I’m not sure but I doubt that informing a housekeeper is the right way to check out of a hotel.
Another way to let housekeeping know the room is empty is to use the door hanger. Frequently, one side says “Do Not Disturb” and the other says something like, “Cleaning Requested”. In addition to the recent changes to the checkout process, hotels are moving away from cleaning the rooms every day. Guests may need to use the door hanger during their stay to let the staff know that they want the room cleaned, towels changed, etc. When you’re leaving for the last time, put the door hanger out so the staff knows they can clean your room.
I said on top of the other methods. I’m informing them as a courtesy.
The housekeeping staff has sometimes asked me if I’m done with the room. I’m sure they are happy to hear it from you. I’m not going out of my way to tell them, but if they are in the hallway as i leave (and they often are) I’ll mention it.
I need to amend that, when on vacation I have sometimes checked out because I needed to leave my luggage at the bell stand if we have a later plane or train departure.
Do they not let you leave the premises during the day? How on earth do they enforce that? That sounds more like a prison than a hotel.
At the all-inclusive in Costa Rica you had to return the beach towel before they would let you check out. Even though this was a tour group.
Whether it’s an individual guest or a tour group, the resort is going to want to get its beach towels back.
In the “no front desk” places I’ve stayed in, we were told to send a text to a number. Would it work well in practice? Probably not.
They were resorts so (1) yes, it is reasonable to spend all day on premises using the amenities, but (2) offsite trips are usually excursions run by tour companies offering them, with a pick up and drop off at the resort, so the resort knows in general who is on and off site.
So “leaving the resort during the day” is common, but “just wandering off” is not. Excursions are often booked through the resort concierge, and even if they are not a taxi can’t get through security at the front without saying who they are picking up.
And the end of the trip, there is usually a resort-arranged airport transfer, so its usually just “you’re not getting on the shuttle without checking out”.
I suppose if someone really wanted to they could pack their bags up and trek past the security gate to hail a cab on the public road, and no one would probably stop them, but that’s enough effort that you’d have to really, really want to not check out.
I’ve stayed at commercial “AirBNB” type accommodations in Japan. There were maybe 30 rooms or so.
They have keypads so there isn’t a physical key or card to lose.
They also had a contract with a local handyman for problems. The heater wasn’t working in our room and there was a number to call.
I stayed at hotels in the Candlewood Suites chain in the early 2000s, and at least at that time, part of their schtick was that they did not have an on-site night manager (or any staff on premise, at all, overnight). If you got there after hours, they had a set of lockboxes in the lobby, which you used to get your keys/keycard, and a phone to call some remote manager if there was an issue.
As I recall, Candlewoods were part of the Holiday Inn umbrella so I had perks back in my heavy business travel days. I wasn’t very often in the area where they had them though. I remember that they had a well stocked pantry of all you can eat junk food.