[sygazelle]

My wife and I went to Las Vegas this week to celebrate her birthday. We checked in at 1:10 pm at the Paris Hotel. The check in clerk told us they have rooms available but there is a $20 early check in fee because the official check in time starts at 4pm. The clerk then said he would waive the fee if we upgraded to a higher level room.

I told the clerk I've never heard of such a fee at any hotel in my many years of travel. He argued that it is a normal fee and went on to explain why the Paris Hotel charges this fee if you check in before 4pm.

When I got back home I checked the Paris Hotel website and it does show this early check in fee in the details.

So, for the Paris Hotel at least, you are not getting a room for a day, you are getting a room for 19 hours (4pm to 11am checkout time).

Question: Have any of you heard of this type of fee before? Do you pay it?

[HXS]

I have heard of this but most hotels are cool about it and waive it. I haven't gone to one that hasn't waived it yet.

Have you considered just checking in your bags at the bellboy, then go do something and check in at 4 PM?

[PoorLurker]

I haven't heard anything like this as the people usually just let you go in early if there is a room available.

Slip them a $20 under your credit card and ask, "Do you have any complimentary upgrades?"

I thought it would be totally unethical and rude to do, but I guess it's normal in Vegas. My friend did it two weeks ago and the person said, "I will hold on to this until the end to see if my services are worthy."

And did you eat at Mon Ami Gabi? Definitely worth it.

[ASAP]

Somehow, I don't see anything odd here... all hotels have rules like this, some just dont charge a fee more than likely because they have many open bookings and the rooms are already clean. Almost all hotels, you check in around 3-4 and check out around 11-12 the next day, if you check in earlier, I don't see anything shocking about a $20 fee, its not even that much. BTW, hotels are sold not based on 24hrs but nightly, thats why the rate is always displayed that way.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by HXS

I have heard of this but most hotels are cool about it and waive it. I haven't gone to one that hasn't waived it yet.

Have you considered just checking in your bags at the bellboy, then go do something and check in at 4 PM?

I got them to waive it.

I'm just wondering if this is a trend in hotel fees or just an anomaly.

[kprocivic]

Heard of the fee before but they always will waive it for me. But for 20 bucks i would chop it up as a loss.

[sygazelle]

Originally Posted by PoorLurker

I haven't heard anything like this as the people usually just let you go in early if there is a room available.

Slip them a $20 under your credit card and ask, "Do you have any complimentary upgrades?"

I thought it would be totally unethical and rude to do, but I guess it's normal in Vegas. My friend did it two weeks ago and the person said, "I will hold on to this until the end to see if my services are worthy."

And did you eat at Mon Ami Gabi? Definitely worth it.

Thanks for the advice. No, we didn't eat at Mon Ami Gabi. I'll keep it in mind next time.

[omasou]

Originally Posted by sygazelle

My wife and I went to Las Vegas this week to celebrate her birthday. We checked in at 1:10 pm at the Paris Hotel. The check in clerk told us they have rooms available but there is a $20 early check in fee because the official check in time starts at 4pm. The clerk then said he would waive the fee if we upgraded to a higher level room.

I told the clerk I've never heard of such a fee at any hotel in my many years of travel. He argued that it is a normal fee and went on to explain why the Paris Hotel charges this fee if you check in before 4pm.

When I got back home I checked the Paris Hotel website and it does show this early check in fee in the details.

So, for the Paris Hotel at least, you are not getting a room for a day, you are getting a room for 19 hours (4pm to 11am checkout time).

Question: Have any of you heard of this type of fee before? Do you pay it?

Leave the lugged in the hotel baggage area, go about town and tell him to FO.

[dreamingat30fps]

Never seen a fee for early check in. However 3-4PM check in time is normal. Usually however they either don't let you check in because they dont have rooms ready, or they just let you check in early for free.

[M_Six]

That's the killer about flying to the UK or anywhere in Europe. Most flights get you there in the morning and if you can't sleep on the plane, you're wiped. But you can't check in until at least 2PM. That sucks. I remember driving around Munich looking for our hotel while barely staying awake.

