We'll be arriving at LGA next Saturday morning at 10.14am after MEL-HNL-ORD-LGA. By the time we get our luggage and take the shuttle to the nearby hotel (LGA Marriott) it will probably be around 11.00am.

I know we'll be pretty buggered by then and will be hoping the Marriott will give us an early room. Does anybody know whether this hotel is likely to? If not what do you suggest we do if they tell us to come back at 3 or 4.00pm.

Here are my options. Please add your suggestions to the list:

1. Sit in the lobby

2. Sit in the bar

3. Go for a walk (too cold?)

4. Go back to LGA and sit in the airline club lounge and enjoy the facilities (we have membership)

5. Go for a ride in a bus somewhere (we won't be hiring a car).

People reported success in securing a room quickly by hanging out in the lobby in a very unorderly way. The golden line between being a nuisance or casting a negative image without actually giving a reason for complaint, such that the hotel only has one choice to get rid of you: find a room for you as soon as possible.

Please note, however, that the correct way of action would be to simply accept that they can't / don't want to give you a room until the official check-in time.

HTB.

I prefer to book the night before in these situations (making sure the hotel is aware I won't actually turn up until next morning). 5am (heck even 10am) is a ridiculously early time to be checking in as it is unreasonable to expect many guests will have already checked out, and the rooms cleaned, by that hour.

By just showing up you appear arrogant, self-important and cheap, IMHO.

Hotels appreciate guests booking the night before in this situation, and I've gotten some very nice rooms and extra benefits by doing this.

So I decided to change my schedule around to avoid the 5:30am/6:00am checkin by heading first to Vina del Mar instead of Santiago. Now I'll arrive at a different hotel probably around 8am instead, and if I can't check in, I'll just take a nap on the beach or by the pool!

FWIW I've checked in early before (around 10-11am), and usually preface that with an "I realize my room probably isn't ready yet, but I was hoping to just check in and drop off my bags." That with my Southern accent turned on has had reasonable luck. :-)

Well, in central Chile, the accent is from the deep deep deep south, and they may not understand you down this way :D

Depending on the lounge location this might not be possible. If the club is airside you would have to get them to issue you a gate pass. If this is what you would want to do, why not call the hotel when you land, explain your situation and see what they say? This way, if they can't check you in yet you can still go to the club.

That's why I always ask to leave my luggage, and nothing more. Anything else the hotel offers me is a bonus, and much appreciated.

If I really, really need the room I book the previous night.

Same here -- if I arrive very early and I need to go straight to work (e.g. west coast to Europe) I will book and pay for the hotel for the previous night. However, I've found that you need to call the hotel and tell them that you are a "red eye passenger" so that they don't give your room away when you don't show up.

Well, IMHO, that's bullsh!t. I know I can't expect a room at 5am when I booked for that day, and ofcourse I won't be angry if they don't have a room, but I can show up and ask nicely, can't I? I have an almost 100% success rate of securing a room by showing up in the early morning - the best one was a 3am check-in at the Oriental in Bangkok. In my experience, if they have a room and you ask nicely, they will give it to you. Additional costs to the hotel are zero, and they have a happy client who is more likely to return, so it makes sense for the hotel as well.

Ofcourse the hotels appreciate guests booking the night before - that's more money for them. Some will even abuse the knowledge that a guest won't be checking in until early morning. I had a situation in Sydney once where my secretary had booked a hotel for "the night before" telling the hotel I would arrive around 6am, and when I got there they didn't have a room. Turns out they just sold the room twice anticipating a guest who would check out very early giving them time to clean before my arrival. After a 24 hour trip, I was very unhappy.

I guess YMMV with everything. I've probably been better than 50% successful getting into my WDW room in the early morning after a red-eye to MCO. I certainly never count on it--and I'm sure I've jinxed myself for my trip later this month by typing this--but overall I guess I've been pretty lucky with it.

The Schiphol Sheraton in AMS let me check in about 8:00 am once. My connection to MUC was cancelled due to snow there, so I didn't see much point in hanging around the airport all day hoping they cleared it up. I had NW rebook me on the next morning's flight since I had an extra day before meetings anyway. I called SPG from the KL lounge for a reservation, and they gave me the direct number of the hotel, which told me they had rooms ready and come on over. I didn't want to exit the secure area unless I knew the room was ready since I at least had lounge access. I was taking a nap while most of the others were still standing in line to rebook. :D

Checked into the Island Shangri-La in Hong Kong around 7:30 am several years ago. They didn't seem surprised.

I've checked-in early at the Hyatt in Santiago numerous times and never got turned away. I am Plat in Gold Passport.