Checking into a hotel *early*
 

So, I just booked a N/S redeye from PUQ to SCL. Flight departs at 1:05am and lands at 4:25am in Santiago. My plan for the morning was to go to a hotel and just crash.

Assuming I was going to arrive around 6am, would a hotel (probably SPG brand) check me in that early, or would I have to book the night before? I'm assuming to guarantee the best chance of a room, I'd have to arrange with the hotel beforehand, regardless.

Anyone done this? Thanks.

I checked into a hotel in Singapore about 7 am about 2 years ago. I also checked in at 2 am but that counted as the evening before.

This is one time where having status in hotel loyalty programs help. Some will let you check in early at no extra charge. I've used this at IC and Hilton places pretty regularly. I don't know if I've checked in before 7am, though.

Some may have a reduced rate for a half day, or I always just say I have a reservation, and I understand I can't check in now, but please do what you can. Often they just let me check in then.

My experience: if you ask beforehand, they will probably charge you for whatever they offer (but maybe not a full extra night).
I prefer to just show up and ask. I generally ask if I can leave my luggage. If they are not full I usually get access to a room. But I always enter the hotel knowing there is a chance the answer will be “no” (for the room, not for the luggage).

And yes, Gold or Platinum plastic might help in this case. But it is not strictly needed to get in early.

I have had reasonable luck with early Santiago arrivals, but never that early (at that hour, you should have your luggage within 10 minutes of getting off the plane, and your ride into the city center will be 15 minutes). "Cruiseship hell" season has arrived and this can affect hotel occupancy dramatically (especially when 2 busloads or more are checking out at 9 AM to get to Valparaiso).

I've only tried an early check-in twice. The first time, after some scrambling, they were able to find an open room. The second time (at a hotel where I have status) they did offer to keep my luggage, but quite literally told me to take a hike for a few hours until the published check-in time.

I've had remarkable luck even where I don't have status- the Sheraton Seattle checked us in at 1 PM just last month, and hotels in Europe have been nice about letting me check in after an AM arrival on the redeye- but I never count on it. For early-morning arrivals in India I've reserved a room the night before and made it clear that I was coming in early that morning. That's worked very well with the exception of the Crowne Plaza in Gurgaon; I got in at 11 PM from the ORD-DEL nonstop and was offered free dinner (already stuffed from the plane) or the lounge. It took an hour till I had a room and I had to be in the office the next AM. I supect they charged someone taking a late-night flight extra to stay in "my" room while also charging me for that night, then didn't get it ready for me in time. :mad:

Disney hotels are absolutely inflexible. Doesn't matter if half their rooms are empty and cleaned, check-in time is the official posted time. One of the reasons I don't consider Disney World "The Happiest Place on Earth".

I've been fairly lucky turning up at hotels in the morning. Half the time I have had to wait up to an hour for a room to be made up, but that's better than paying for an extra day or half day. All the other times have just been given a room straight off. Guess it depends on how busy the hotel is and how helpful they want to be. I never expect though, just hope. There have been many times when I have been checking out of hotels in the morning and arriving guests have been told they can't check in until after midday.

Some don't have sufficient housekeeping in the wee hours for this.

My own experience is that it is very much hit or miss and wholly dependant upon the availability of guest ready rooms. The only way to guarantee a room is to book it from the previous night and advise the hotel you will be a lite arrival. Most hotel groups have T & C's posted somewhere on their websites which specifically address the "normal" times of arrival and departure. Why not simply e mail them and ask of they will accommodate you on this occasion? Good luck.

I've had relatively good success checking into a hotel to leave my things after a Monday morning flight, but it's usually just to drop off my stuff, not to stay and sleep.

If the hotel had empty rooms from the night before, and you didn't expect a cleaning during the day, it don;t see how it hurts to check-in early. But sleeping for a few hours then expecting housecleaning while you're out would be a bit much, IMHO.

In my experience, a hotel will check you in if they have a room available and ready. If not, as sometimes happens, they have always stored my luggage for me until check-in time.

It seems to help, when you arrive at the check-in desk, to say something along the lines of "I know I'm early" — for one thing, this means that the check-in person doesn't feel constrained to go into a long-winded explanation of either (a) why there is no room available or (b) that he/she is doing you a favour by checking you in early, but it also seems to make them more disposed to be helpful (I don't know why).

I've had good luck calling the hotel a couple days in advance and giving them an FYI that I had an early arrival. In only one case they did not have a room available and I had to wait about an hour. The big brands, I've rarely been charged for checking in early. Some of the smaller non-US brands have charged me for half-day/couple hours, etc.

I usually have better luck on this in places like Southeast Asia and independently run places, where many will do it after 7 a.m. or so if they have the room. With chains and the U.S. I think you have a greater chance of running into someone who thinks they have to do it by the book or get fired (though they might just claim they don't have any clean rooms available yet).

Just to clarify, when I say US brands; I'm talking Marriott, Hilton, SPG, etc. It's many of the other brands that have charged me. That said, I've been able to successfully do it many places (Europe, Asia, S. America) but never really tried in NA.

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.