Shipping to a hotel
 

I don't know how feasible this is, but I'm going to the Guam for a short stay and was wondering if it would be not-crazy to ship a $1300 drone (not particularly large) to a Sheraton? Would it be safe?

Was also considering shipping it a week early incase it got delayed or whatnot.

Call/email the hotel first and ask if they'll accept that sort of a package. It is not a given.

I'm not sure if you have the drone already and just want to ship it there to save luggage space, or if you're buying it online and having it sent there? What is the point of shipping it (which would likely cost a fortune vs. paying extra baggage charges)?

Speaking generally as someone who's previously planned meetings and events (since you're not the only person to have these kinds of questions):

Any hotel that has any amount of meeting space will be accustomed to handling guest shipments, so the type of hotel really matters. If it's a quaint little inn with a few guest rooms, they may not have the space nor the staff to deal with incoming packages. But on the flip side, if it's a major convention hotel with hundreds or thousands of rooms, beware: It's very easy for packages to go astray. Picture this: UPS shows up with 300 packages for one convention and your drone. And then imagine the likelihood that your package inadvertently gets stuck the big mess of packages for XYZ Convention, which isn't happening for another month. It happens -- a lot. For that reason, it's really important to call the hotel and ask them how they'd like to have the package labeled. If they don't give you any guidance, make sure the label clearly indicates that you're a guest and the dates of arrival departure. I usually address things like:

GUEST: Chgoeditor (May 1-5)
Hotel Name
Hotel Address

And then separate from the address box write on all sides of the box in big letters GUEST and my name and dates of arrival and departure. If you are attending a conference, but you are not an exhibitor/organizer/sponsor, DO NOT put the name of the conference on the box -- you run the risk that it get lumped in with the rest of the exhibit/organizer packages.

Also, check with the hotel: Many have decided to monetize their receiving rooms, and it's not unusual to encounter a receiving fee, storage fee and/or delivery fee.

If you exhibiting at a conference and have been told to ship materials to the exhibit hall services company (a company like Freeman) rather than the hotel, but you're feeling cheap and don't want to pay their storage fees, don't ship a dozen boxes to the hotel and hope no one will notice. The hotel knows exactly what companies are exhibiting, and they have a list of all hotel guests who are attending the conference, as well as their corporate affiliations. They'll likely call the exhibition management company to come pick up your boxes because they don't have room to store the stuff -- particularly if every exhibitor decided to do an end-run around the exhibition management company.

When I call, would I specify it's a drone, or just specify the box size?

It's a small drone, so I can stuff it in my luggage. I wanted to buy it online, free shipping and it's cheaper in the states than where I am so figured I would consider this alternative.

Thanks for the labeling tips. I think it's more of a resort hotel, fairly large as it's a sheraton. Maybe I will give them a call and just ask them straightfoward?

They don't care that it's a drone because they're not opening it -- just that it's a box.

Double check -- even though it's a US territory, shipping to Guam may not be any less expensive than shipping to your home country. It will depend on what shipper the seller uses. Also, remember that if it's shipped via the US Postal Service at cheap rates, it could take weeks to get there.

If it's a Sheraton, it's likely they have meeting space even if they're just hosting local groups and I'd be surprised if they didn't have a receiving room. But it doesn't hurt to call.

How long will you be there? One thing to take into account is that if there are delivery delays and it doesn't arrive until after you've departed, you'll have to pay the hotel to ship it on to you.

You should check whether the seller is willing to take risk at their end of shipping it to a hotel.

When you call, ask to speak with shipping an receiving. Large resort properties afternoon have a separate department for that. Don't rely on the front desk or whoever answers the phone. And also ask where you go to pick up a package. Large resorts often have an office for that - not the front desk or the bell desk or the concierge bit a separate office that just handles such matters. And as noted, there can be a fee. This is common in Vegas

I would expect any hotel flying the Sheraton flag would be capable of receiving and storing a package for a guest. This seems like a basic business-hotel service.

In my experience, I've had single items sent to mainline business hotels - Fedex envelope to small box - and never had an issue. There are threads here about how hotels charge fees for large items, or charge fees if the items arrive days before the guest arrives. There are very often fees for shipping commercial gear ahead of a conference or whatever.

So it might or might not be free, but the hotel should be able to handle (and not lose!) the box. A quick phone call to them - ask for whomever handles shipping - should get all the answers you need.

The Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort in Tamuning advertises events, meetings, conferences, according to their website @:-).

Did they specify "free shipping" to Guam? I know I've come across sites that offer free shipping, but once I put in my address (Hawaii), all of I sudden I see significant shipping charges.

If you're not confident in the hotel keeping track of it, or if they want to charge a receiving fee more than you'd like, you could also just have it held at the local FedEx location or USPS post office in Guam for you to pick up. Postal rates are calculated the same as any other domestic mail service - though you'd want to use an expedited & tracked service like Priority Mail - which might be pretty reasonably priced it's a small, lightweight drone.