The room isn't ready ... What do you do?

I either take a walk or find a café or coffee shop. Generally, I’ve been up all night flying so I’m happy just to chill while waiting.

When we travel to Europe, we often arrive at noon or so, if not earlier. Oddly, it has only happened once where the hotel couldn't give us a room immediately. I even arrived to a Prague hotel at 7am and was given a room! Whether we get a room or not, we usually take a few minutes for a drink of water and to freshen in the hotel restroom and then we are off for the day. We typically walk around the city, possibly doing some short tours and don't do any extensive tours to museums or "attractions". We usually will try to get an "earlyish" dinner and go to bed around 9pm. We awake at 7or 8am and feel ready to start an adventure.

More often for me, it's the reverse -- I arrive earlier than the official check-in time assuming I will leave my bags and return later but the room is ready and they give me the key.
If the room isn't ready it's probably not the fault of the desk. Either the people in your room checked out late or a lot of people checked out at the same time and the maids are doing the best they can.
I'd leave the bags with a smile and either go for coffee or a longer excursion about town.

I just leave my bags with the front desk - grabbing my camera etc. - and go out exploring or go out and get lunch or something.

When we transition between locations, we try to arrive in time for lunch: anytime between Noon and 1400. If the room is not ready, we go to lunch having dumped our bags at the apartment or hotel.

On arrival in Europe from the US, noon usually is about the time we make it to our lodgings and only once have we not been able to get the room right away.

I try to arrive at least near check-in time, by doing other things if I can find a place to stash my bagge.
If I arrive significantly early, I don't really expect to be accommodated, although about half the time the hotel checks me in.
But sometimes you can't juggle your schedule to arrive near check-in time. On those occasions, I do what I guess most others do, leave your luggage in the hotel luggage room and then go out and walk around, get some exercise, even see a sight that's on my itinerary if it's reasonably close to my lodging.

It hasn’t happened very often. I just usually take a walk and/or eat a light meal if it is near meal time.

It’s especially important on days when I’m switching time zones. Getting out in the sun speeds up the internal clock reset.

hi avirosemail
we look at what time flights arrive and book those that get in after 10 or 11am. it states on website about checkin time unless you call or email them for possible early checkin. it's not the desks fault your rooms not ready. like others say some people checked out late, worker called in sick and maid can only do some much. you may not be the only one that wants to check in early they may go first come first serve. on the other side of your reasoning to settle in and transition, the desk clerks and maids count on your arrival after 2 or 3 so they have time to clean the rooms and check out guests. my mom and dad always says don't count your chickens before they hatch and don't thrum your fingers in the lobby.
we have been there and done that, london was the worse. 4 hour wait with our luggage for an apartment, lessoned learned real fast.
sound like donna downer here, we went out for lunch, walked around, people watched, had a shot of cognac and an attitude change.
trip went fabulous and we laugh about "That Aparment" in london and the memory.
aloha

I usually do what others mentioned. I leave luggage, maybe freshen up in their restroom and have a coffee or tea in their restaurant if there is one, then venture out. Usually when I return the room is ready. However, in Dublin this past June I arrived at the Rick Steves' tour hotel (Buswells) after 10 a.m. was told my room wasn't ready. Did my usual as stated. Came back at 1:30, was told room still not ready, but noticed they were checking in a lot of folks. So I went back and asked why my room wasn't ready. I was told because I was a single and they didn't have a room for one person yet. So I sat down by the reception desk, waited another hour, watched more and more people get rooms and went back at 2:30 and was finally checked in. My room was a double bed, so I am not sure why being a single made a difference. However, I did notice on the way to my room that the halls were covered with dirty laundry bags and the carpet was still not vacuumed when I was finally able to go to my room. Maybe their housekeeping staff isn't very efficient or maybe they prefer couples. Who knows.

When traveling on long international flights, I always mention my estimated arrival time at the accommodation and hope the room would be available. Dropping bags in a secure area of the accommodation works, and then and go about tourist activities. If a relatively short time, I just slump into a chair in the lobby and appear desperate for a shower and maybe a nap. Sometimes staff take pity and sometimes not.

