Saturday, January 25, 2025

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

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