How to check-in a large group to hotel

Will everybody be with you at check in, or coming in at various times. In my experience, you just check everyone in at once, and if arriving at various times, they just show up and hand in their passports for copying and receive their room keys.

One of nights they will be flying in and checking in at different times. But for the rest of the trip I was hoping I could drive ahead, check them in and have their room assignment and keys ready for them. Do I need their passports to do so? Will a copy of their passport work?

I have worked as a tour director (tour guide) and have checked in groups more times than I can remember.

It is different than checking in a person or a family.

A few questions:

When is this trip?

What country?

How large is the group? How many rooms?

How many hotels?

Are you working with the sales department or group department of the hotels? If not, you need to be. If not, you could run into big problems.

All the hotel reservations are in my name. Do I take everyone's passports from them at hotel check-ins and hand them back to them with the room key?<

How are going to do this if they are all arriving separately?

What you do is request their information prior to departing on the trip...Name, address, passport information (name, birthdate, passport number, expiration date, place of issue). You then compile it as a list along with room type information--single, double, twin-- for each person or couple. This information is then sent to the hotel a week or two prior to arrival. (Or the hotel will tell you when they need it.) They need this information prior otherwise check in will take forever. They also need to register the people into the rooms. You can't keep them just under your name.

When you work with the sales/group department, they will know you are coming and have your keys ready when you arrive.

But each hotel is different so you have to know their procedure.

The other thing is this. Hotels don't really look at regular reservations until a day or two ahead of time. If they see a number of rooms in your name, and don't know it's actually a group, they may think this is a mistake and cancel some of them. That's why you need to let them know in advance what is going on.

Do hotels allow you to give a printed passport copy so I dont have to keep taking they're passport from them?

Most do but you need to check with the hotel. I never had to collect passports at each hotel. The hotel already had that information.

Who is paying for the rooms? If each person is paying their own, then the hotel has to know that otherwise you will get the bill.

IDid you book each room individually? If so, you probably could have gotten a cheaper "group" rate by working with the hotel.

But for the rest of the trip I was hoping I could drive ahead, check them in and have their room assignment and keys ready for them. Do I need their passports to do so? Will a copy of their passport work?

If you send them the list of names and other information, you won't have to do anything prior to arrival. They should have the keys ready when you arrive. Again, coordinate with the sales department. Let them know approximately when you will be arriving.

Is this in Italy? There, we’ve needed to temporarily give Passports when checking in to lodging. Same with South Africa. Most other countries, no.

Frank,

The information you provided is exactly what I needed! Thanks so much. I'll be getting in touch with the sales department of each hotel.

Country: Costa Rica (They've always asked me for my passport at hotel check-ins.)
The group is 8 people - 4 rooms
They all arrive separately the 1st night, flying in from different areas.
4 different hotels. One large chain hotel close to the airport for arrival and departure, 3 smaller boutique hotels throughout vacation.

Thanks again everyone!

The group is 8 people - 4 rooms

This is not a large group. To qualify as a group it's usually a minimum of 10 rooms.

However, you still need to let the hotels know of the names since these are not family members. If it was family members, you could get away with putting all the rooms under your name. But since it isn't, they need to know each person's name or the name of one of the people if a couple. They will also need the passport information so you could send that as well.

It's possible, however, that when they check in they will have to show their passports. The hotels may not allow you to check them in.

Honestly, to make life easier, let everyone check in for themselves. Make sure the hotel has the names for each room and then let them do it themselves. It will only take a few minutes and probably faster than you trying to do it for them. Especially at the boutique hotels. Ask each hotel what they prefer.

Who is responsible for payment at the hotel? You or each individual? If each person or couple has to pay....listen carefully--they will have to check themselves in and change the method of payment or you will be charged for everything. An actual group gets one bill. If separate bills, then it's just a bunch of friends traveling together.

So, I pre-paid for:

Hotels
Van with driver
Activities

They all paid me back a lump sum for the combination. So I'm picking up the tab at the hotel.

I was hoping to skip the part where we all stand around the lobby for 45 minutes everytime we check-in. Everything in CR tends to take longer than expected. I'll check with the individual hotels to see how we can make things the most efficient.

Thanks again for your time and expertise.

You have four rooms. Its not going to take 45 minutes. Maybe 10.

Check with each hotel how they want to do this. Some smaller hotels can handle pre-registration and some can't.

If the rooms are prepaid, then that will save a lot of time.

So you’re picking up the tab for the rooms. What if one of the others charges something to the room - mini-bar, laundry, room service? I would not want to be on the hook for these charges and then have to chase down my friends to get reimbursed. So, it would probably still be best for each room to be attached to a credit card of one of the people actually staying in that room. They can arrange that by checking in separately.i agree that checking into four separate rooms should only take a few minutes.