You couldn’t sleep on your flight and were squished into a tiny economy seat. To make matters worse, there was turbulence, crying children, and an overly chatty seatmate.
The jet lag and grogginess are setting in, and all you want is to nestle into the crisp, white sheets of a hotel king bed, especially after baggage claim chaos and navigating getting a taxi in a foreign language.
Here, we’ll dig into what time you can check in to a hotel, if you can check in to a hotel early, and other key tips, as well as what to do as an alternative if you can’t check in early.
If you can’t find any hotel check-in policy on a hotel’s website, call and ask. Many hotels maintain that early check-in is subject to availability, and if you want it, you should contact them to ask for it.
Besides the fact that elite status members are typically treated as more VIP customers, some elite status levels actually offer early check-in as a published benefit.
Some luxury hotel programs that come with popular credit cards offer early check-in benefits. Do note that these benefits are usually subject to availability.
The best way to see if you can get early check-in is by contacting the hotel ahead of time. They will likely note your request, but it may not be possible for them to confirm it until you arrive.
The upside to emailing is that if your request is confirmed or granted ahead of time, you have written documentation to show at the hotel if you have any issues with early check-in upon arrival.