It's nice to hear people's positive experiences with the late checkout benefit.
I suppose my own data points could be helpful here. Honestly they've been mostly positive. I'll go from most recent that I remember:
- Hotel Kinetic, a.k.a. Hotel Landy (Tribute Portfolio), Orlando: 4 pm checkout granted without hesitation...twice! (I unexpectedly had to extend my stay by a day, and they were fine with 4 pm both times.)
- Residence Inn Chattanooga near Hamilton Place: Arrived late at night (after midnight) for a one-night stay, and asked the guy at the check-in desk for late checkout. He said he was new and didn't know how to do that, so I should call down in the morning. I did, and only asked for 2 pm. They tried to deny me at first; I mentioned the Platinum guarantee, they put me on hold for a second, then said they could do that. (Incidentally, I don't recommend this hotel for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that they got rid of their hot tub, but also that as a Titanium guest with a high-floor preference, I got a non-upgraded 2nd-floor room with a 'view' of an HVAC unit(?) on the roof of the lobby area and mold/mildew all over the outside of the windows, which I would've opened otherwise but obviously didn't. Worst RI I've ever stayed at, easily.)
- Residence Inn Indianapolis Fishers: 4 pm granted without hesitation.
- Sheraton Suites Atlanta Galleria: 4 pm granted without hesitation (after an extremely late-night arrival, basically driving all night and arriving early-AM).
- Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square (PA): 4 pm granted without hesitation, two different stays.
- Louisville Marriott Downtown: This hotel counts as a convention hotel. Still, their default checkout time is 11:00 AM...and they gave me 11:30 as the best they could do. (This is another hotel that got rid of their hot tub without notice [a main reason I booked it - I swear I could start an entire thread about this issue with how much I've seen it happen], and gave me a standard 4th-floor room [of 17] with a 'view' of a white concrete wall. Not recommended.)
Huh... I kinda thought there'd be more, but those are the only ones where I specifically remember requesting late checkout since it became an official benefit. Overall pretty positive!