Well, obviously, the OP was exaggerating by using the word "never."

But indeed, I have encountered this problem numerous times as well. And, to Jeannietx, it's not necessarily "a problem getting late checkout." It seems to be, most often, a failure to communicate the late checkout to the relevant personnel, such as housekeeping. I have status with various hotel chains and most of them have messed this up at one time or another.