COEWR2587

I was curious, when doing online check in. Is right at 6am window usually the best & most allotment of rooms I can pick from or do more open up during the day.

Just wondering cuz sometimes I check into hotels (like hotels with 6 floors of rooms) and litterally 3 rooms on 2 floors are what i have to choose from when the ONCI window opens.

arlflyer

Depends on the property and the stay. I have seen everything imaginable. But usually the big inventory moves are, in my experience, done by the night audit the night before my stay, so my personal (anecdotal, but biggish sample size) experience has been that I have my best luck early on the actual day when I'll arrive.

DJ_Iceman

I haven't discerned a pattern. Sometimes when I check early there are very few rooms available (or none--the dreaded "check in now and we'll try to upgrade you before you arrive"--yeah, right!), and they dwindle away as the day goes on while other times suddenly a whole bunch of new rooms open up.

corporate-wage-slave

You can't make any rule out of this, it is entirely down to what arrangements are in place at any given property, and it just varies from place to place, and isn't necessarily consistent even within a property. From what I can make out, most hotels have some sort of check list of activities and when they get to this item on the list then there is an update of rooms available. While I've no doubt the Night Auditor does it many places, at other hotels it's done at 10 hrs local time, so presumably after the first wave of check-outs have gone through. As ever the best thing to do is to grab a room you like it if comes up, but by all means leave it up and until lunch time if you aren't impressed by what's on offer. In my experience it's rare that things get better after new guests start check in, so afternoon onwards, but rare doesn't mean never.

The Road Goes On Forever

Inventory is ever changing and properties can restrict room types so that they never appear available or that only a limited number are available. If rooms are put out of order that would change what is available. When are room assignments being done? That changes what is available and when since some places do it the day prior, at some the night auditor will do it and at others it's not done until you get there. There is no way to answer this question since it is property specific and each place will be different. The only standard is that there is no standard.

neo_781

My anecdotal experience is that its dynamic and usually more rooms show up later in the day. I had always assumed it was after people checked out or the room was marked clean by housekeeping but never tried to substantiate it.

I will also add that it was always for the same room category. So for example, if a hotel had already upgraded me I only see rooms in that new category.

banana0692

I've actually had a stay where 3 room categories showed up in OLCI. 1 grade below, same grade as booked and 1 grade above. I obviously selected the 1 grade above.

The Road Goes On Forever

If the room is marked as out of order, already assigned to another guest during the dates you're staying or if the property has excluded the room type from OLCI then you won't be able to choose it. "Everything else" should be available.
Being marked vacant ready by housekeeping won't matter in choosing a room, it will only matter in getting a digital key for a room you chose.

neo_781

I would sure hope they don't let me pick an out of order room or one that is already occupied/assigned.