A Bit OT- When your room isn't ready at 4pm...

[devotedchristian]

If your resort's description says "check in at 4pm" and you get there at 4pm, but your room is still not ready, does the resort offer you some type of incentive for the inconvenience?

I've been reading alot of reviews (tripadvisor.com) about people's room not being ready at 4pm (I guess a standard time for most hotels).

I wouldn't mind this if they offered some type of credit or "We apologize for this, enjoy free tropical drinks on the house" with a smile.

Have you had this problem? What do resorts do when this happens?

I know I will be extremely annoyed if I travel a long way with small kids at the said check in time and I STILL have to wait for my room to be ready.

 

[Brian Noble]

You might get a smile. I wouldn't count on the drink.

This can happen when a resort is near capacity, and it's a heavy check-in/check-out day. We ordinarily don't plan to get to the resort right at check-in time. Rather, we either show up a bit later (when this just isn't a problem), or quite a bit earlier (when we can check in, and they can usually give us an estimate of when the room will be ready.)

 

[bearette]

I have had to wait before for my room to be ready at non-orlado hotels, but all they did was give me the key and tell me to enjoy the hotel anemities until it was done. Usually they only made me wait when I wanted certain things like connecting rooms or if I was there too early. Don't expect to get anything but be happy if they do.

 

[ducklite]

We didn't get into our room until after 6:00 one time, and we got nothing but a shrug of the shoulders.

If they won't extend check-out and force you to leave at 11:00, there is no good reason to not have the rooms turned over in five hours except poor hosuekeeping scheduling and understaffing--both preventable by good management.

Anne

 

[nbodyhome]

Even at Disney, they sometimes say "between 3 and 5" when you check in now.

I've never been offered anything, anywhere, for a late check-in.

 

[englishteacha]

I used to work at busy hotels on the coast of Maine. We worked our tails off to get rooms done by 3:00, but sometimes it didn't happen if someone called in sick. Never underestimate the power of one fast chambermaid! We'd always store guests stuff if they wanted us to, and offer them access to the pool and such. Sometimes the manager would compensate with a late checkout in the amount of time they had to wait, usually around an hour.

 

[Darcy03231]

At the Doubletree Westshore in Tampa we arrived at about 5:30 p.m. after a long day of travel. Check in was at 3:00 p.m.. When we got there we were told that our room wasn't available, go take a seat. There must have been about 20 people waiting in a room. While I didn't make a scene I told them it was unacceptable. My room was booked and paid for in advance (Priceline). I offered to go to the dining room for a free meal, but I wasn't going to sit in a room with 20 other people and wait for my room to be ready (one woman in the room came up to the desk and asked about her room - she'd been there for two hours). The manager came over and rather than give us a free meal she upgraded us to Concierge level! What a great deal that was. For a $50 priceline room we ended up on the top floor of the tower, free hot and cold buffet, free drinks, etc.. Sometimes, if you're firm about getting your room, but not obnoxious, they'll do something to accomodate you.

 

[DisneyTexan]

We were at a timeshare in the Caribbean, and we were getting the run around at check in. Its a long story, but the front desk knew we had been waiting, and it was over an hour past the check in time. We were eventually compensated with three buffet vouchers. I thought this was reasonable compensation for the hassle.