Consolidated "Early Check-In" thread
 

I have heard about late check out privileges for Gold/Diamond, is there also early check in?

I have checked in at a couple of places at 7 AM and had no problems. I just tried to book early in Hull, Quebec--entered 7 AM but the reservation came back with 3 PM check in on it. Any thoughts about policies of Hilton here?

BB seems to me its up to the individual property... and is IMHO based more on availability than anything else. Although there are properties in this world that won't talk to you until "check in time".

Doomed to Coach

I agree with the above poster. I've checked in as early as 6:30 a.m. at hotels near the airport. I assume rooms were available due to a lot of guests checking out to catch early flights.

Official policy is 3 pm check-in, but it all depends on the availability and good will of the manager on duty. If I need an early check-in, I usually call ahead of time and ask for them to note it in my reservation. So far it was never a big problem.

or note it in your own online reservation area.

Never a problem for me either.

I also have them note the request in the record.

But in addition, I call the property the day before and as soon as I hit the ground, to let them know I'll be there shortly and kindly ask to have an available or next available room slotted for me.

Especially important to me when I get in to Europe on those early morning arriving flights. I want a room, now!

Thanks guys--I'll request it in the comments field!

Early check in?
 

Has anybody tried to check in early after a red-eye? I was informed the there were no rooms available at 6am after I landed at IAD from SEA. I think the 'no room' excuse is a ruse by the overnight staff. Any thoughts?

I have checked in between 6:30-8 am on several occasions and they have always been accommodating. Sometimes the room is not available but they do their best. Does sometimes help with securing an upgraded room for later in the day.

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You might call the hotel and explain the situation. I have found many hotels to be a bit nicer about it when you explain the situation - you are coming in on a redeye and will be VERY tired.

A lot will have to do with how full the hotel was the night before, as I'm sure no housekeeping will be done prior to 6 AM.

How early is early for checkin?
 

Hi,

I am booked to arrive in on a flight to stay at a hilton around 4am, im curious whether i'd be charged for the previous day or would I just be charged for the next day?

Keen to know what is generally considered too early for checkin... what is the experience of other FT'ers on here when staying at a hilton property?? This hilton will be in Asia.

I arrived at the Las Vegas Embassy Suite at about 4am one time, and was told to come back around 10-11am to check in. However, the clerk noticed that I was (just)HHonors Blue, and said that I am welcome to check in right then and there.

This was before I began participating in FT, and really started paying attention to the benefits.

Edited to add that they did not charge for the previous night.

[This message has been edited by Jet2K (edited 12-07-2002).]

I have checked in as early as 7 am for the upcoming night.

Due to a flight delay, I once checked in at Beijing at 4 AM (but actually booked for the preceding night) and they let me have the room until 7 PM that day for the one day rate. Always have found them very accommodating.

I think it depends on the day, how full the hotel was the day before and how accomodating the property wants to be. I've arrived on flights from the US to Europe and been able to check in as early as 6:30 in central London hotels on a weekend. Just call and request it, being sure to mention that you understandits on an 'if available' basis.

I have checked in early many times at various hiltons and never had a problem (at varying HHonors levels over the years). I have done early morning, but but 4 a.m. sounds a little extreme.

You may want to ask the hotel ahead of time if you are concerned about it. Probably not a big deal if they are not very busy, but if they are anywhere near full they could have a problem with it.

Great question -- like to hear back if you have any problems doing this (and the hotel's reaction).

I agree, especially given the early hour, it would be pretty tough if they couldn't accomodate you, and you found yourself having to look around for another hotel at that hour!

Assuming that you did not need to immediately sleep, if you tried checking in at 4 am and was told no, the hotel should at least be willing to hold your luggage for you. Maybe you could hang out in the lounge for a few hours until a room was available or work out in the hotel's exercise room and then eat breakfast.

Had a bad experience with The DC Embassy Row last month property trying to check in at 8:00AM after a Redeye from SEA. She very curtly informed me that she had rooms available but she would have to charge me for an additional night, she then added that everybody knows that when you fly a Redeye you will have to pay for two nights. Being a (lowly) Gold didn't change her attitude.

Only when I called the Capitol Hilton, who agreed to allow me to check in early. Did she grudgingly allowed me to check in "just this once".

I should note that the rest of the Embassy Row staff was exceptional, but this night shift front desk person spoiled our experience there.

Had similar but regarding a LATE check out at Dubai Hilton Creek. The flight was in the early hours of the morning and I didn't need to leave the Hotel until 10pm, they'd allow me the normal late check out ( 6pm I believe )but the extra 4 hours I wanted cost me a day. Of course I also had to checkin at about 2am when I arrived but had already booked the previous day.

Of course the extra day for the late check out didn't appear on my Hhonors account and still hasn't !

Nigel

Early check in?
 

I have an overnight flight in august to Newark and was wondering about early check in availability or how to get it. My flight arrives about 6am. How early can one check in. I'm Gold. I'll definitely ask for 11th or 12th floor.

Thanks,

Rod

Just ask.

Seems to vary hotel to hotel, and depending on how busy they are/arent, phase of the moon, etc.

Call and ask.

If you are talking about the Newark Airport Hilton, be aware those are the nastiest front desk people in the chain working that hotel, so if you call and are told it's available make sure to get the name of who told you and the rest. I'm pretty sure when you show up at 6 am whoever is snarling at you behind the desk will go "nope, can't do it", but if you tell them you spoke with so and so then it will be "Oh, should have told us that".

I havent been to Newark Hilton, but with some other hotels early check-in I usually do better timing for 9ish (compared with say 7am) when at least some check-outs will have occurred.

If you can swing it, and it's important enough for you, why don't you just pay for the night before and tell them you're arriving REALLY late ;).

