Trending Hotels are embracing more flexible check-in and checkout times — a move that changes the guest experience, particularly for business and red-eye travelers. When Sydni Brecher landed in Paris early one morning around Christmas last year, she didn’t kill precious euros in a cafe or seek refuge at an airport lounge waiting for her accommodations to be ready. Instead, she went straight to her room at The Hoxton, took a shower and began her day — all before the clock struck noon. “I could literally pick the time when I wanted to check in and I could literally pick the time when I wanted to check out,” said Ms.
Brecher, 24, who lives in Brooklyn. “It allowed me to actually see some of Paris, even on a short trip. ” Check-in and checkout usually run like clockwork: between 2 and 4 p. m.
on the front end and around 11 a. m. or noon on the back end. And breaking free of that mold has traditionally meant one of two things: cracking the upper tiers of a hotel loyalty program (where flexible check-in might be a perk of elite status) or requesting extended hours when booking, only to have to plead your case in person.
But nowadays The Hoxton and other hotels are embracing more elastic time frames as an across-the-board offering — a move that substantially changes the guest experience, particularly for business and red-eye travelers. The Hoxton’s Flexy Time, which started last November, allows guests at the brand’s nine hotels across Europe and the United States (there is a 10th planned for Rome) to do exactly what Ms. Brecher did: state when they will arrive and depart. The entire 24-hour reservation window is fair game — one could theoretically check in at 12:01 a.
m. , check out at 11:59 p. m. and only pay for one night.
To manage operational needs like housekeeping, The Hoxton requires 72 hours’ advance notice for Flexy Time stays. Asbury Ocean Club Hotel and The Asbury Hotel, both in Asbury Park, N. J. , and operated by Salt Hotels, take an even more relaxed approach, reaching out to guests a week in advance to get their arrival times, then coordinating housekeeping from there.
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Whereas The Hoxton and both Asbury Park hotels offer flexible check-in for free, Standard Hotels charges 5 to 10 percent of the room rate for Standard Time, which began in 2016. A prospective guest might also luck into Standard Time for free through an online promotion. “We found rigid check-in and checkout times antiquated and inhospitable.
“Besides, who wouldn’t want more spa or pool time at The Standard, Miami?”
” asked Amar Lalvani, chief executive of Standard International Management, the parent company of Standard Hotels. Standard Time is available at six of seven Standard Hotels worldwide (save for the new Maldives resort). In addition to serving red-eye warriors, flexible check-in taps into the brand’s signature element: hip, see-and-be-seen spaces designed largely for leisure. Then there’s the opposite of hip and see-and-be-seen: hourly rates.
But New York City’s stylish new TWA Hotel, in a landmark Eero Saarinen building at John F. Kennedy International Airport, has lent a certain coolness to an idea once reserved for unsavory motels. Travelers looking to weather a layover with a quick nap and a shower, and maybe dinner at the Jean-Georges restaurant or a drink inside a Lockheed Constellation-turned-cocktail lounge, can book a room for “Day Stays” of four, six or 12 hours. Check-in begins as early as 7 a.
m. and rates vary, starting around $100 for four hours and $239 for regular overnights. According to the hotel, Day Stay bookings are consistent throughout the week, with a slight uptick on Thursdays. More than 50 percent of guests at The Hoxton and both Asbury Park hotels take advantage of flexible check-in policies, with midday the most popular requested arrival time.
Across The Hoxton’s portfolio, the average checkout time is 3 p. m. As Marley Kleiman knows, a few hours can make a difference. In January, the night after a friend’s bachelorette party, Ms.
Kleiman took advantage of Flexy Time at The Hoxton, Williamsburg, in Brooklyn, checking out at 1 p. m. “Some girls knew we would be out late,” said Ms. Kleiman, a 28-year-old Chicago schoolteacher.
“And the beds there are so phenomenal that it was really helpful to get more than three hours of sleep. ” Sarah Firshein formerly held staff positions at Travel + Leisure and Vox Media, and has also contributed to Condé Nast Traveler, Bloomberg, Eater and other publications. If you need advice about a best-laid travel plan that went awry, send an email to travel@nytimes. com — Sarah is also our Tripped Up columnist.
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