Checkout Time — da Troof
 

Every time I see or hear CHECKOUT IS AT 11 AM I’m tempted to blurt THAS SOME BOOSH-T RIGHT THERE.

Has anyone ever, EVER, been charged for checking out before noon?
Anywhere?
Even once?

Knowing the so-called policy is a joke can’t assuage the irritation stemming from hotel clerks parroting this with utmost seriousness, as if their operations would grind to a standstill were I not to follow it.

I’m from California.
Anyone remember, or care to guess what was standard checkout time at many hotels in the early 70’s?
2 PM.
(I actually found some old room cards with this printed on it.)

Look, I get it.
You tell them noon (a reasonable time), they leave at one.
If you want them actually out by noon, you gotta say eleven.

Problem is, some “sarges” will take that seriously and ring your room or bang on your door at 11:01.
(I’ve had both happen.)
And 11 AM is not a reasonable checkout time in many cases.
Which, loosely translates, means it’s not reasonable.

What’s the earliest checkout time ever posted?
I have seen 10 AM once — don’t remember where.

Probably some little indy joint somewhere posting “CHECKOUT TIME IS 6AM SHARP.”

Wouldn’t surprise me.

Que??

So if my slang translator is working properly, you're asking whether 11:00 AM is a reasonable checkout time and whether anyone has ever been charged a later checkout fee if they departed their room after 11:00 AM but before Noon (as you, I think, consider Noon reasonable?)?

11:00 AM is pretty typical but I've seen as early as 10:00 AM many times as well as Noon. I don't understand why you would consider anything in that range as unreasonable. You're generally staying overnight so morning is when one would expect to be done with a room. The property also needs to have time to get rooms ready for the next guests' check-in that afternoon. If everyone stayed into the afternoon for checkout, there would be angry customers whose rooms aren't ready yet to check-in.

I'm sure some people have been charged, somewhere...especially if they stayed way past checkout time and it was holding up housekeeping from doing their work. Unlikely that leaving 10 minutes late is going to be an issue. I suppose at very large hotels one could theoretically get away with staying until the point where it was the last room that housekeeping has on their list for that day, which could be awhile at properties with lots of rooms (not that I'm advocating to do so). Smaller hotels would obviously notice sooner.

Of course you can always ask for a late checkout if available. The extra charge may not be that much and in some cases, in my experience, may be at no charge if it's not a long time. Some higher elite statuses offer it as a complimentary benefit subject to availability.

Yo, G, I feel ya. You want to be chillin with a fat spliff in da room gettin yo drink on and yo snack on, and these sarges is all comin down hard and harshing your buzz. Just be cool, man - you gots to ask nicely if a late checkout is OK and most times sarge will melt in yo palm and give you another hour or maybe even two. Just hang loose, blood.

Is it a secret that you find out upon check in, or is it published when you make the reservation and agree to the terms,.....yo?

That was my inspiration for the post :)

I suspect this will wind up in OMNI, but meanwhile, my reading was that this is about the wording about it being AT 11am, as in you need to queue up at that exact time. Rather than BY 11am.

Karma. It's often enough that I'm arriving from a long flight and hoping for a check-in prior to 3pm-ish so I'm happy to vacate as requested if I no other reason to be in the room. I figure it just helps things circulate and take their natural order in the world. Conversely, if I had a good reason to need the room longer, I'm not shy about requesting if it's available.

You give up the time on one end or the other so the room can be cleaned.

I prefer more time in the room on the other end -- it's more important to me to be able to check in when I arrive in a city than to stay in the room late. I wish more check-out (and therefore check-in) times were earlier, 10am and 1pm rather than noon and 3pm. Get in, get settled, go have lunch, have the afternoon free, and no dealing with registration queues when you get back.

I do recall a 9am check-out somewhere, maybe India. Also, some hotels in Dubai just give you multiples of 24 hours from whenever you check in (or used to). That's nice.

Seth

I've had check out times as early as 9:30 am in full service hotels that were part of a conference center. My worst experience with this was returning from breakfast at about 8:30 am to find a housekeeper in my room (ignoring the do not disturb sign) starting to do something to the room despite the fact that I obviously had not checked out. She had rearranged the items that I had been organizing to pack, so of course it took me longer to leave than it would have is the staff had just stayed out. Very frustrating.

Mr. Weinstein (hopefully not THAT one),

Ok, but what makes you think he that giveth, getteth?
Rarely happens to me, but I’ve heard many a tale of folk arriving for their overpriced Vegas room after 3 PM and being told it’s not ready till 5.
Nothing offered in return, not even a later checkout.

As for 24-hour check-in, this was flogged as The Next Big Thing in the Los Angeles area, with a prominent write-up in the Times.
High time we hoteliers do away with the same old crusty operations manual written at the turn of century (last). It died a quick death.
Crusty ops manual lives on.

Ha -- no, not that Weinstein, not related, and we don't pronounce it the same way.

If I were told my room wouldn't be ready until two hours after the stated check-in time, I would expect a competent hotel to offer me something by way of compensation (if my reservation is for one night, they're denying me a tenth of my stay, so that should be reimbursed at the very least) or I would ask for something if it were truly an inconvenience. In Las Vegas I would pull out my phone and prepare to walk if the front desk were being stubborn.

I've dealt with that only once, at the Intercontinental Park Lane in London, and they went over the top. I was checking in at 10pm and it would be only a 15-minute delay, but they comped me a drink in the lounge and added 25,000 points to my account. (This on a Chase free night!)

I wish more places would try 24-hour check-in; it would make me feel like I was getting at least reasonable value on midnight check-ins where I'm staying in town until late in the evening.

Seth

Quite a few places have electronic locks that disable the key. What I don't like is if check out is 11 am and you ask for late check out by noon but the key is disabled when you return to the room at 11:15 am to get your luggage and leave. Then you have to go back to the lobby, wait, then get your key re-activated.

How quaint, people sleeping in and still hanging around the hotel at 11AM.