Early check-in and late check-out: how to offer them and what to charge

Choose check-in and check-out times your housekeeping can keep on a full day: the hours between them are when every room leaving that day must be cleaned. Then set the same times everywhere guests read them.

• Booking.com: in the extranet, click “Property”, then “Property policies”, scroll to “Guest information” and click “Edit”. Select your check-in start and end times, add your check-out time and click “Save”. If you use a connectivity provider, change them in its software instead.
• MakeMyTrip and Goibibo: in the InGo-MMT extranet, click the “Property” tab and choose “Basic Info”. Enter the times in the “check-in time” and “check-out time” boxes, in the 24-hour format, and click “Save & Continue”.
• Expedia Group: in Partner Central, go to “Property details”, then “Fees, policies, and settings”, and open “Policies”.
• Your own website, your Google Business Profile and your confirmation email: the same times, in the same words.

Booking.com shows these times on your property page before guests book, and says to use the check-in window that matches when guests can really get in.

Booking.com says to set your standard times first, then explain any early check-in or late check-out you offer, and its fees, in the fine print, and to repeat them in guest messages so guests see the fees and times before they arrive. The common ways to charge:

• Free when the room is ready, or not needed that day, perhaps only for guests who booked on your own website.
• A fee for a few extra hours, up to a set time.
• Beyond that time, part of the night's price or all of it.
• An early check-in the guest can count on, sold as the night before. A guest off an overnight train at dawn is sure of a room only if it was theirs from the evening.

If your times change on certain days, such as weekends or holidays, Booking.com says to keep your standard times accurate and explain the exceptions in the fine print or a guest message.

1. 1Look at the day's arrivals and departures, and which rooms of each type will be free, and when.
2. 2For an early check-in, find a room that was empty last night, or one whose guest leaves first.
3. 3For a late check-out, check whether anyone arrives in that room today. If no one does, a late check-out costs you little.
4. 4Tell housekeeping, so they clean that room first, or leave it till last.
5. 5Tell the guest the time and the fee, if there is one, before they agree, and put it on their bill.

Guests ask in different ways. Booking.com lets guests give an estimated check-in time when they book, ask for check-in outside the standard hours by managing their booking online, and ask about a late check-out when they get to the property, and it tells them a property can't always say yes. On Agoda, you can message a guest your late or early arrival procedures from “Bookings”, then “Reservations”, with the messaging icon.

Some hotels let a stay run for 24 hours from whenever the guest arrives, instead of between fixed times. It suits a hotel with arrivals around the clock, near an airport, a station or a highway, but makes housekeeping harder to plan, because rooms come free at any hour.

• If you offer it, say so in your policies on every booking site, since guests compare the times there.
• Offer it only on the rooms or rate plans that can carry it, and keep fixed times for the rest.
• Count a 24-hour stay as one night, so your figures still compare from month to month.

• A check-in time that differs between Booking.com, MakeMyTrip, Google and your website leads to arguments at the desk and complaints in reviews.
• Check every listing after you change your times, and what AI assistants say about your hotel's times.
• Put any early check-in or late check-out fee in the same words everywhere.
• Read your reviews for complaints about check-in times and waiting for rooms: they show whether your times work for your guests.