is going on when you ask for a late checkout? The luck of the draw that some one is coming into your particular King when a slew of other Kings are staying empty this Sunday night? And they don't want to be bothered since you've already "spent the money" at this point? That's my cynical view.
I also suspect that "blocking" is done for the convenience of the housekeeping staff to keep rooms that need to be serviced in close proximity. Many times I've gotten up before 6am for the gym and the distribution of newspapers support that anecdotal evidence.
Just my observations over the years.