Interesting story, that has left me confused. I had a 5:30am flight and was staying at a Hyatt Place near the airport. I set my alarm for 3:30am, leave the hotel around 4am. Go down the elevator, then turn to exit one of the side doors, out to the car, and off to the airport. Never interacted with the front desk, but the person and the front desk certainly would have heard someone with a rolling suitcase. Around 5am I am on my flight to check out on the app, only to see that I was already checked out by the hotel! I never told the hotel I planned to check out early at any time during the stay, and definitely did not check out through the app when I left the property.

So it got me wondering; did the person at the front desk hear the rolling suitcase exit the elevator, assuming it was someone checking out. Front desk person then reviews security cameras and indeed sees someone who looks to have been packed up and leaving, then somehow backtracks me to the room I was checked into, entered my room to see my key on the desk, and all signs of my belongings gone, and takes it as a clear sign to check me out?

I purposely do not check out if it's well before checkout time in case something crazy happens to my flight and I need to go back to the hotel. Also, it did not seem right to be automatically checked out so early in the morning. The hotel had no idea what my plans were... or did they?