Originally Posted by
gengar
The only place I've gotten a lot of pushback on early check-in is in Japan. A few Taiwanese properties have also refused (recently, the GH Taipei refused to even process my check-in until official check-in time). Pretty much everywhere else I've been in the world, they've never had a problem checking me in early - even at properties that aren't that highly regarded for service here on FT. Think it's more a cultural issue than anything else.
Japan and Korea don't like going outside of the stated check-in hours. I've been asked in Korea to pay for checking in early and once for checking out later. I didn't end up paying each time but that seems to be the default FD answer there.