Last time I arrived early to my hotel in London and there were no rooms available yet, I sat in the lobby on a very comfy sofa. The snoring that soon started apparently was enough so that they found me a room very quickly. :-)

I usually have a plan to either grab a meal, go to some nearby sight that will keep me awake, or simply wander about the neighborhood for a while. I have gotten better about arriving closer to regular check in time if the hotel will not allow me to request an early check in, especially for the initial hotel on a European trip. I do this by taking my time at the arrival airport and then taking a slower (usually cheaper) and more scenic mode of transit to get to the hotel. For hotels along the way, I do my best to time my morning departure and desired stops along the way to put me at the next hotel at least after lunch if not right at check in time. Works most of the time.

I didn't find it much of an issue or problem. Most of the time our room is available but if it isn't I complete the check in process, drop the luggage, get an estimate of when the room will be available, pick up a map, and hit the street primarily walking for the exercise and staying in the sunlight to help with jet lag. Try to spot a lunch place with outdoor seating if it is that time. If near a local TI spend some time there.

As much as I love to get in my room as soon as I arrive, if it doesn't happen then I am always prepared. I lock my bags and head out to start my explorations, often not returning until well after I am told my room will be ready. If I haven't freshened up at the airport then I use the hotel's restroom to brush my teeth, wash what needs washing--cleansing wipes and fresh deodorant plus changing into a clean top that I have in my carry-on for just that purpose go a long way towards feeling ready to get out there. I have my map and guidebook in my purse and usually find somewhere for a coffee first. Unless it's a matter of 15 minutes or so I would not waste precious time sitting in the lobby waiting for my room--and actually find I accomplish more if I don't get in the room, as I can get distracted by settling in and waste daylight time that way.

I have only been in that situation twice, well thrice if I count that time in London on business when we had to prepare for depositions in the lobby..., and all 2 or 3 times were in London. The time when I was there by myself, I walked around Kensington Park, toured Kensington Palace, and enjoyed a great lunch in the Orangery. The Christmas ornaments for sale in the Kensington Palace gift shop were far more to my taste than the ones in Harrods. So overall those hours were a positive.

When my husband and I arrived in London hours before our room was ready, we took the train to Greenwich, enjoyed the sights and a pub lunch. Unfortunately, we were so exhausted that neither of us remembers anything about that excursion.

One of the reasons I LOVE the Le Citizen Hotel in Paris is that they emailed us before our arrival to ask if we needed an early check-in, which we did. What a relief to show up at 0900 after an overnight flight and just check into your room.

Last resort, but not unheard of in high stakes business travel, you could pay for the night before. After 50 trips to Europe, I’m content to drop my bag and go touring. If I’m lucky, great!

On travel days, I plan as much as possible to arrive after checkin time when my room should be ready. When arriving from an overnight flight, that often isn’t possible and I am aware ahead of time my room likely won’t be ready when I arrive. I then drop my bag and just go do some activity, or walk around exploring and get lunch if I have nothing else planned. Once I arrived in a tiny town early knowing the hotel I was staying at wasn’t even open until 3 that day. I arrived early to attend an event at 10am thinking after the event I could get a long lunch and just have a short time to wait until 3. I found out when I got there the event time was moved to 9am. That was a long, miserable day of carrying luggage around a town that I could walk the extent of in less than an hour!

As your comments show, there are two distinct aspects to this that I'm trying to draw out --
the 'freshening up' aspect, which can usually be taken care of in the hotel lobby restroom, or as someone mentioned above at the arrival airport, and the other part, the psychological arrival part,
which is what I find harder -- I seem to have gotten it in my head that I'm not really arrived until my toiletries are placed in the bathroom, that I'm unsettled until I get settled.

The wise Buckaroo Bonzai pointed out that "wherever you go, there you are" but for me the there hasn't become the here until the transit is done, and the transit includes unpacking. Am I crazy?
Yet another reason why I envy the really light packers is that they aren't compelled to do a hub-and-spoke style of travel, where they settle into lodging and then do day- or half-day- trips from there until they change lodging again, repeat as necessary. Extreme light packers can just keep on keepin' on because every place is both a lodge and a through-hike.

