The cheapest flight usually lands early morning. The hotel check-in happens late afternoon. This scenario of early check in at hotels has become a bane for the whole travel industry. It is like a cat chasing its tail. The flights early morning timings are between 01:00 AM to 04:00 AM. The hotel will never let you do an early check-in at the hotel at that time. Most of the time you either sit at the airport or wait at the hotel lobby if you are with the family. Shouldn’t the hotel oblige? The answer is no, the hotel can try to accommodate but they are not liable. Before you blast the hotel read what your options are!
There are two types – Early Check-in or Late Check-in.
The early check-in is the biggest problem when you are traveling to the South Eastern Countries. This problem has arisen because the flights to these locations are very cheap. We all know that when something is cheap there is something hidden. Yes, the flight timing, you will get the worst flight timing. You really cannot do anything when you land. Either you pay extra for that night and add extra cost to your holiday budget or stay at the airport. Sometimes you realize that if you had spent extra on that flight ticket which had a better flight timing you would not have faced this problem.
Let’s start at home – The first wrongdoing which we do is by not spending that extra money on the airline ticket. The INR 2000-3000 difference costs you more when you have to pay for that early check-in. Let us take the earlier example, the per night cost of your room is INR 3000. You can calculate the difference in cost between the cheap flight and the flight with a good time. If the flight ticket cost is not more than INR 3000 you should buy that ticket and get peace of time.
Let’s say if the flight difference was huge you had to buy that cheap ticket. Book a room in another hotel for a night which is like super cheap. If you are with family this option takes care of everything. It would be even better if you can find a hotel next to your original hotel. I, on the other hand, used to get to Bangkok on these late-night flights. For me, the party used to start as soon as I landed. I was not the type who would spend the night at the airport. So, I just used to hire a taxi and enjoy the nightlife till morning. Then take a taxi, go to Pattaya, have breakfast on the street and get a check-in at the hotel. This was possible because I was solo and I just had a backpack.
Requesting the hotel helps. Technically they can give you an early check-in after 10:00 AM. You even have a chance that they give you for free. But, that will only happen if they have a room. You can, however, leave your luggage at the hotel. The room availability is in the hand of the duty manager. Be nice to him and request. Any tantrums on him will lose that early check-in, if he gives, he still may charge you for the same.
Last and not least, have loyalty. Book hotels from the same chain of the hotel or be at-least a regular customer. This will help a lot, not only you can get an early check-in you can even get a room upgrade. Repeat customers always get preference from the hotel.
Pack some pool clothes in a handy bag. Waiting at the pool is much easier than in the lobby.
The hotel wants you to check-in by max 03:00 PM, but if you are coming after 07:00 you better inform the hotel. If you do not inform they might cancel your reservation. This usually happens in peak seasons when hotels are jam-packed. As far as my experience is concerned, do not even send an mail. Call the hotel personally and inform. Do take the name of that person who handled your call. The mails sometimes don’t reach or are lost in too many emails.
Late check-outs are also possible but that will be at the discretion of the hotel.
A lot of travel portals sell all-inclusive packages with cheap flights. The fact is hidden that your flight will reach midnight. Sometimes you see it and argue but most of the time, travel portals use it to oversell. We at mastyatri.com always tell flight costs and package costs separately. We inform you what flight time we have booked so that you can make educated changes. Telling the cost of package differently helps keep transparency where only flight cost changes and not of the package. Do call us for a customized itinerary.
Eccentric Blogger, Traveler and Consultant.
