Hotels often offer guests late check-out, sometimes just if they ask and other times for an extra charge. Loyalty programs frequently make this a benefit of status – Hyatt and Marriott guarantee this benefit for qualifying members, while Hilton and IHG make it ‘subject to availability’.
However when you ask for late check-out, and the hotel agrees, two things invariably happen.
- The front desk forgets to code your room key for late check-out, and it stops working by Noon.
- Housekeeping comes in to turn the room in the morning, even though you’re not supposed to be checking out yet.
When I know I’m planning to check out late at the time of check-in, I specifically ask the desk agent whether they’ve coded my key for late check-out. Sometimes that addresses the issue.
But it never solves housekeeping coming in before you’ve checked out. Even with the Do Not Disturb on the door. One guest tried this innovative solution at the Hilton on the grounds of the Chicago O’Hare airport:
We’ve seen this solution before – though in many cases it might only work writing the note in more than one language.
I like this version even better. It’s do-it-yourself but it looks so official!
“Congratulations! You’re Now A Globalist” is an especially nice touch. Perhaps this works better than a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign.
While it would be nice for housekeeping to pay attention to charts showing check-out times and not just dates, this is also what the “door security bar” or “door latch” as well as the secondary lock on the door are for. And by the way, I’ve had housekeeping do this even at a Ritz-Carlton. So genius hacks are needed.
Whenever I ask for and am granted a late check out – either by phone or in person – I ask for the person’s name who is setting up the late check out.
I never have a problem with late check out, I leave a pair of dirty socks just inside the door. But since I never see housekeeping any more during a stay anyway.
I have never had an issue with late (4pm) checkout with Marriott (as Lifetime Titanium and previously with Starwood). I tried a status match with Hilton and somehow ended up with Diamond for all of 2025. I have not been able to get a late checkout past 1:30pm and, even though the online checkin works much better than it does with Marriott, I will probably continue staying with them in 2025.
Yeah, I imagine all too often housekeeping doesn’t actually get a list of who has late checkout (whether they are supposed to or not), and assume the “Do Not Disturb” sign is put up by someone that’s out of there by 9 or 10 but just didn’t want them knocking at like 7AM if they got an early start to the cleaning. I imagine putting up a note that you do have late checkout is very effective.
And 4PM checkout? Wow that IS a late checkout! Just saying.
Unless you write that in Spanish, your still getting knocked on early.
A pictograph should mitigate any linguistic issues ….,lol ….Maybe ‘hands’ on a clock plus the digital version in local & GMT !