I would think this hotel is pretty well booked during the week, and if I wanted a bed waiting for me, I'd pay for the night before.

Heck, they always fight me when I show up at 1PM. (Not specific to HH - SPG and MR do the same, just like they do for late checkout.) They usually tell me to beat it and come back after 3PM.

Be prepared for a nasty response - at least you can dump your bags off with the concierge.

If you get a nasty response, plop yourself on a couch in the lobby area closest to the front desk, close your eyes and start snoring very loudly. :D

Better yet, take off your shoes/socks and con the nearest housekeeper out of a blanket and pillow. Get real comfortable in the lobby. :D

The combination of early checkin + upgraded room is sometimes harder to accomplish than just one of them, in my experience... You might decide which you'd prefer in case it's an issue when you arrive.

My only experience this early was the Capitol Hilton in DC in January. The red-eye from LAX arrived shortly after 6 am, and we got to the hotel shortly after 7 am. They had a room available on the concierge level and gave it to us--no problem. Even had breakfast in the VIP lounge (I am Gold) that morning after setting the bags down in our room. It was a 4-night stay, so I got 5 breakfasts, and even had a late check-out on the last day. A good stay.

early checkin
 

I'm a HH Gold and had a three night stay at the Atlanta Hilton that started last Sunday. I got to the hotel about 10 am. I'd booked an exec floor room with the AAA rate that was basically the same as run-of-house. When I asked about whether a room might be available I was told that my room would be available at 11 am, but that if I checked in before 1 pm, there would be a $25 early check-in charge. And if I wanted to just go up to the lounge to wait, I'd have to be checked in.

Later in the week I was talking with a Diamond HH member who told me he'd encountered the same thing, and had paid it.

Already this year I've checked in early at the Hilton St Charles in New Orleans, the Hilton Perimeter in Birmingham, and the Hilton Fisherman's Wharf in SF. Is this early checkin fee a new chain wide policy or just a practice at some properties?

On top of that, I will say that I was disappointed by the executive floor of this hotel -- no glasses or ceramic coffee mugs in the room, only paper/plastic. Not very impressive breakfast or hors d'oueveres. Is it just this hotel?

Thanks.
tom

I've been checked in early on a space available in many Hiltons (US and intl). I've never been asked to pay a fee to check in early. For the hotels where i could not check in early, I was allowed to sit in the EL (if available) until the room was ready.

It sounds like it is a policy of the Atlanta Hilton. Different hotels have different policies. The only hotel where I ran into some problems was London Green Park many years ago when I was only Gold. Then I was told that no room was available for early checkin. But if I had reserved a room for the night before i arrived, they would have had a room ready for me. (Green Park is one of my least favorite hotels with fairly poor service, verified again on a recent stay).

The US EL overall have very poor offerings. What you saw at the Atlanta Hilton is typical of what I have seen at several Hiltons in the US.

It's been my experience that if you frequent a hotel enough they may waive the fee. One hotel wanted to charge me the fee so I just waited in the lounge area. My status didn't matter. Sometimes I start work so early that I can be done by 10am or 11am.

I like the lounge access on vacation but could care less about it when I am on business. I'd rather get the extra thousand points. Some lounges are nice and some are blah. Overall, I really like Hiltons. I am sitting in Newark Hilton now.

That's just absurd. I've never encountered it anywhere. I know Hilton is trying to make every dime of revenue they can, but I didn't know they had been reduced to being the kind of place where you rent rooms by the hour. :p

I have never been asked to pay an early check-in fee. Maybe Nor1 (boo, hiss) is involved.

MisterNice

travelinfoo has it right - it is a local policy, and at that will generally vary on factors such as stay type (Priceline, etc. fuhgeddaboudid,) occupancy rate, etc.

In May, OTOH, Hilton Wangfujing Beijing allowed me to check in early with no problem, and an advance visit to Hilton Shanghai the day before I planned to check in an assistant front desk manager greeted me, showed me the lounge and told me to check in there any time after 9:00 AM. Hilton Buenos Aires has done that for me as well, and when occupancy was high allowed me to use the lounge and the shower / bathroom before checking in / after checking out.

Great service orientation, and I am conscious enough about thier business that I will not try to abuse the hospitality if there is an event of high occupancy.

There were several Hilton properties, one being an Embassy Suites Galleria in Atlanta that were caught via hidden cameras not washing glasses or just rinsing them out in dirty tub water. The Atlanta properties fixed this by going all plastic. Pretty nasty huh?

I guess I should be glad that it was disposables in the roomhttp://www.flyertalk.com/redface.gif

I have checked in early on many occasions. Sometimes the room isn't ready and they store my luggage and I go off and do other things. I have never paid an extra fee.

Most recently in May, Hilton Beijing checked me in at 10:30 AM and invited me to breakfast (which was still open to 11AM) in the Exec Lounge (so 2 breakfasts for a one night stay).

Some hotels charge for late checkout too -- though maybe that's more theoretical than actual (for HHonors members, esp. Diamond/Gold, I think you could make a case for waiving it if they tried to enforce it).

Anyhow, would you have preferred that they flat-out deny the possibility of early checkin? It seems that a lot of hotels do that -- they don't necessarily check availability, or they don't even consider trying to accommodate you in some fashion. Instead, they just state categorically: "checkin is at 3 PM." I would actually condemn that behavior a lot more than I would condemn a charge for early checkin. :eek: If I were offered an early checkin for a smallish fee, I might consider paying it! Though first, I might ask if the fee could be waived.

Same thing happened to me at the Hilton Munich (City). I almost felt guilty...was on a 1-night mileage run, and I think my rate was something like 80E/night. Ate 2 full (and I do mean full) breakfasts...