Originally Posted by The Road Goes On Forever

A few random thoughts:

I really wish people would stop referring to late checkout as a benefit or even more hysterically, an elite benefit. It never has been/never will be one. A benefit is something guaranteed or something that you can rely on. Late checkout has always been able to be granted or denied for any or no reason at all, whenever. It's a situational, property by property, day by day, desk agent by desk crap shoot that HH status means nothing to.

What's really changing with this piece aside from properties being able to monetize something? Not much. Properties will still have the ability to dictate what time they define "late" checkout to be (for the price point being charged - do not expect the average as an example HIS to give you 4pm or later or more than likely to participate at all - it's really not worth it), the number of rooms and room types they will or will not make available or if they even want to participate at all.

At the end of the day, the travelling public always wants absolutes and guaranteed things understandably but, aside from the price, this "benefit" is not one of them. You're still going to have a patchwork quilt of properties that do/do not participate and for the ones that do, a hodge-podge of details where HWS X might offer 25 rooms for late check out that extends until one time, HGI Y may offer 10 that extends until a different time and Tru Z will opt out all together.

File this under N for nebulous along with things like: does the property with airport in the name actually have a shuttle and if so, when does it actually run? Which outlets actually accept the F&B credit versus the never ending assumption that of course they all do, right? How does the HH 72 hour auto upgrade program work - Big Foot & The Loch Ness Monster.