READ THIS NEXT: Never Check In to a Hotel Without Requesting This, Experts Say. Have you ever shown up early to a party and felt awkward since things aren’t fully ready for guests yet? The same thing goes for a hotel. “I remember so many instances when suites or certain rooms get booked and they’re not ready by that initial check-in time,” Ashley Brescia, a former Courtyard Marriott employee tells Best Life. Housekeeping works hard to get rooms clean in a timely manner, but if you’re looking for a specific room (meaning, you prefer a corner room rather than just any king-bed room), then it’s best to wait until later in the afternoon to check in.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Most hotels don’t actually allow early check-in, so it’s best to wait it out anyway. If you’re staying for an event, or need the room to get ready for, say, a wedding, then it’s recommended to stay the night before so there’s less hassle in the morning. READ THIS NEXT: Marriott Hotels Are Getting Rid of This, Effective Immediately. Getting an upgrade is probably a lot easier than you thought. According to a former Marriott employee who goes by @css-swfl on Reddit, “Call the hotel about 4-5 days in advance tell them it’s a special trip and you would like to request an upgrade if possible.” Their advice is not to be pushy and to “go with the flow.” If the hotel wasn’t initially able to accommodate your upgrade, you can also ask about it when you arrive. If there are rooms available and you have a good attitude, it’s more likely you’ll be upgraded. Mentioning a special occasion like a wedding or honeymoon is also a good way to receive a better room. If all else fails, the ex-employee on Reddit says you can always try to “put $20 in the front desk agent’s hand.” Multiple room check-ins and check-outs are happening throughout the day, so it’s more common than you may realize to be checked in to an occupied room. Sometimes the keys that are made don’t get registered, or housekeeping will clean and report that the room is checked out. “What happens is somebody left the room and they took all their stuff with them, so housekeeping will tell the front desk that the room is checked out because they think the person is gone,” previous Fairfield Inn employee Jen Mathews explained in a Tiktok video. She advises leaving a few things behind to avoid being run out of the room. Last year, the Daily Dot shared a now-viral TikTok video in which a bride-to-be and her mom opened the door to the hotel room for which they’d just gotten a key and saw a person sleeping on the bed. Needless to say, when this person woke up, she was scared someone had broken in. It’s unclear at what hotel chain the incident took place, and while most cases aren’t this extreme, they do happen fairly regularly. For more travel advice delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. The Marriott Bonvoy rewards program has six tiers starting at a simple “Member” and ending with “Ambassador Elite.” While there are some perks at each level (free WiFi and priority late checkout, for example) the real rewards only start to add up at Platinum Elite, the fourth tier. “We can acknowledge the points and thank you for being a member, but the status doesn’t mean much until you can gain enough points for free nights,” Brescia explains. Platinum Elite members receive 50 percent more points on every eligible hotel purchase (the top two tiers get 75 percent). The points usage does vary at each brand and hotel branch. Free nights will be easier to get at places like a Courtyard Marriott or Fairfield Inn and Suites and won’t require as many points. However, higher-end hotels or resorts will require a lot to earn those coveted free stays. And do remember, “the high and mighty attitude won’t get you any special treatment,” according to Brescia. Whether you’ve picked up the phone and ordered or used UberEats/DoorDash, if you want to ensure that you’ll receive your takeout order, it’s best to wait in the lobby. “Even if you leave your room number in the notes, the food will only make it up to you sometimes,” Mathews tells Best Life. Some front desk staff will bring deliveries to guests’ rooms, but usually, you’ll need to come down. Many hotels also have safety policies in place that won’t allow delivery workers to go farther than the desk. The best guarantee to getting your meal is to keep track of the order and retrieve it yourself.
