I didn’t think they’d care and it takes time, especially if there’s a line. I’m rarely in hotels these days but going forward I’ll just check out from my phone
You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave.
I usually check out via the TV method when a receipt is slipped under the door, and if that’s not available, I just leave the keys in the room, and if there is someone at the front desk as I am passing by, and there is not a line, I will stop to let them know I am checking out. Seems like the right thing to do, as mentioned, so they can note that room is ready to be turned-over for the next guest (as a pass-it forward, since we all want to be able to check into the hotel when we are ready, and not be delayed by “oh, your room is not ready yet”).
I started a thread on reddit on a sub for hotel employees. It’s early but the consensus so far is that they are fine with just leaving.
Unless the office happens to be closed I like to drop off the keys at the front desk. I think the tradition goes back to road trips as a kid when it was a treat to be given the task when the family checked out.
Most hotels that I stay at these days let you check out electronically, either on their app or on the TV. Most of them even say “Just leave the key cards in the room, we’ll email you a receipt.”
That’s what I usually do. If there is no such option, I will check out at the front desk. If you count setting the key cards on the desk and saying “No thanks” when they ask if I need a printed receipt “checking out.”
My practice on work trips informed by the fact that I’m usually on a pretty tight schedule. I used to go through the whole checkout ritual, but haven’t bothered in many years. Too often there’d either be no one at the desk, or if there was someone, they were busy with another guest.
And in my experience, a good percentage of the time when another guest was already at the desk, they were gonna be there a while because they were disputing something, confused, trying to get detailed info about the area, who knows what. So I’d just leave anyway.
Nowadays, when I’m leaving I’ll check out via the app once I get in my Uber. Maybe even checkout on the TV as I’m making my last sweep for left items. But I still never go to the desk and I always leave the keys in the room.
Personal travel varies slightly depending on whether or not I need the valet to bring a car around. Assuming so, the valet usually wants to know if we’re checking out and I count that as letting them know.
BTW, my pet peeve is that I will stay at the same hotel three weeks in a row (checking in Monday afternoons and checking out Friday mornings) and when checking in the second or third time, I will still get the spiel about when and where breakfast is served and other information they provide to guests new to the hotel. Why, oh why can’t they remember (or have their computer remind them) that I’m a returning guest?
Right. My hotel points-member app sets me up for auto-checkout by default, sends me a notification on the given morning. I normally drop the keycard in the dropbox they have downstairs on my way out.
Like most of us here, I am above a certain age. Back before the internet, and back before keycards, I learned that the hotel process involved checking out at the front desk, returning the keys, getting a receipt, etc.
It seems that most places don’t need or expect a physical checkout anymore, but I find myself fighting the habit.
I always stop off at the front desk to say “Thank you”.
I’ve read so many complaints online about hotel guests that I assume the staff is mandated in training not to make any assumptions about what guests know or don’t know. If you establish a personal relationship that might change, but just returning may not be enough to overcome policy.
And habit. It may be that not giving every guest the same spiel just because they’re familiar might trip the staff up and cause them to forget it the one time it’s really needed. Like not putting on a turn signal if no other car is around might cause you to forget when you really should. Even one failure can be a problem.
My wife and I do make sure to return the keycards. We figure that every little bit that helps the staff is a good thing. They see too many jerks as it is.
Do hotels reuse those returned cards? Do they clean them between uses?
I usually just leave. Even if I’m going out the main entrance I’m carrying my bags* out & don’t have the free hand to deal with them.
- Duffel or carry on of clothes
- Camera bag
- Computer (knapsack)
- Drone bag
- boots that don’t go into the clothes bag (sometimes)
- jacket (seasonal)
I usually check out in some form - but if I can’t check out on the TV or an app and there’s no express checkout box to drop the keys in , I’m not going to wait if theres a line at the front desk.
Let me add that I never just leave with no notice. I will always do something to alert the hotel that I’ve left, either using the online checkout, or dropping the key at the desk if no online checkout is available. I assume that the hotel will want to know the room is vacant, so they can get a jump on cleaning it for the next guest.
Even if I could check out virtually, I would always want to drop the key off at the front desk on my way out. I could just leave the key in the room because it tells them I am leaving and they can now clean the room.
When I virtually check out, the TV/App always tells me to leave the key in the room My assumption is that it would tell me to leave the key at the front desk if that is preferred.
I never use the tv in the room so it is never on. I’ll check next time.
My wife and I are very early risers. There is often no one at the front desk. So we put the key cards in the drop box. If someone is there, we will let them know we are leaving.
General consensus seems to be “We appreciate it and it helps us get rooms turned over but no one hates you if you don’t do it”
I’ve always done it as a polite gesture if we’re leaving early and it sounds as though I should continue to do so. Obviously it’s not worth clogging up a line for.
Also, just dropping your keys in the box on the front desk helps, presumably since they can swipe the cards and see which rooms have been vacated.
Unless you are leaving right at check out time in which case it doesn’t matter. I’ll start doing it from now on if I am leaving early.