Although I can’t confirm it, there once was a time when the regular check out time for hotels was 1:00 p.m. At the very least hotels did not dare ask for their guests to part before noon. However these days it seems that finding check out times of 11:00 A.M. and even 10:00 A.M. in some popular mountain ski towns are becoming as widespread as the stars in the sky. So why are these fluctuations occurring more often than not? And how does one curtail these earlier encroaching times to acquiesce a few more hours of beauty sleep after say a night of rough partying?
It used to be relatively easy to extend check out times an hour or two. A simple call down to the front desk and more times than not the hotel would be more than accommodating to approve your request. But now it seems that hotels are less likely to do so in the name of having to get the rooms ready quickly for the arrival of a new set of travelers. This is their primary excuse when denying a delayed check out of an hour or more. The best time to ask for a late check-out is when checking-in as a newly arrived guest. At this time the front desk attendant will be more inclined to grant additional requests as opposed to the morning attendant who will just be looking to clear your room as quickly as possible in order to get it ready for the new round of guests that day.
Now a days it seems the only way to guarantee a late check out is by being a member of a points system such as Priority Club Rewards or Choice Privileges. These are cards in which one can build up points by staying at member hotels. When staying at a member hotel of a points system card, one can typically request a check out of 2 p.m. Similar to airline miles, after so many stays one earns a free hotel stay. This is fine and dandy for the business traveler who lives in and out of his/her suitcase but for the less frequent traveler it may not be beneficial to sign up for one more card they may or may not use again. I think it also ties the hands of the front desk attendant who wants to help the traveler but cannot unless he/she signs up for the points system card to which the hotel is a member affiliate.
Innvestigators 