Originally Posted by
Dave Noble
The principle seems to be that since the person was not given something which he was not entitled to, he had to go elsewhere on principle
There is no reason to EXPECT that a room be provided before the published check in time; when a hotel does allow it, should be viewed as a nice to have but seems that some then turn it into an expectation in the future
If an early check in is going to be needed, book somewhere which explicitly offers early check in or include the previous night in the booking or be prepared to have to wait until checkin time
Clearly, there is no reason to expect that the room is available if one arrives before the published check-in time. However, if it is available, the hotel does itself a big disservice in not letting the customer check in. This has been beautifully demonstrated by this guest.
Or like AMDB7 said:
Seems to me that in a service industry like the hotel business, keeping the customer happy with any REASONABLE request is good business sense. I do the same with my customers (it's only the unreasonable ones I try and whittle out). So if a customer comes to me with a request that I can fulfil at little inconvenience and zero cost incurred, I'd be a mug to deny them; I bet my competitors wouldn't deny them.
Customers want to be treated fairly. And it is certainly not fair to charge the customer for a full night for checking in early. It's different if the hotel would
guarantee availability by blocking the room the night before.
Even trying to charge by number of hours until check-in time can proove penny-wise, pound fool.
HTB.