Digital check in How?
Booking with HH for the first time to Honolulu. I am gold and wondering how digital check in works. Do I download app and check in myself before arrival just like airlines? I never have to stand on line and check in at all? Many people are saying Hilton is always busy and check in takes at least half hour (or much more).
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Originally Posted by paulzone2k
(Post 30433101)
Booking with HH for the first time to Honolulu. I am gold and wondering how digital check in works. Do I download app and check in myself before arrival just like airlines? I never have to stand on line and check in at all? Many people are saying Hilton is always busy and check in takes at least half hour (or much more).
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In my view, online check-in is only beneficial if you know the hotel well. Whenever I'm a first-time guest at a hotel, I always want to talk to a Front Desk representative because she or he knows the hotel better than I do when it comes to room assignments.
When you go online, you'll be assigned a room. There's no way to know if that room was assigned by the property management system or by a human who noted your preferences and selected that room because it matches those preferences. You should be able to change your room, but unless you know the hotel well it's tough to know the best room. Online floorplans don't show locations of loading docks, garbage dumpsters, HVAC equipment, restaurant exhaust hoods, nearby structures, or some service areas. Unless you get a brand new Front Desk representative, that person will know the quirks of the building. She or he should be able to assign a room that is "better" than an auto-assigned one or one from on a basic floorplan. |
Originally Posted by writerguyfl
(Post 30434223)
Online floorplans don't show locations of loading docks, garbage dumpsters, HVAC equipment, restaurant exhaust hoods, nearby structures, or some service areas.
i have been very surprised many times at how little the front desk agents know about their hotel's rooms. using the 3D view gives a pretty close approximation of the view from a hotel room in my experience. |
Originally Posted by BenSenise
(Post 30434347)
no, but google maps does in satellite view.
i have been very surprised many times at how little the front desk agents know about their hotel's rooms. using the 3D view gives a pretty close approximation of the view from a hotel room in my experience. But, maybe I'm biased from working in hotels. One hotel I worked had structural beams that blocked about 75% of the windows. That sort of thing wouldn't show up on a floor plan and can't be see via satellite maps. |
Originally Posted by writerguyfl
(Post 30434223)
Whenever I'm a first-time guest at a hotel, I always want to talk to a Front Desk representative because she or he knows the hotel better than I do when it comes to room assignments.
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If you are hoping for an upgrade, wait until you get there to check in. No free upgrades are ever available through OLCI
and fwiw I've never known the FD staff to be clueless about the rooms. |
Originally Posted by eric_o
(Post 30435464)
If you are hoping for an upgrade, wait until you get there to check in. No free upgrades are ever available through OLCI
and fwiw I've never known the FD staff to be clueless about the rooms. |
Originally Posted by flyerCO
(Post 30435824)
OLCI doesn't prevent an upgrade.
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Originally Posted by arlflyer
(Post 30436126)
No, but it does cause the FD to have your keys already set up for you in a pack, meaning that the agent is much less likely to want to go back into the system and redo your room selection. It also means that since you are checked into a room, they are counting on you being there, and thus more likely to give away the excess inventory to other people.
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I never do OLCI anymore. I can count on one hand (with a couple of fingers missing) the number of times the room I picked is ever ready when I get there (even at check-in time). Unless they are giving me a fabulous upgrade at OLCI I just wait until I get to the desk.
If you have status (and your profile doesn't mention it) there is usually a shorter line. |
Originally Posted by flyerCO
(Post 30436172)
You're no more likely to not be upgraded, as to be upgraded doing OLCI.
And, as I noted in my previous comment, pre-assignment of rooms makes it more work for a desk agent to perform an upgrade - instead of simply handing over a key pack, they have to go into the system, look for a new room, un-assign the old room, assign the new one, and make new keys. This provides a disincentive for a desk agent to upgrade - much easier to just tell the guest that they are stuck with their pre-assigned room. |
Originally Posted by writerguyfl
(Post 30434223)
In my view, online check-in is only beneficial if you know the hotel well. Whenever I'm a first-time guest at a hotel, I always want to talk to a Front Desk representative because she or he knows the hotel better than I do when it comes to room assignments.
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Originally Posted by eric_o
(Post 30435464)
If you are hoping for an upgrade, wait until you get there to check in. No free upgrades are ever available through OLCI
and fwiw I've never known the FD staff to be clueless about the rooms. An interesting thing is when they upgrade the reservation the information in "my stay" goes away from the original. For example, flash sale 35% off and 25% off F&B goes away and only shows the name of the upgrade - executive, suite, etc. I always take a screen shot to show as it's easier than digging through all my email confirmations. |
Originally Posted by tkelvin69
(Post 30438196)
For international properties I've often found they have upgraded the reservation allowing me to select a room in the upgraded category.
An interesting thing is when they upgrade the reservation the information in "my stay" goes away from the original. For example, flash sale 35% off and 25% off F&B goes away and only shows the name of the upgrade - executive, suite, etc. I always take a screen shot to show as it's easier than digging through all my email confirmations. |
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