Check out the Web check-ins
USING the Internet to check in for flights has become common for many travelers, who find bypassing check-in lines at understaffed airport counters or crowded kiosks a blessing.
Now hotels are jumping on the e-check-in bandwagon, with Hyatt the latest to offer it. But the benefits of using the Web to check in to a hotel may not be as obvious.
Hilton has offered online check-in to the top-tier members of its frequent-guest program, Hilton HHonors, since the beginning of the year. Guests can check in online for stays at 2,300 Hilton-branded properties, including Hilton Hotels, Conrad, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton.
Hilton started the service to give its customers more convenience and control, said Scott Normali, senior vice president of website development and marketing for Hilton.
Guests can check in online two to 36 hours before arrival. The information is transmitted to the hotel, and upon arrival, guests can use a kiosk, where available, to print out their key, or the front desk will have it waiting. Hilton has no plans to expand the offering to regular guests or HHonors members who are not at the Gold or Diamond level.
This may sound like a small benefit. After all, guests still must stop by the kiosk or front desk. But the pluses go beyond this.
Say you're flying to New York. You can check in to your hotel before you board the plane and not have to worry about being denied a room if you check in late.
"You can go out and play all night and that room will be there for you," said Matt Adams, vice president of operations for Hyatt Hotels.
Hyatt last month launched its own version of online check-in for 60 properties in North America. It plans to expand it to the rest of its hotels, except for Grand Hyatt, in the next 90 days, Adams said. (The program is currently available only to its top-tier frequent guests as Hyatt evaluates the program.) Hyatt allows customers to check in online after 6 a.m. Pacific time the date of arrival.
Hyatt hopes new technology will allow guests to use their frequent-guest program card as a room key, bypassing the kiosk and front desk. Adams said that would not be available until at least 2007.
When checking in online, guests cannot yet select a specific room, only a level -- high, medium or low floor. Unlike airlines that fly a few types of airplanes with a fixed number of seats, each hotel is different. Still, the goal is to let customers choose exactly which room they'll sleep in.
