Challenges with Hotel Stays: Check-In/Check-Out Timings and Booking Experiences

Check-In and Check-Outs 

Long ago, I used to see some hotels offering 24-hour check-in. Now, in the days of Goibibo, Booking.com, Agoda, MakeMyTrip, etc., many hotels list check-in at 12 noon and check-out at 10 in the morning. Some have gone further, with check-in at 2 in the afternoon and check-out at 12 noon. I am not sure how many travelers find these timings convenient, but they certainly don’t work for me. From the hotel’s point of view, they get two hours in a general shift to clean the room for the next guest.  

For me, the problem is that I always reach my destination early in the morning. This way, I can make the most of the day. If I reach the place at noon, more than half the day is wasted. For example, if I am visiting a place over the weekend, it doesn’t make much sense to reach there on Saturday afternoon. Half the day is already gone. Since I need to return home in the morning in time for work, I end up leaving the place by Sunday night. There are so many trains that make these types of journeys very easy.  

Now, let’s say I reach the destination at 7 in the morning, and the check-in is at 12 noon. Sometimes, early check-in is not available. Sometimes, it comes with an extra cost, as I found out on my recent Hyderabad trip. When I check out, I always leave the hotel in the evening. I don’t find it efficient to check out at 10 AM and waste precious daytime traveling. So, what I currently do is check out in the early morning around 9, leave the bags with the hotel, and then return at night to pick up the bags and leave.  

Last September in Udupi, we reached the hotel before 2 PM (their check-in time was 2:00 PM). The rooms were not ready! They later upgraded the room but not before wasting 30-40 minutes of precious daytime. I know this wish may/will not be granted—but if hotels could keep some of their rooms for 24-hour check-in or offer better timings for people like me, who arrive in the morning and leave at night, it would be ideal.  

Reserving Rooms and Payment at Hotels  

I also tried the below-mentioned options while reserving rooms at hotels:  

a. Payment on arrival.  

b. Partial payment a couple of days before the actual check-in and the rest at arrival.  

c. Full payment a couple of days before arrival.  

So far, in all three cases, when booked via third-party sites like Goibibo, MakeMyTrip, Agoda, Booking.com, etc., everything went well. Note, I can’t say the same for all, so check the last suggestion at the end of this article.  

Now, I tried the same on a hotel’s own website. I reserved a famous hotel in Jaipur without paying. You may wonder why I did this—mainly because that option was available. If it wasn’t, I would have paid during the booking itself. The hotel’s website sent me emails after booking and close to the travel dates. So far, so good. This hotel also provided one airport transfer included in the bill.  

To schedule the airport transfer, I called them. Things went south from here. To my surprise, the guy at the other end told me that my reservation was not confirmed because I hadn’t paid. Now, they didn’t have any rooms left due to the festival season, and I couldn’t stay there. The guy insisted on this and didn’t offer any other options. I told him I received an email from their website about my booking and welcome messages, and there were no notifications about payments. If the reservation was not valid or they wanted me to pay in advance, they could have simply added a line in the email. After the call ended, I received one more email from their site—my booking was canceled!  

For the same trip, but on another day in Delhi, I had already booked a hotel via Agoda with a payment-on-arrival option. I was worried they might also cancel it. Fortunately, they honored the contract.  

Another problem faced while booking on a hotel’s own website is cancellations. Many don’t offer an option to cancel without losing most or all of the booking amount. They insist on rescheduling the trip within the next 3–6 months. This happened to us last year. The problem is that you may not find a suitable slot during the given interval. Some hotels are straightforward and immediately cancel and refund the amount after deducting a cancellation fee.  

Some Suggestions to fellow travelers

1. It’s better to apply caution when booking rooms on a hotel’s own website. The price may be lower compared to third-party sites, but always read and confirm the options available for cancellations or rescheduling.  

2. Never reserve a room without paying on a hotel’s own website, even if the option is available (pay on arrival).  

3. If you are arriving early, check whether early check-in is possible and whether it has extra charges.  

4. If your room is below ground floor, think twice before taking it. You may not like it after some time. This happened to us in Satara. We changed the room to the 2nd floor.  

5. Always try to book hotels close to good eateries. A 5-10 minute Google search will easily show you the place. In mid to high-end hotels, restaurants will be very costly. Also, if you don’t like the hotel’s restaurant, you will always have an alternative. Of course, you can order via Swiggy or Zomato as well.  

6. In case your booking is in a well-established market in a big city (e.g., Paharganj in Delhi, KR Market in Bangalore, or Old Hyderabad), always avoid going out or returning to the hotel during peak hours. Many times, you’ll end up spending huge amounts of time in Indian traffic.  

7. Also, take note of the closest hospital and metro station (if there is one) near your stay.  

8. If your train reaches the destination early in the morning, check whether a retiring room is available at the station. These retiring rooms are located on the platform itself. One can book a retiring room either at the source station or the destination station using a PNR number on the IRCTC website. You can book it for a duration of 4–48 hours either immediately before departure or right after arrival. The rates are very economical. If early check-in is unavailable, it’s better to freshen up at the railway station itself.  

9. Never book rooms, flight tickets, etc., using any third party that doesn’t have customer care or a contact number that someone will answer, regardless of how good their offer is. If there is a possibility for something to go wrong, it will go wrong at some point. This happened to us, and we were left without any option to cancel the to-and-fro flight tickets.  