I do what Christa does.

Edit: Buckaroo Bonzai! I think I have a vhs tape of that lying around somewhere

Well, who has not encountered this Europe even when the room time-wise was supposed to be ready? I wait in the lobby or what passes for a lobby. It all depends on how I feel and how they say it will take, which can also misleading.

Once in Paris, I was told 20 minutes...no such luck. After waiting almost 40 minutes, still no room, I told the guy I was going to lunch. That was in 2015.

I just drop my bags off and head out for some sightseeing. Sometimes I come back about when they say it will be ready, settle in, and go back out. Others I just stay out until it suits me to come back for the evening. Relax and go with it.

Explore the neighborhood, to find the closest ATM
(withdraw cash ) market, ( buy water ) and cafe for coffee ( self explanatory). Then I get a bite to eat.

Well, I guess I'm in the minority, because the only time my room wasn't ready, it was still two hours before posted check in. I do pack relatively light. Even for a month in Europe (January) I had just a rolling carry on and a backpack. I really plan my trips and typically have logistics figured out. But, still there can be surprises that weren't anticipated. I feel like if one remains flexible and just can just roll with changes it is a much more fun trip. I wouldn't waste time waiting in a lobby for the room to be ready. I use packing cubes so I don't really unpack much, and my toiletries are always handy in my bag until I actually need them. Usually when we do get into the room, we just drop our things, freshen up and retrieve whatever we need to do some exploring, especially on our arrival from our U.S. If we sit down we'd probably fall asleep, which would not be ideal. I find that for us, it's just best to immediately shift and follow the clock of the country we are in.

They will often let you leave your bag at reception, but you still
have no access to your new perch until the room is ready. I admit that
I find this discombobulating, since I count on being able to settle
and transition into exploration mode from transit mode. If I can't get
into the staging area (a guest room), how can I launch my next leg of
the adventure? Do I thrum my fingers in the lobby? Find a/the bar for
a drink? Walk around the block a few times?

How do you handle this when it occurs? Do you plan ahead for the
eventuality or not?

It happens EVERY TIME we travel to Europe so, yes, we plan ahead. This is nothing new. Sometimes we've taken showers at the arriving European airport before leaving. When we arrive at the hotel, we drop off the luggage and then go about our day returning to the hotel at night.

Personally, I'm not in a hurry and just putz along at my leisure. And since check-out is usually 10/11am, and check-in is usually 2/3pm I plan my change of city along with train or ferry travel for the hours between those times -- and have always arrived to a ready room.

I will drop off my bag then walk around the area to get my bearings. I'll scope out nearby cafes, stores, or restaurants I may want to visit later in my stay, see where the bus or subway stop is, and see what else of interest is within a few blocks. If the room will be ready soon, I will do my walk then sit at a nearby cafe with a drink to relax. If it is early then I might visit a sight - just because the room is ready doesn't mean I can't enjoy the reasons I am in the city. Of course, if this is arrival after my international flight I will be too jet lagged for a museum, but if it's just a move within the same time zone I will not be too worn out - I generally keep my travel days pretty bearable so usually it is something like leaving the first city in the morning (not crazy early), traveling by car, bus, or train a few hours and arriving in the new city by afternoon. Often this means the room is ready when I arrive, but not always.

Sometimes on domestic trips I stay in hotels with pools or other facilities I'd like to use - gyms, spas, whatever. If so, the hotel will give you access to those places without the room being ready, so I might do that. I don't use those types of hotels in Europe, though.

I normally time my departure time from the previous location to ensure that I arrive at the new location at about 13:00 - 14:00. In most cases my room is ready and I can check-in right away. I've only had to leave my bags in the storage room once or twice over the years.

One other factor in my timing is that I like to have breakfast at the hotel I'm departing from, especially since I've probably paid for it. If I'm not leaving until late morning, that means I can have a leisurely breakfast before checking out.

