Originally Posted by
Gomac
I was offered one of these yesterday for the Hilton Terminal 5, and I agree, I will too pass. In my experience if there is a room in your category available they will do all they can to check you in early. I've even pushed my luck and been given a room at 9am, and if not then I always get Exec lounge access until the room is ready anyways, which suits me fine!
As you say though, they may get more strict with this sort of thing now and my 9am check-ins will be a thing of the past
I think the free early check-in will happen less and less. I noticed on my last 2 trips to Europe (arrival at hotel 9-11 am, before official check-in), i was not allowed to check in early. The official response was no rooms available. This was not at a peak travel period.
I was offered a place to store my luggage, with the promise it would be in my room when the room was ready at check-in time. I was offered use of EL only once. But given it was after breakfast, the EL was bare of offerings beyond basic non-alcoholic drinks. OTW, it was "see you after check-in time".
I think this is what we will encounter more and more.
Luckily, my next planned trip, I'll be arriving well after check-in time. So no excuses of why the room isn't ready.