Why Early Check In At A Hotel Isn't Always The Perk You Think It Is

After a day of planes, trains, taxis, and cars, the last thing that a traveler wants is to wait for check-in. Sure, if you're in Italy, you can linger around a piazza or find a less touristy area several streets away. If you're at an all-inclusive resort of your choice, you can probably just plop down in the lobby or get a seat at a restaurant. And if you're headed on a cruise, from a modest river cruise to Royal Caribbean's colossal, upcoming 2026 Legend of the Seas, standard hotel check-in rules might not apply. But in most other circumstances, it'd be nice to check in early if possible, right? Not if you want your room 100% spick and span, no.

The downsides of an early check-in perk boil down to the gap in time between hotel check-out and check-in. If check-out is at 11 a.m. and check-in is at 3 p.m. — fairly standard times for many hotels — what happens in between those times? That's precisely when cleaning staff wade through messy bedsheets, used toilets, dirty carpets, and overflowing garbage cans to follow standard room-cleaning procedures. The larger the hotel, the more floors and rooms it has, and the more challenging it is to organize the transition from one set of guests to another. 

Early check-ins, while convenient for guests, add an extra element of difficulty for cleaning staff. You might pass cleaning staff in the hallways on the way to your room, milling in and out of open doors, swapping out towels, vacuuming, etc. Early check-ins strain the hotel cleaning schedule and could even curtail the full, standard cleaning treatment that your room would otherwise get.  

Some people will want to check in early, no matter the risk of a substandard cleaning. Early check-in processes vary per hotel and might not be available at smaller establishments. Even a big chain like the Hilton, for instance, requires guests to contact their hotel directly and negotiate their early check-in time. The company also states that early check-ins incur extra fees, much like late check-outs. In this way, early check-in isn't a "perk" at all, but a paid service like anything else.

For those using Airbnb, flexible check-ins can be a good option, although some guests try to take advantage and request staying from midnight or 12:01. This is a ludicrously bad-mannered move that basically grants guests a free night. Sometimes flexible check-in means flexible following 3:00 p.m. (standard check-in time), meaning you can check yourself in and don't need the host present. In any case, at least give your host a chance to properly clean the room that you paid for, and keep lines of communication open.

If guests do manage to make it into their hotel room earlier than standard check-in, it'd be wise to carry along some disinfectant wipes. If you're feeling a bit suspicious about the faucet handles, let's say, then give them a wipe. That being said, certain hotel room objects are going to be way more dirty and gross than they appear on the surface, especially upholstered items like sofas or throw pillows. It's probably not sanitary to lounge on the sofa in nothing but your underwear, cuddled up next to bacterial throw pillows. That's true whether you've got early check-in or not.