Is an early checkout possible at a hotel before its reception opens?

Question

I'm looking a hotel place for a certain town. I will need to take an early train at 05:11 on my departure day so I need an early checkout. However the reception opens at 06:00, i.e. I will need to check out before its reception opens. Is this action possible?

The hotel I'm looking at is the only accommodation in the town I'm visiting. There are no hostels, no airbnbs, nor any other choices.

Some hotels you can just leave. The key is probably only worth 5¢, so they don't have any strong feelings if they never see it again. It does depend on the hotel tho. — bjb568, Jun 03 '19 at 21:01
This looks like a mom and pop hotel/B&B. I'm pretty sure this kind of establishment can improvise and find a reasonable solution. — Quora Feans, Jun 04 '19 at 00:05
@bjb568 maybe the next guest cares cares a lil bit if someone else has a key to their room. — mathreadler, Jun 04 '19 at 04:40
@mathreadler I believe bjb is referring to hotels with keycard systems, in which case the keycard you take will be deactivated when you checkout/the next person checks in. — Notts90, Jun 04 '19 at 05:30

score 28 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 03 '19 at 05:47

28

This is usually possible, but since it's essential to your travel plan, you'll want to confirm it directly with the hotel management before booking.

What normally happens at checkout is you settle your bill and you turn in the room key. So most likely, they'll ask you to settle your bill on the previous night, or to just let them charge your payment card after you leave. They may have a drop box for you to leave the key, or they may ask you to just leave it in the room.

answered Jun 03 '19 at 05:47

Nate Eldredge

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This is a quite common affair. Inform them as soon as possible and they might even prepare you a small breakfast that would be set aside the day before. – Mark Johnson Jun 03 '19 at 06:16
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And possibly there is a night doorman to give the key and possibly to receive a coffee, and let him to call a taxi. But all accounting stuff (bill) should be done at reception, so the night before. – Giacomo Catenazzi Jun 03 '19 at 16:23

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 03 '19 at 12:46

Note: This might depend on the country, which you didn't state.

Normally, this is not a problem at all.
I regularly 'check-out' in the evening before I want to leave, not because I leave very early, but to avoid the lines in the morning. This 'checking-out' consists of paying the bill, and notifying the hotel that I will leave in the morning. In the morning, I drop the key and walk away (many hotels are also fine with the key simply staying in the room).

So far, no hotel has ever declined this approach - in around fifteen countries, around eighty times a year.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 03 '19 at 16:41

This is possible and not that uncommon. The particular hotel might have a policy about it, so you must contact them to handle this. There are several ways I've seen it done:

Checkout the Night before: You do the exact checkout procedure at the reception the night before where they settle your balance, charge your card if needed, except that you keep the key which you drop-off in the morning.
Self-checkout: They give you a form to complete yourself and you leave both the form and key in the room when you depart.
Later checkout: You just leave the keys on the morning at a designated location and will receive information from the hotel about the checkout they will do for you once the reception open. In this case, they usually require payment information to charge anything that is needed, incidentals, taxes, etc without you being there.

As you can see, these procedures vary and so you must agree with the hotel ahead of time. In some cases, they might ask for a deposit payment, particularly for high-risk locations. This happens in places where people book hotels often for partying and property damage occurs regularly.

You forgot the 'hotel staff checks you out before the reception is officially open.' — Willeke, Jun 03 '19 at 16:49

Is an early checkout possible at a hotel before its reception opens?

3 Answers3