[Blksnowflake]

This happens to me all the time when traveling abroad or on the road out west....but they have always sort of waived it if it wasn't busy or they could accommodate me. LV is another animal all together, I'm surprised you actually got over.

[shoei]

This has been around for awhile now, and it's not just exclusive to large hotel chains or even smaller properties... It's like bag fees for airlines and even priority boarding fees you can pay to board earlier...

Only solution to any of this is to have status at hotels / airlines etc...

[RickFLM4]

The check in / check out times are normal. I haven't seen an early check in fee but it doesn't surprise me. On at least one occasion I remember arriving early and there wasn't a room available so I checked my bags and did something else as suggested above.

[ipilcher]

As if there weren't already enough reasons to hate Vegas.

[MKSixer]

I've never been told to pay. I've been told that I can't check in because no rooms were available. I've checked in as early as 10 am.

Having status and the right kind of credit card helps but nothing works better than a $20/50 under the credit card and ID.

Cheers-mk

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by M_Six

That's the killer about flying to the UK or anywhere in Europe. Most flights get you there in the morning and if you can't sleep on the plane, you're wiped. But you can't check in until at least 2PM. That sucks. I remember driving around Munich looking for our hotel while barely staying awake.

going straight to sleep when you arrive in Europe is one of the worst things that you can do, you have to force yourself to stay up until bedtime, or the time change will screw you over bad...

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by ASAP

going straight to sleep when you arrive in Europe is one of the worst things that you can do, you have to force yourself to stay up until bedtime, or the time change will screw you over bad...

We've been taking the single daytime flight from Chicago to Heathrow. This upcoming trip will be our 3rd time. Leaves O'Hare around 8AM and gets into Heathrow around 10:30PM their time. We check into one of the Heathrow hotels and catch up on internet stuff for a few hours and then hit the sack. Wake up late, have breakfast, grab a car, and we're off. Works perfect. No jet lag at all.

[Flying Ace]

meh, there's a price for convenience these days.

BTW, the times I have attempted to do an early check in, I've gotten less than ideal rooms. They'll just give you first available. If you have special requests and want the top floor corner room, you'll have to wait.

This is also when hotel status comes in to play. I am Hilton Gold and Marriott Silver and you can tell them when you're coming in, what you want in the room, which room and it's all ready for you when you're ready with no extra fees. All this can be done through their phone app. From what I've seen, they put status and VIP ahead of other customers.

Otherwise as others have said, usually you get the room when it's ready...

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by ASAP

going straight to sleep when you arrive in Europe is one of the worst things that you can do, you have to force yourself to stay up until bedtime, or the time change will screw you over bad...

ha! impossible to do on the shortest possible North America - European leg, which is East Coast cities to Iceland...trying staying awake when you arrive!

The flight is only like 4 hours, and you leave at like 11 pm Eastern and arrive at 8 am GMT and then the daylight issues with being so far north and west of GMT messes you up.

[MightyMouseTech]

This is pretty normal practice everywhere.

All hotels have a check in time. Don't expect to check in before that.

[brianeck]

Originally Posted by ASAP

going straight to sleep when you arrive in Europe is one of the worst things that you can do, you have to force yourself to stay up until bedtime, or the time change will screw you over bad...

In my experience some sleep is better than none. The East Coast-Europe flights in the early evening are the worst. I try and take the latest possible ones (leave NY at 11PM) because if I leave at 5:25PM there is 0 chance I'll sleep on the way over.

That said, if you take the earlier one you arrive in most cities around 6:30AM. You can be at your hotel by 7 and if you pay for the previous night you have a room waiting for you, can shower, nap for 4-5 hours, and go out around noon. . .

Early checkin fees are pretty common these days, as are late check in times. When I need to be on my A game I plan ahead and pay the fee in advance so I know my room will be ready, or in extreme cases like I mentioned above get the room for an extra night.

Jet lag is a bitch and everyone is different. The only true answer I've found is my 4 hour Halcion which puts me to sleep for a few hours and resets my clock whether I'm tired or not.

I fly about 150k miles a year and have for the last 7 years FYI.

[BayMoWe335]

Paris is a shit hotel.