Hotel check-in early in the morning
 

Because of a long layover I will need a hotel from around 6am (ideally checking out around 1pm but 12pm would still be ok). Am I safe booking a room for the night before?

In other words, will hotels usually cancel reservations if the guest hasn't checked in by some time the night of the check-in date? Or will reservations be alive until the checkout time the following date?

I'm looking into Priceline for this stay, so I'd like to know what's the regular practice. TIA ^

Some places will cancel the res, but many won't. I would make the ressie, then call the hotel (get the name of the person to whom you speak) and tell them your schedule. Make them say it's okay and document it. If they won't confirm it for you, call PL.

I would also call the hotel and ask about day rates, which might be cheaper than Priceline.

For a 6 am, I wouldn't waste my $$$ on a night's reservation.. enough hotels around to do a day rate imo.

Thanks for the replies!

I'll call some hotels and check, but I doubt day rates will be lower than what I can get on PL, and I also think the check-in time for day rates is around 9am. I really need to check in around 6am in order to catch some sleep.

Make the reservation for the night, then call the night before.
 

I stayed at the Hilton in some midwest town, can't remember which one right now. I had a red-eye and really wanted a shower before my day of meetings. I made the reservation for that night, then called the day before and simply asked if I would be able to get my room early enough to shower before 10:00am. They said they couldn't guarantee it, but that it looked like it would work.

I called again when I got to the airport, and when I arrived at the hotel via the only taxi in town, they knew exactly who I was, and had my room ready.

I was HH Gold at the time.

I have done similar things with early arrival and late departure at Hilton properties and for me, as long as I ask well in advance, and then remind them close-in, there have never been issues.

If you call the hotel directly it shouldn't be a problem, plenty of people do it, especially if it is close to an airport.

Get all the documentation you can when you notify them that you will not be there till the next morning.

I booked a room at the Crowne Plaza Gurgaon (India) and told them I was arriving at 11 PM so they wouldn't give the room away. When I arrived, tired and grungy from the ORD-DEL nonstop, my room wasn't ready. Since many international flights from DEL leave at night, my guess was that they let someone stay in "my" room past checkout time (for a fee, of course), and then didn't get it cleaned up and prepared in time for my arrival. I spent an unhappy hour in the lounge waiting for my room to be ready. Since I was heading into the office bright and early the next AM, I didn't appreciate it.

I don't think that check in time will be an issue if you let the hotel know in advance.

I think your check out time may be an issue, some of the hotels have a 11 am checkout, so you will need to work that out with them. It would stink to get a priceline hotel only to be told there's no way they will extend the check out time for a priceline bid, so I would make a few calls first to the hotels to see what their policy is.

+1. It's one thing to get in at 6:00am, but if they enforce the check-out time it can be even worse, which is why I would recommend a day rate, which, depending upon where you are, can include the hours of 6am-10pm.