After checking into the new hotel, I generally get cleaned up, perhaps have a short rest and then do a familiarization walkabout in the neighborhood before supper.

There is the general rule and conversely, the few exceptions. Almost always when I arrive at the official check-in time or afterwards, sometimes 2-3 hrs later, the room is ready.

That time in Paris in 2015 mentioned above was surprisingly one of the very rare exceptions, likewise in London at a B&B in Kings Cross.....basically no big deal if the room isn't ready when I arrive.

As long as the hotel is looking after my luggage, even if I am told to come later later to check in and, obviously, the reserved room not being ready, I don't care...I go out.

In Vienna I arrive in the morning, ie off the night train, got to the hotel, ca 09:30 hrs, obviously, prior to the official check-in time, I was allowed to check in and go to the room.

I'm on the drop your bags and go exploring side.

Once (in Turkey) we borrowed a room which was not yet made up, changed into beach wear, and went to the beach. Not useful in London I guess.

When you travel to Europe you should expect this to happen. Drop the bags and go. We plan for it. If it's an AB&B situation, make arrangements so that you can drop the bags.
This isn't the time to sight-see...it's when you figure out the area where you are staying, buy some groceries and wine or beer, decide where you want to eat that night, check out the transportation etc. Once check -in time arrives, head back, drop off the things you purchased, take a shower and head out for the evening. The classic mistake folks make is to try and stay on their home schedule..to deal with jet lag the trick is to flip immediately to local time and forget about what meal you should have been eating now, whether you've been up all night etc...just get into the local time and go... don't let your luggage stress you while you are on vacation or traveling.....

I don't recall on most of my travels when the room is actually ready when I get there. I leave my bags at the hotel and I go for a walk, take in my bearings, have a meal, etc. Basically, just go about my business. I try to freshen up (brush my teeth, change, comb hair, whatever...) at the airport once I land. I've pretty much given up on worrying about where the hotels "store" the bags since most of them just leave them out on plain view all over the place, usually in the vicinity of the front desk. Unlike business hotels, they don't have some designated locked storage room they appear to use.

Hi Avirosemail. We most often arrive way before our room is ready. And Time on a trip is our most valuable commodity so I am not willing to waste it hanging around in a lobby. I do a quick face wash/tooth brush in a lobby bathroom and replace my airplane shoes with my walking shoes out of my suitcase. We always have a plan for the first day and off we go. If it before 9:30 or so we may stop for coffee and a something but then we are off and, most often, walking. We try hard to have a day 1 plan that is mainly outdoors walking but certainly includes going inside places (that won't be mobbed) that we want to see the inside of. Like walk along Southbank and perhaps stop into Tate Modern, or wander through the Tuileries and then up Rue de la Pax, and visit the Palais Garnier. We try to get back to the hotel after 2pm, take some time to unpack and shower, go out and find dinner and plan on being in bed for the night by 8 PM. But I am just not willing to be just killing time for hours when I could be out and doing.

Whether it's an arrival day from home or just a transit day, I'm not going good to waste daylight vacation hours futzing around unpacking and settling into my hotel room. We either leave the bags if our room isn't ready, or dump the bags in the room and then GO. We always have a plan for what we want to see and do that first day. Unpacking can wait until we return to the hotel before dinner. We like to get to wherever we're going before noon, so our rooms are rarely ready for us. Never considered this a problem.

If I lived near a major airport with nonstop flights to Europe, my state of well-being upon arrival would be different that reality. Often flights to Europe start before roosters are restless, fly the first leg in the wrong direction, and endure a significant delay to catch the long leg to Europe. Guess I’ll just have to move.

I pack light enough that I could carry my bag with me but I usually drop it at my lodging. I figure it confirms/reminds them I'm coming, just in case they forgot.

My arrival days are always days to recover from jet lag, so the plan is long walks outdoors. The goal is to stay awake to a decent bed time, eat healthy food and get some sun and exercise. That's what I do and don't worry about being back right when the room is available - unless it works out conveniently.

