Hotel Check-in/Check-out Times Are Broken: Here’s Why You’re Paying for Rooms You Can’t Use
by Gary Leff
Have you ever flown to Europe, landed at 6 o’clock in the morning, and had to wait until 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. to check into your hotel? That’s a miserable experience. If you’re a business class passenger maybe you can shower at the airport in an arrivals lounge. You find a place to store your bags. You’re exhausted and want a nap (part of my strategy to quickly adapt to local time is a short nap, in order to make it through dinner on local time).
If you travel to India you might arrive at 1 a.m. Surely you need to go to bed when you get there. So you wind up paying for a hotel the night before. But then when your flight back departs at 2 a.m. what do you do? You need to leave for the airport around 11 p.m., which is far beyond what hotels will do even for elite late check-out. So you wind up paying for an extra night you don’t “really” use. Now you’ve paid for two more nights than you actually “stayed.”
Do hotel check-in times and check-out times even make sense?
Hotel check in/check out times will never make sense to me. You want me to check in when the day is almost over but I should leave the hotel EARLY?
— ً ؘ (@j_ldn__) June 9, 2024
Someone wanted to “community note” this tweet, “Hotel check in/out times are set as they are to allow the hotel staff time to clean and prepare the room for the next guest” but this completely misses the point.
- A mid-tier hotel is structured around its own operations and costs. They’re trying to deliver the hotel product as efficiently as possible. Guests conform to the needs of the property and help minimize its costs. Maybe there’s no room service, just a grab and go, or food is delivered in cardboard and paper. Guests might check-in using a kiosk instead of with a person. And they arrive and depart in a manner which maximizes the efficiency (and lowers the cost) of the housekeeping operation.
- A premium hotel is structured around meeting the needs of the guests. It achieves a premium rate by delivering a premium service. That means investing more in staff and products that elevate the guest experience in case those elevate a stay. As soon as a customer enters the hotel’s doors, they are a guest meant to be taken care of. It’s possible that a hotel is full on a given night, long before check-in time, but if so then the guest is immediately cared for. Is there a temporary standard room that might be assigned rather than the premium one they booked? Can they use the gym or spa? Would they like a complimentary coffee? How can the guest be made as comfortable as possible?
I thought a better take, which represents a certain kind of traveler, came from Becky Pokora: if a hotel is a place to sleep, and you aren’t sleeping, then it’s ok I guess? You aren’t looking for a premium experience.
Conversely, this has always made perfect sense to me and fits a natural traveling schedule:
You check in at the end of the day because you spent the day doing interesting things. And you check out in the morning to allow time to do more fun things. https://t.co/i0eZIzMK2j— Becky Pokora (@sightDOING) June 11, 2024
One of the mistakes we make most thinking about travel is to universalize our own experience – that how we travel and what we’re looking for is right and should be how it works for everyone.
While many premium hotels fail at check-in and check-out, Starwood Preferred Guest was truly revolutionary in how they treated best customers when they introduced “Your24”:
- Check in whenever you wish, check out 24 hours later
- As long as you check in at 9 a.m. or later, you’d still be entitled to 4 p.m. late check-out
This was offered to 75 night Platinum members. Hotels had to approve the request, but it was confirmed in advance after booking, and personally I didn’t have a problem getting approvals. Marriott made this a benefit at the Ambassador level and the reports I’ve heard have been that approvals are harder. Starwood’s best customers were truly honored guests.
