Early Check Out Fee
 

Has anyone ever been charged an early check out fee? Recent trip to San Antonio several of us stayed at the Embassy Suites Riverwalk and had to cut our trip short by a day. We all checked out on Thursday instead of Friday. One person was charged a $75 early check out fee. Everyone was Hilton honors status at various levels, there were approximately 8 other individuals and only one was charged this fee. BTW - the fee was charged the next day not at checkout. They did call and get it reversed, however, the hotel said we all should have been charged this fee.

I personally have checked out early at several Hilton properties, and have never been charged. Just curious on anyones experience with this....

Why check out at all? Most people skip this step, not to beat a fee but because it is a waste of time. If you are concerned, call the next day, tell the front desk that you are gone and ask to have the folio emailed.

Early check-out fee AND paying for the un-used night?

I certainly understand the fee if the hotel isn't getting paid and you haven't given them enough time to resell the room...

I'm fairly certain OP is talking about a situation where the last night was not paid.

Note that, so long as you don't no show, and the rate is not prepaid/nonrefundable, the hotel typically does not have a basis for charging for nights you don't stay, i.e., if you check out early.
No, but I've recently started seeing warnings on reservations about an early check-out fee.

Sure, I pay these from time to time, when the fee is lower than the remaining all-in room cost.

And, when you get to the final day of your stay, please do check out, especially if you are leaving before the latest-possible check-out time. This may help someone hoping for an early check-in by announcing that your room is available to be cleaned.

At the bottom of every reservation made directly is a link to https://www.hilton.com/en/hi/info/re...on_rules.jhtml which states :

I've always found that early check-out is generally based on the same conditions as the cancellation policy for your reservation. If your booking has a "6pm day of" policy, then you're good to just leave on any day (before the checkout time). If it's a "day before", then you need to let them know you're leaving the day before. If it's a 3-day cancellation policy and you let them know the day before then you're probably going to be hit with an extra night charge or a fee (but not both).

Of course, as always this is at the hotels discretion, and thus can be based on status as well as how frequent a guest you are at that property.

Whether to check out early depends on whether the checking out early is going to give a refund on the nights not stayed. If this was a prepaid reservation and the hotel still charged the fee, then that would be a dubious charge on the hotel's part since they are trying double dip for a night already paid for.

Not if they pay for all nights as booked. It is a hotel, not a prison.

Which the OP has not stated occurred.

I don't believe any hotel would charge an early check-out fee AND still charge for the entire stay.

To clarify some questions or comments above...

• the rooms are not prepaid.
• We were there for work and the work ended early, so there was no option to just stay one more night.
• The rooms were booked, M-F

I've checked out early without charge in this situation many times. But if the early check-out fee was properly disclosed at booking, I would expect to pay it.