Whether it is mid-trip or on the first day after a long flight, I am always happy to leave my luggage with the hotel and set out to sight see. I do not see why it would be a difficulty in the middle of the trip. It is only on the first day after a long flight that it might be a problem.

In my case I have arrived in Europe (multiple times) in the early morning after 20+ hours of travel from Australia. In spite of that I am still keen to set out and see places, and I think the excitement carries me through. Usually I try to take it relatively easy, not to do too much, but I always end up back at the hotel in the late afternoon after a pretty full day. Last year the first day of the trip was in Rome, and I think I ended up doing a lot more than I planned to do, and I was pretty tired by the time I got back to my hotel, but it was still a good day. I did have a number of rests along the way, and the best was in the upper levels of the Victor Emmanuel Monument with its great views of Rome. Spending time in the hotel lobby seems like a real waste of time to me.

I purposely took an early flight out of Venice into Paris. Dropped my bags off around 10:00, check in was 15:00, & headed to Disneyland Paris for the day. Returned that night and officially checked into my room. My friends and I purposely arrive in the early morning to Las Vegas every year, again drop off the bags to be stored and start our guys trip shenanigans.

I do too, leave my bags at the front desk and try wandering outside (but not too far from where I checked-in). I may be eating, or taking some shots that would remind of the place I visited

I arrived early to the tour hotel in Berlin in a terribly jet-lagged state and my room was not ready. A fellow tour mate who was headed out the door for a few hours having arrived several days before saw me and asked if I would like to take a nap. Instinctively I felt he was okay and said “yes!” I took his room key and crashed in the unused bed in his room. After a most lovely nap, I got up, dressed and took the key downstairs to the reception desk. By then my room was ready. This kind act became known by others on the tour and was a subject of joking. I am grateful to him for helping me, a stranger, in my moment of need. That was my 2nd RS tour and I felt relatively safe knowing the quality of people who go on these tours. The woman at the reception desk looked a little surprised when I gave her the key to his room! I told her he let me “borrow” his room for a nap.

Judy. That is a great story!, how kind of him.

I feel kind of bad responding to this. Of course my arrival-before-room-is-ready usually involves Eurostar to London or short flight elsewhere. If I arrive morning or early afternoon before the room is ready, I simply go start seeing what I want to see. But I’m not dealing with jet-lag and the sleepless prior night on the plane.

Bruce, I can't imagine what it must be like for you. Every time I fly back to Europe from LA, where my brother and his family live now (like last week after going home for Thanksgiving), I marvel that anyone from the West coast ever travels to Europe, it does me in so!! Andi'm not doing any backtracking, nor does it take me longer than 45 minutes or an hour to get to LAX!! And even when I’m flying from home in Oklahoma, our driveway is 40 minutes from the airport, and no we don't have direct flights, but at least we're going in the generally right direction (north and east), so making progress towards our destination. I can't imagine how long your travel days are!! Much sympathy to you.

Kim, don't apologize for displaying sympathy! We need more of that, to make up for those who can't seem to muster much at all :P

Thanks to those commenters above who explained how they incorporate check-in times in their planning.

The first time this happened to me was on my very first trip to Europe. We landed in Rome. I hadn't slept more than an hour or two on the overnight flight, and I'm not sure if that was a chunk of time or fifteen minutes here...twenty minutes there....

Our ride from the airport to the hotel woke me up a bit. Our driver clearly missed his calling as he should have been driving in high speed races which required quick reflexes. We drove up what I was certain must be an alley, but there were cars somehow fitting along the other side of this narrow passage. I'm pretty sure we almost took out a nun. I prayed like I've never prayed before...not so much for my safe arrival at the hotel as that we wouldn't kill anyone en route.

Upon arrival early in the day, our room wasn't ready. Okay. We locked our suitcases and left them behind the desk. The hotel furnished us with a map of the local area. We went outside and started walking. I've probably never felt prouder of myself when I managed to buy a snack and a drink at a local shop, mostly in really bad Italian. (Me with the really bad Italian. The locals were very kind and didn't laugh.)

