So if you were booking a holiday would you book the hotel from after you land or the day you fly out?

[mulledwineshine]

I have always booked it the day I fly out but we land after 12am.

Does this knock us in to the next day?

Check in is stated between 3pm - 5pm.

So if I book as I normally do we will lose a whole day but the room will be ready.

If I book in for when we actually arrive at hotel it saves us nearly £1000 but it means being at hotel way earlier than check in.

What do you do?

How are you getting to the hotel? If you've got a transfer included in either the flight or the hotel booking then I might be inclined to just get there, and ask about an early check in. If you're arranging your own transfer separately then I would lean towards booking somewhere cheaper near the airport and travelling on after you've slept for a few hours. Though presumably with that you'd still have the issue that they might put you down as a no show for not arriving by midnight..

I was in this situation back in October and booked the night before as I arrived at the hotel at 3am past midnight. I also notified them that I will be arriving at 3am as my flight lands at 12am. There was no way I was going to wait around for 12 hours for the 3pm check in.

There's a massive difference between arriving at a hotel at 1pm and seeing whether the room might be ready a few hours earlier and arriving at 1am hoping for a 14hrs-early check-in. If they say no what would you do - you can hardly bed down in reception.

As others have suggested you either get an airport hotel where you can crash when you arrive, pay for the night that you arrive as planned or contact the hotel to see whether they might do a B&B rate for the first night rather than full board.

We do airport hotel in this scenario.

You can't ask for early check in of 1am the previous night!😂 it's not like they can sell the room to anyone else. And 1am isn't that late, you'd still get a full night sleep, breakfast, and morning/early afternoon of activities. Especially in the Middle East, the day runs much later.

Can you just stay at a cheaper hotel for that one night?

Of course you book it for that night. 1pm isn’t that late, you get a full nights sleep and breakfast as usual.

Our check in is after 3pm at our place, almost everyone arrives 7-9pm, no one at 3pm

In the highly unlikely situation that I was in this scenario (£850 is more like a week's accommodation for me!) I would definitely book for the night before. Much nicer to get wake up in your hotel in the morning, have breakfast and be ready to start your holiday.

That’s a ridiculous amount of money for one night. Get a room only airport hotel

Isn't 1am a normal time for people to go to bed on holiday? The only thing you are missing is dinner the evening before.

£865 is extortionate for one night. Even for 4 people.

If your holiday is that expensive do you really want to ruin the start of it by being roomless..or airport hotel, but how much will it save

Have you checked if the hotel will let you check in early? Sometimes there is a fee but not a full night room rate. But if not, what's the plan for 1am until 3pm? Do you not expect to need to use a room and where will you put your bags?

I'd be looking for alternative flights, or a different hotel. But at 1am after a flight, I wouldn't want to be keeping going until I could check in the next day. 1am is not the start of the day.

I’m not even sure I understand the question.

I book the hotel for when I will be arriving at the hotel.

If I arrive at 2pm I wait til check in at 3.

If I arrive at midnight I check in straight away - you are paying per night.

Agree with PP - only options here are airport hotel or see if you can get a room-only / B&B rate.

A hotel ‘day’ runs from check-in to check-out time - the fact you’re arriving after midnight is neither here nor there.

I’ve chanced it before arriving at a hotel at around 6am and they’ve let us into the room early. But there’s a big difference between 6am and 1am. At 6am if they hadn’t let us into the room we’d have just dropped our bags, gone out and found breakfast and then booked a sun lounger on the beach for a few hours. Plus our holiday was at the budget end of the spectrum so flights at anti-social hours and willingness to risk starting the holiday without being able to shower/change was a risk we were willing to accept. For an £865 a night holiday, no chance.

What’s the daily rate you are paying for the rest of your stay? Is £1000 the same rate or a lot more?

Unless you want to go clubbing on arrival you either have to pay or find somewhere cheaper