Here’s a question that comes up with some frequency — while hotels have published check-in times, there’s often some flexibility with how early you can check-in. The question is, how early is too early? Pending empty rooms, can you check into a hotel at 12:01AM? At 6AM? At 12PM? I’d like to talk about that in a bit of detail in this post, and discuss the things that I consider when deciding on a strategy.
Most hotels will let you check-in earlier than promised
Hotels have published check-in and check-out times. However, generally speaking, there’s some flexibility there. Most hotels will let you check-in significantly earlier than the published check-in time, assuming a room is available and has been cleaned.
Now, there are a few things to keep in mind:
- Hotels will generally prioritize early check-in for elite members or other “preferred” guests (like those who booked through programs like Virtuoso, etc.)
- I find that most hotels allow early check-in for free, though other hotels will charge a fee; in my experience fees for early check-in are most common for airport hotels, or other hotels that sell day rooms
- It’s important to be realistic, and realize that it’s extremely common for early check-in to not be available, given that many hotels run close to capacity, have limited housekeeping staffing, assign guests specific rooms, etc.
- If it’s essential that you to have a room before the published check-in time, you’ll either want to book the hotel for the night before, contact the hotel to ask if you can pay a fee for guaranteed early check-in, or book a hotel that offers guaranteed early check-in (for example, Peninsula will guarantee 6AM check-in or 10PM check-out)
How early is too early for hotel check-in, though?
How early is too early for trying to check into your room, though? No, you generally can’t show up at 12:01AM with a reservation for that day and expect that you’ll be accommodated 15-16 hours before check-in time. So what time is it reasonable to show up and expect that you’ll receive a room, subject to availability?
- This is generally only possible after the night audit is complete, because at most hotels the system wouldn’t even allow it before then; this often happens in the early morning hours, usually by 5AM
- My personal take is that I wouldn’t feel sheepish asking for early check-in starting at around 6AM; that’s not to say it’ll happen or that rooms will be available, and for that matter it’s reasonable if the hotel rejects it on principle, but to me that feels much more reasonable than asking for a 2AM check-in, for example
- If you want to be truly reasonable, I think 9AM is a less controversial cutoff for requesting early check-in, subject to availability
How I approach whether or not to pay for an extra night
When I think of whether to book a hotel for the night before or just chance it, I typically consider how much I actually value having access to the room early, as well as what I think the odds are that the room will be ready early if I don’t pay for it.
Here’s my thought process, broadly speaking:
- If I’m traveling alone, I’m much more likely to chance it, while if I’m traveling with our little kids, I value the certainty a lot more, given how much more schedules matter
- I also consider the cost of an extra night; I’m more willing to chance things on a $1,000 per night hotel than a $100 per night hotel, purely in terms of the total cost of guaranteeing early check-in
- I consider the seasonality of the destination; if you’re traveling somewhere in the off season, odds are much better of there being rooms available early compared to traveling in the peak season
- In the event my room won’t be ready until check-in time, I consider how pleasantly I’d be able to pass time; if I’m staying at a city hotel, I consider if there are good spaces for me to work without having a room, while if I’m at a resort, I consider how many good places there are to work without having a room
- I consider the maximum amount of time I’d potentially be without a room; if I’m landing at 5AM I’d be much more likely to pay for an extra night compared to arriving at 11AM (obviously)
The truth is that I rarely get in a situation nowadays where I can’t decide whether to book a hotel the night before or not (I rarely pay for them, and typically just chance it).
Perhaps the last time I specifically remember paying for the night before was back in 2022, when I stayed at the Alila Hinu Bay in Oman. We were landing at Salalah Airport (SLL) at 4:20AM on Qatar Airways. We then knew it would take some time for us to get our rental car, and then the resort was a roughly 75 minute drive away. I figured that absolute best case scenario, we’d arrive at the hotel at around 6AM.
For what it’s worth, the hotel was charging around $300 per night, so while it wasn’t cheap, it also wasn’t a crazy price. Here’s how I thought through the logic:
- On the one hand, I knew it was going to be a long travel day, and if I booked the night before, I’d be guaranteed access to my room, and would also receive breakfast on account of my Globalist status, which otherwise wouldn’t be included on the morning that I check-in (then again, breakfast wouldn’t cost nearly as much as the room rate)
- On the other hand, I could easily save the $300, and maybe the room would be ready, in which case that would be great, while if wasn’t, I could’ve hung out at the pool, gotten a spa treatment, and paid for breakfast, while still coming out ahead
Like I said, I found this to be an interesting question simply because typically the choice is obvious to me one way or another. It was hard to make this decision without perfect knowledge, but here’s how I thought through it:
- Would I gladly wait a few hours for my room to be ready to save $300? Absolutely!
- Would I pay $300 if I knew the hotel were packed and I’d only be able to otherwise access my room at 3PM, the published check-in time? Absolutely, as I don’t want to be without a room for that long…
But there’s a big difference between waiting three to four hours vs. waiting nine hours, for example. In the end, we decided to pay for the night before, and were happy about that decision (as we could get right to our room, sleep for several hours, etc.).
Bottom line
While most hotels have published check-in and check-out times, the reality is that peoples’ travel plans rarely match up perfectly with those. Most hotels are willing to accommodate early check-in on a space available basis (sometimes for a fee, but usually not), though there are limits to that.
You should only expect to be able to check-in after the night audit, and personally I tend to think that early check-in is a reasonable request starting at around 6AM, on a space available basis. That’s not to say that rooms will be available and clean, but it’s the point at which I think it can’t hurt to ask.
What has your experience been with early hotel check-in? To those who work in the hotel industry, do you have any insights on how you view early check-in?