We saw a few things I hadn't expected to see on my first day, including the Tiber. I could almost feel the ghost of my Latin teacher repeating sentences over my shoulder.

Long story short - I understand the need to officially arrive before settling into the exploration stage of things. I mark off things in my mind in stages. But I made it through that transition in spite of that. For me, a big part of it was saying to myself - when in Rome - and that kept my sense of humor going.

I have since decided that if something - like having a room ready - is significant to my travel comfort, I'll rearrange my plans to make that happen. I'll take a different flight. I'll book a hotel room starting the night before and let them know I'm arriving at 8 am. It's a comfort issue to me, and it's also been a live and learn issue to me. The more I travel, the more I see what works for me and mine. And then knowing that, I can plan better for the future.

Same as many others, leave my bag there and come back later. What I'll do depends on how long I'll have before the room is ready and what time of day?

If I have a long time and it's my first day arriving in Europe, I'll spend the day outside, probably walking in parks. If it's not my first day, I'll refer to my list of sights for that destination.

If I have a relatively short time, I may find a meal if it's time to eat, take an orientation walk around the area, or just find a spot to relax for awhile.

I never worry about coming back the minute they said the room would be ready, unless I have some pressing need to use my room right away.

It's happened to us quite frequently when we fly for our resort holidays in Europe because many of the flights are during the morning. Typically the resort check in isn't until 16:00 but we can leave our luggage with the resort and use the pool and other amenities until our room is ready. I find this not too inconvenient as we still benefit from a day at the resort rather than catch a later flight to arrive after check in time and miss most of our first day.

We did encounter a problem at the JW Marriott in Bucharest where we arrived around two hours after the check in time and were told, rather apologetically that our room was not ready as the previous guests were allegedly still present. We had booked the only suite with two bedrooms (one for the children) so they couldn't offer us an alternative. I thought it was strange that the previous guests were still there but the manager appeared so embarrassed that he insisted that we order anything to eat and drink from the bar at his expense and to continue to do so until the room was ready (we did, and we did for two hours!). When we finally entered the room we found all the windows open (this was early december!) and the residual smell of cigarette smoke. It would appear that the previous occupants had spent their time there smoking heavily which is against hotel policy and the staff had tried desperately to freshen the room before our arrival. A bit inconvenient but handled well and saved us paying for our first night's dinner.

I’m with the drop your bag and go out. My attitude might be different on a business trip, but my vacation time is valuable.

My usual hotel in Washington DC gets tons of tour groups, so even if I get there at 4 pm sometimes the room isn’t available or else they’re busy checking in an entire tour bus. They’ll usually hand me a couple of vouchers for a free drink at the hotel bar.

I try to avoid the overnight flights to Europe if I can. The day flight to LHR is great. But, if it’s one of those night flights, I just assume the room won’t be available and plan accordingly. I’m not going to waste time in a hotel lobby after paying the money to get to Europe.

I would pay extra for early check in.

That's a good story, JC.

Patience paid off in your case, and now you've piqued everyone's interest in Bucharest as a resort get-away.

In London there is a hotel where the option of paying extra for an early check-in is available. It's the Easy Hotel in Paddington. This was in 2011. Paying extra was calculated in increments of time... one hr ..a certain amount, 2 hrs, ...obviously more than one hour, then 3 hrs early...the most expensive of the choices.

It didn't apply to me anyway since I showed up shortly after the official check-in time. Would I have taken that option of paying extra just to check-in had I known of this schedule allowing you to pay extra based on your arrival time and I had shown up one hour earlier...no. No way would I pay extra.

What was offered at Easy Hotel was my first time encountering this sort of thing...never saw it anywhere else.

More often then not when flying from Seattle to Europe we land in the morning and make it to our accommodation prior to check-in. As other posters have said, clean-up a little, leave your luggage and head out for the day. On our next trip we land in London at 8:30am and should be at our hotel around 10:00-10:30. We're in Southwark this time, not a part of the city we've seen so we'll be heading for Southwark Cathedral and then off to Borough Market for lunch and some shopping.