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Hotel asking to check in six months prior to reservation date?

This could be a scam? I have reservations at the Melia near the Lisbon airport in May and received a recent email from them asking to check in? Anyone experienced this?

EDIT: I doubled checked the dates on the reservation to make sure they were correct.

Posted by
8913 posts

I would never check in this far in advance, but I would double check what date they have on the reservation.

Posted by
10302 posts

Is it maybe a thing about European vs U.S. style dates ??

I.e. you think/planned to reserve for (for example) May 12 - to you that is 5/12.

In Europe 5/12 means December 5...

Most booking engines these days should be way more sophisticated than for this to be a problem but I am just trying to think if this could be an issue here ????

Posted by
42 posts

@Kim - I thought of that also, but the email confirmation spells out the month ( "May") and the year as 2023.

Posted by
42 posts

@Gail - I replied to the check-in mail, but no response. Good idea. I'll email the reservation desk at the hotel.

Posted by
496 posts

I've never had one so far in advance - but I ignore them all - you still have to check in person to get your key so why bother

Posted by
10302 posts

Well the problem is if a charge shows up on their credit card next week for a "no-show"!

Gail's idea is best. It certainly sounds like their system has a glitch - but you want to be sure that 1) you have the room for May and 2) you aren't charged for some phantom room now !

Posted by
16420 posts

Melia is a large hotel chain so this is unusual.

Did you make your reservations directly with the hotel or did you make it through a third party? If a third party then they may be the ones asking for the money. Also check the return address of the email. Is it really the hotel or one that looks like the hotels email address?

Posted by
11948 posts

How long do I have to check in online?
If you have booked through melia.com, the APP or the Meliá Contact Centre, a few days before your arrival at the hotel you will receive a message letting you know that online check-in is available..
https://www1.melia.com/booking/checkin/C_Public_CheckIn.jsp?idLang=en

According to the Melia website, the online check in should be available only a few days before.

Something has gone off the rails.