I always just leave. If I had needed a receipt for business purposes and one hadn’t been slipped under the door, I would have gone through the formal process but other than that I don’t really see the purpose.
I think it’s a courtesy to the hotel, so they know the room is ready to be cleaned for the next guest. I almost always do it. The only time I don’t is when they make it difficult (too busy at the front desk, no app, etc)
My reasoning for doing so, exactly.
We check out to CYA, in case anything untoward was tacked onto the bill.
Sometimes upon check-in they’ll say “no need to check out when you leave” or they’ll slip a copy of my bill under the door. In those cases, I don’t check out. Otherwise, not knowing what I am supposed to do, I check out.
I can’t think of a time that I didn’t stay until RIGHT at checkout time, so I don’t feel the need to let the desk know I’m gone from the room. I’m expected to be gone. I check out to make sure I’m in compliance with however the hotel works.
I stay at hotels multiple times during the year and I usually check out at the front desk, including leaving the keycards. But a couple of times, there’s been no one there in the morning so I will leave the keycards in a lockbox, if there’s one for that purpose. But I will also check out in the smartphone app.
I almost always check out, both as a courtesy to the staff as well as to make sure all the charges are correct and nothing’s been added on. Monday, however, we left a hotel without checking out because (a) there was no front desk and (b) there was no staff on site with whom we could check out. It was the craziest hotel we’ve stayed in. We realized the second day that we were the only people in the entire building overnight and into the next day until about 11am.
I just leave and I haven’t had a paper receipt in many years. If it’s a business expense, I have a receipt in my email. No matter how long I stay, I have the Do Not Disturb sign on my door. I don’t need mid-visit clean ups. When I leave, the sign goes back inside.
Got to at least return the keys. By the way, at a decent hotel, should there not always be someone at the front desk?
I leave the keys on the bedside table. They’ll find them.
If the hotel uses electronic keycards, it’s not necessary to return them. They can be disabled automatically.
And there may be only one staff member on site, especially at night. It’s possible they needed to step away from the desk.
We take the keys home with us half the time. If by “keys” you mean the plastic key cards.
Why would you take the keycards? Do you really need blank keycards? Or are they intended to be a decorative collectible souvenir?
My wife considers them souvenirs. I don’t have any interest either way. I tend to drop them at the front desk if we do return one of the two.
A lot of hotels I stay at ask you to return the key cards. Not for security, since they’ll change the code, but they aren’t free.
A few which put advertising on the card invite you to keep them.
I almost always check out since it is on the way to the car, but I use the TV checkout for large hotels which might have lines at the desk.
Sure, and if they have a place to leave the keycards when the front desk is not staffed, I will. But the very last hotel where I stayed did not, so the keycard came home with me.
And as I said, I will check out on the hotel app.
Why not just leave the cards in the room?
This. Why wouldn’t someone check out?
I go downstairs and past the front desk intending to return the cards to the staff member, but if no one is there and there’s no lockbox in which to leave them, I’m not going back upstairs just to leave the card in the room.
Leave them in the room in the first place. Don’t bring them down.