Originally Posted by MileKing
Here is some old, but very relevant, material I posted on another thread related to walking:
For situations where I know I will be arriving at 10 PM or later, I usually have that put into the reservation when I make it. If I will be arriving after 11 PM, I not only note the reservation, but will usually call the hotel sometime the day of arrival to let them know I will be in that late. If I plan on arriving very late, say after midnight, I will call the hotel twice, once early in the day and once in the evening (8 PM or so if possible). If I have a late arrival and something happens that will make me even later (flight delay, etc.), I will call the hotel again to let them know my situation, when I believe I will arrive, and specifically request that my room be held.
It isn't often that I arrive after 11 PM, so I don't end up making many calls, but on a number of occasions calling has saved me. I've seen situations where the hotel has checked me in before arrival, based on my call, and then walked multiple people checking in at the same time as me. It's a pain to have to call, but it does help.
Maybe this would help:
A while back I was on a long contract job in Cleveland, OH. I was staying at the Hampton Inn downtown five days a week, flying home on weekends. I was flying in regularly on Sunday evenings arriving just after midnight. I never got cancelled or walked, but I started noticing that I was only getting four HHonors status nights instead of five. The hotel was still properly billing me for five nights, but as I checked in on Monday, the system didn't credit me for Sunday night.
I spoke to the hotel manager about it and he helped me fix up the past credits. What's interesting in this situation, though, is what he told me to do in the future: "
call when you're on your way, and ask to be checked in." Doing this helped keep my status nights correct, and I would think it would help you keep your room as well. You're no longer relying on some night clerk to remember that you're on your way, you're "already there". You have a room assigned and you just have to present your credit card and pick up the key.
I was wondering at one point if this was a special thing they were doing for me, since I was pretty much on a first-name basis with the night staff during that job. However, I've made that same call at least once to another property and it seemed to work then too.