{"id":6185,"date":"2014-09-20T09:44:47","date_gmt":"2014-09-20T16:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/?p=6185"},"modified":"2014-09-20T09:44:47","modified_gmt":"2014-09-20T16:44:47","slug":"the-best-reason-to-check-in-to-a-hotel-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/first2board.com\/wanderlusty\/2014\/09\/the-best-reason-to-check-in-to-a-hotel-online\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Reason to Check In to a Hotel Online?"},"content":{"rendered":"

i’m not a big hotel person so there may be more to it than i know, but i saw earlier this week that the hotel i’m currently staying at, the Andaz Wall Street (thanks $100 Travelocity coupon<\/a>), offered online check-in via Hyatt.com<\/a> or the Hyatt app. research has shown<\/a> that there really isn’t much to be gained since you have to stop at a kiosk (if available) or reception to get your key anyways, and there are reports of elite upgrades not going through, but i thought i’d give it a try anyways, in hopes of securing an early check-in. (i did see that it should help prevent you from being ‘walked’ to another hotel if the hotel is full.)<\/p>\n

note<\/strong> of course, i’m sure the whole people\/kiosk step is doomed to the annals of history as NFC and other technologies for using your phone as a room key become more prevalent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

my bus ride from Philadelphia arrived at 10:30 and i was hoping i could get into a room to drop my stuff off and maybe take a little nap. according to the posted rules<\/a>, non-elites like me (doubly true since i booked through a third party and didn’t even have my number in the reservation) can only check in at 1:00 PM, with 9:00 check-ins available only to Diamond and Platinum members. huh. well, i tried checking in at 9:00 on the dot and whaddaya know! not only was i able to check in, but i was able to select 11:00 as my arrival time. granted, i don’t know if that meant anything since i’m not sure if it’s guaranteed (nor can you pick a room), but i figured it was worth a shot.<\/p>\n

also something to note is that you may be asked to enter a credit card for incidentals, which will be processed immediately during web check-in, although i wasn’t asked for this prepaid reservation (they did take a card at the front desk though).<\/p>\n

you can register a phone number for a text message or an email address for a notification when your room is ready. i didn’t expect anything until 10:59 at the earliest, but not even 10 minutes<\/strong> after i checked in, i got this:<\/p>\n

\"14624873321_35eae29056_o\"<\/a><\/p>\n

wow! i arrived at the hotel just before 11 AM. there was a guy in front of me checking in but his room was not<\/strong> ready. granted he may have had a fancy room (i wasn’t able to eavesdrop as well as i wanted, but i know he didn’t have a suite; i think maybe i heard ‘deluxe room’) but i figure someone who booked a prepaid rate on a third-party site is probably the lowest of the low when it comes to status in the eyes of the hotel, so i think checking in online did me some good! it certainly didn’t hurt.<\/p>\n

which meant that i could try and get some sleep before meeting a friend for lunch!<\/p>\n

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It's time for a nap.<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Jonathan Khoo<\/a> (@jonk) on