Decades ago, if you stayed at a hotel, an employee would shove a piece of paper under your door on your last night so you’d know how much you owed. You’d then check out of the hotel and pay the hotel for whatever you owed, typically with a check, traveler’s check, or cash.
Nowadays, of course, everything is automated. Instead of someone shoving a paper copy of your bill under your door, you can just look up what you owe, online. And sure, there are a handful of hotels (like these) that still accept cash. Even fewer will accept traveler’s checks as payment (but traveler’s checks are still out there!). And how many people still write checks, anyway???
Nope, nowadays, once your bill is finalized, including any incidentals you owe, your credit or debit card is automatically charged and the transaction is completed. Which makes one question if you even have to bother checking out of a hotel anymore? After all, the billing is done automatically. Yet some of us still formally check out. Some of us don’t, and just leave when we’re ready to go. Here are some reasons why you should still consider checking out…and why some people don’t bother.
Why/when you should check out
As a courtesy for housekeeping
Your checking out of the room means that the front desk and housekeeping will both be aware you’re out of there. That, in turn, means they can turn over the room for the next guest. And if you check out early, they know (early) that you’re gone, as opposed to knocking on the door at 11am. And you know how much you enjoyed that early check in? So will the next guest, IF the room is ready early enough, which happens, in part, because you’ve told the hotel that you’ve vacated the premises. It’s sorta like “playing the good karma forward.”
To give back your key card
Some hotels have a drop off for key cards, but not all do. Granted, key cards don’t have information that nefarious people could use (here’s your personal info they store on your key card), but key cards, especially this kind of key card, cost hotels money and the more key cards they get back, the more they can wipe clean, sanitize and reuse.
To give back your key
On rare occasion, a hotel will still use keys instead of key cards (typically due to cost, tradition, or limitations in infrastructure or technology). Obviously, you’re going to want to check out and give them their key back.
To dispute billing issues
One would hope that all guests check their bill before they leave. They might notice they were erroneously charged for a minibar item or parking when they didn’t have a car. It’s typically easier to fix that problem with the hotel directly, while you’re still there, than after you’re gone.
The hotel prefers it
This point tends to happen with hotels outside the U.S., but some hotels just prefer and request that you formally check out. Depending on the laws of the country, hotels that have kept a copy of your passport (here’s why they sometimes do that) may use the check out procedure as a time to return the copy to you.
Why/when you shouldn’t bother
It’s faster
Checkout time can be busy at hotels, especially if there are a bunch of people who feel the need to formally check out. If you’re in a rush, you can just go.
It’s really all automated anyway
If you’re in the U.S., have used a key card and don’t suspect there will be any billing issues, it’s all automated anyway so you technically don’t even have to bother (anecdotally, a friend of mine, who used to be a hotel manager, suggested exactly that).
How about you?
Do you formally check out of hotels nowadays, or just leave?
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
3 comments
Another reason, to ward off charges that post to your account after you leave.
Someone has lunch in the hotel restaurant and uses your name and room number.
The charge later shows up on your revised folio total.
Have had this happen more than once. There are other examples. Much easier to point back to a recorded checkout time than to go through a sometimes lengthy correction process.
I almost always check out, and get a copy of the settled bill showing a $0 balance. In my view, failing to formally close out your bill leaves you vulnerable to additional charges being added after you have left the property. Such charges are of course harder to dispute if you are no longer on site to do so in person, and if you don’t have the documented proof that you checked out owing nothing. That’s probably more cautious than necessary – most of the time.
Always unless I’m super pressed for time. Sometimes I check the bill the night before if it is a long stay.
I’d say about 20% of the bills are wrong and never in favor of the customer. It is extremely difficult to even reach someone to fix it after you checkout. But I have 100% success fixing it before I check out.
IMO that’s the only reason to check out.