How come hotel check-in time is always 3-4?
I got in on an earlier flight, and arrived at 6 it was a pain in the ass.. I literally had to walk around for like 4 hours until things opened, and I was so tired and weary all day.
Because checkout isn't until 11. It takes time to prep a room between guests. Depending on occupancy and staffing levels you may be able to get in earlier.
There really needs to be a business model that accommodates those travelers.. Having to walk around from 6-3 in a city after a long flight sucks.
If you ask, some places can do early check-in. You might have to pay for it, because it disrupts their routine
It would be a much smaller business model. My guess is that there have already been multiple market analyses of what you're talking about and the determination is most likely that the majority of hotel arrivals occur later on in the day.
This isn't to say a good amount of arrivals dont occur much earlier in the day, just not enough to justify the cost.
Additionally, to flip that would have hotel staff be cleaning rooms at a much earlier time (midnight to 4am), meaning they would have to arrive at midnight to start their shift. At 4am, the cleaning staff management would then need to spend a minimum of 1 hour to inspect each room to ensure it met company and legal standards. This is all ignoring the various tasks this can incur on the other staff like concierges.
I used to work as a Front Desk Agent, and later on a Night Auditor, in a small, but upscale, hotel. The housekeeping staff were some of the hardest working people I've ever met, and yet they were the least appreciated. Those hours in between check-out and check-in was always a hussle. I was always thankful I worked front desk whenever I saw them and would do them small favors if they ever asked (though honestly more often than not it was the other way around and I was asking them for some small request on behalf of the guest).
If we had the rooms available for an early check in, then we did it, but if not the best we could do was offer them to check their luggage in at the front desk and they were on their own until check in. The occurrence of this wasn't negligible, but given everything I witnessed, I determined, at least for our hotel, it wouldn't have been monetarily feasible to adjust that check-out check-in window to accommodate them. It simply didn't happen often enough to justify it.
If checkout is 11, you need to be able to clean dozens of rooms before check-in. You can't have 20 cleaners come in for an hour, so you have 5 cleaners come in for 4 hour shifts instead.
You can’t have 20 cleaners come in for an hour
quitter talk
Nathan for you disagrees.
Normal checkout is around noon, after which housekeeping will do their magic. While they generally don't need a whole lot of time per room, they usually have A LOT of rooms to cover, so this can take a few hours. So checkin at 6 is reasonable.
However, there is some leeway there. Returning customers can usually request a later check out. I do this often so I don't have to haul my luggage around at the final day of my business trips. On top of that, I usually phone ahead and ask if it's possible to check in early if I arrive relatively early in the day. Otherwise I'll just take my luggage with me to work and check in later.
This depends on whether they have available rooms. If they're fully booked, there won't be any rooms ready until housekeeping has done their thing. In the same way, late checkout can mean that the room won't be cleaned until next day, unless housekeeping can schedule it for last on their round, so they would need an extra room for that.
It basically boils down to the fact that if they have the capacity, then asking nicely will usually get you a long way.
I always just go, worst case scenario they were super busy the night before and don't have any rooms ready so you leave your bags with them and go explore lighter, but most of the time they have a room and let you in.
You can also pre-book early check in but I tend to only do that if I really need it because it costs and usually you can sneak in by turning up.
Some places you can request early check in
Emphasis on “some”. I used to work at a hotel. When people arrived at 11 AM expecting to check in, I had no problem making them wait in the lobby. I was polite about it, of course, but also firm.
Our housekeeping staff worked harder than anyone else in the building. I wasn’t about to give them a hard time on behalf of some ignorant, inconsiderate people.
Oh you mean they just arrive early? Usually when I need an early or late check in I’ll ask the hotel beforehand. They can usually accommodate with early notice. If they can’t, I usually book elsewhere if on business, or plan around it on pleasure
Agree with your principles but I have questions on details
If there's several rooms to clean and assuming good planning the last rooms will be ready by 3pm. However the first rooms will be ready by noon or earlier.
I'm not saying customers deserve it, but the math says it's possible for the poor guy on a 20h connection that arrived at 6am.
As many mentioned in the thread, early check-in is an alternative, when not possible, most hotels I've visited offer the service to store the luggage for free. I leave the luggage at the hotel and go for a walk, or stay at the lobby.
Cleaning crews need time to clean all the rooms after morning checkout. Some hotels have early check-in available if you ask, if they have rooms already available.
This frequently happens to me when going to Europe from the US. And that's an overnight flight with a 5+ hour time change to boot,so I am very jetlagged upon arrival. Very often, if there is a room available that was unsold the night before they can accommodate you. But if not, the hotel can hold your bags while you go somewhere to kill a few hours.
If you travel enough to get loyalty program status with one hotel chain, that can help too. Sometimes those higher tiers come with "guaranteed" early checkin. I'm sure that if they are totally sold out you won't get the early room, but it's possible someone else had to leave for an early flight and if you have the status they will take care of that room quickly for you.
Note that in some case, it's possible to get an earlier check-in. For ordinary customer it might be a paying service, for corporate customer and member of loyalty program it may be a complementary service. Just give a call to the hotel. Same applies to late check-out it's sometimes possible to check-out at 14 or even 16.
Some places do early check-in and late check-out, and yet others actually have the capacity for you to hire the place for a day rate.
Capsule hotels would be ideal for this.