Sajeev

Midnight hospital visit and fast diagnosis

Babies have their own way of communicating, whether people around them understand that or not is altogether a different problem. Over a period of time, understanding becomes better. Still, it’s not always easy to figure out why they cry sometimes—is it because of stomach pain? Are they hungry? Or do they want to sleep? Is their clothing too tight, or is it too cold or hot? Do they have a gas problem? Or is it just for getting attention? It can be for any number of reasons. So we try one best possible option after another to see which one works.  

On that cold Christmas night, Niha woke up from sleep and started crying in a loud noise non-stop. Everyone tried different tricks to pacify her, but she was not calming down. She kept on crying for the next forty-five minutes. Finally, we decided to see a doctor. The hotel guys suggested either the railway hospital or Apollo. It was close to midnight; we booked Uber and went to Apollo. Unfortunately, that hospital was closed. The cab driver knew another one nearby; it was working, but they suggested JK Lone. So we went to JK Lone. By the time we reached, Niha stopped crying and slept. What to do now? Go or not to go? Since we came all the way there, I decided to go inside.  

This is not the first time this is happening with Niha. Last time it happened when we were in Idukki. Idukki Medical College was nearby, and we went there at that time. There too, she stopped crying the moment we crossed the hospital gate. Doctors checked her and kept her there for the next three hours. They also gave her medicine for gastric issues. She slept there comfortably while we simply sat there.  

There were no patients at that time, and the doctor was a young lady who was reading a book with most lines highlighted. When she saw us, she looked upwards. I mentioned the non-stop crying for close to an hour and that she had just now fallen asleep. She had only one question: Is this your first kid? I told her yes. She suddenly completed the diagnosis: Kids will cry; that is normal, there is no problem. If they are not crying, then there is a problem.  

It was such a revelation for us—kids will cry!!! I looked at Divya; she was confused, as if asking, “Really? Kids will cry?” After passing the diagnosis, she gave a prescription—paracetamol—and went back to her books. Probably for a PG entrance exam? I was kind of wondering, what next? Shall we go or say something? Finally, I repeated to the doctor that crying non-stop for an hour doesn’t seem to be normal. She just repeated what she said earlier, but in a louder voice. It looks like, like many people, she also thinks that making the sound louder makes everything convincing. Convinced or not, we went outside, gave the prescription in the pharmacy, and got the medicine, which still sits in the table drawer with an unbroken seal.  

While going back to the hotel, scenes from Idukki Medical College went through my head—how the same situation played out in different ways. It’s possible that whatever this doctor told us may be right; we were simply worried because Niha is our first child, which in turn indicates that we are inexperienced. But I still don’t trust a prescription from a doctor who doesn’t even check or look at the patient.  

When we crossed the reception at the hotel, they asked how it went. I told them what happened. They mentioned that JK Lone is the best hospital in all of Rajasthan for kids. Maybe because of the nighttime, it wasn’t functioning properly and advised us to go again in the morning. I looked at Niha; she was sleeping. I just wished that she should not have that problem again, and of course, we are not going to JK Lone again...  

Sajeev

Hospitals as profit hubs? Even parking isn't free anymore!!!

After a long travel during the year-end, most of the family got infections and fell ill. We went to nearby major private hospitals for treatment. All hospital visits except one were during the daytime. Note that these are fully for-profit hospitals, and in Bangalore, consulting charges for doctors at private hospitals start at ₹800 per visit (follow-up visits with the same doctor within three days have no charges). If it's a specialist doctor, then the charge will be ₹1,000 or more. Super-specialists are even costlier. Now, even in small clinics in Bangalore, a doctor’s charge starts from ₹600. If you get admitted, it’s a different ballgame. Sometimes, within a week, you may exhaust your yearly health insurance coverage, as one of my ex-colleagues discovered last year.  

Doctor’s charges are just a part of the overall expenditure. Other than restrooms and drinking water, everything is chargeable in these hospitals. The day may not be far when hospitals start charging for drinking water and restroom access as well! One hospital (there may be more; but so far I saw this trend with one hospital) even took a leaf from Uber's playbook and adopted surge pricing. The only difference here is that the surge happens at night. My wife had to undergo an ultrasound scan as her stomach pain wasn’t reducing even after an injection. When I saw the bill at discharge, I was astonished to see how much the ultrasound scan cost. It was exactly double the daytime rate. Note that the hospital has a scanning unit, but since it was nighttime, labor was costly! Fortunately, consultations for emergency doctors at night cost the same as during the daytime!  

However, what was even more interesting is the trend in hospitals to outsource their parking needs, with the outsourcing company collecting money from patients who need to park their vehicles. Some hospitals haven’t started this yet, but many have. Charges start hourly, with the first hour costing ₹50. But should hospitals charge parking fees from patients? Isn’t it a facility they should provide without additional charges to their patients? I can understand parking charges in a shopping mall, but does the same logic apply to hospitals?  

In Bangalore, space is costly, so when the hospital's parking slots are full, they may need to find additional parking space, which costs money. But shouldn’t that expense be part of the service they provide to their patients? Many hospitals has their own parking (which is quite big), shouldn’t that at least be free of cost? 

Sajeev