Early check-in charges

They must not be charging it for Diamond and above since we have not incurred the charge yet. We checked in at Bally's at noon last week-end and no mention of the charge. They had signs up at Rio stating that the charges were in effect.

Here's my email to CET, I'll let you know what answers I receive.

"Recent stay at Rincon 12/14/12

We arrived at Rincon around 8:30am and were told rooms were available if we wanted to pay $25 + tax for the convenience of checking in early. We paid the fee, however I don't think we will do that again.

We travel 125 miles from our home to arrive at Rincon and leave home early to maximze our casino time at Rincon. As we pass by 3 other casinos to get to Rincon we may chose to stop at these casinos and gamble so we arrive at Rincon after the 4pm check-in time.

I would like to know why this fee wasn't mentioned on the CET website reservation page where I made the reservation.

Does this fee apply to both comped rooms and paid rooms?

Is $25 the fee at all CET properties or does it vary between properties?

If I pay $25 for this early check-in convenience will I receive $25 when I check-in after 4pm and my reserved room isn't ready? My room not being ready after posted check-in time would be an inconvenience for me."


eholmes, I wish I'd seen your post before I emailed them. My son booked the room under his account(he's platinum level) and he used his reward credits to pay for it. I didn't think to ask if as you say the fee does not apply if your Diamond or 7 Stars.

I just booked a room at Harrahs New Orleans for our cruise in April. It did say on the reservation page that rooms may be available for early check in but are subject to a $30 early check in fee if checking in before 4PM. We'll just leave our bags at the bell desk until 4.

The CET suits have really screwed-up with this new policy. I usually never stay anywhere on the Vegas Strip but CET property because I refuse to pay a resort fee. I would consider an early check-in ever MORE onerous than a resort fee because at least you get something for a resort fee. I do not consider being able to check-in if my room is ready any benefit to me and it certainly does not include anything provided extra by the property. I would call this "shooting themselves in the foot." Further most people check-in and then commence to gamble. If we all wait until 4 p.m. how much vig is that costing the casino? PS-in regard to previous comment re: Horseshoe S. Indiana we arrived about 3 pm and no mention was made of an early check-in fee. I am guessing 3 pm is the magic time there or it might be the comped room. Who the hell knows.

Here's what I asked and the response from CET


1. Are all CET properties charging this fee?

2. Is $25 the amount of the fee at all properties or does each property set it's own dollar amount for this fee?

3. Is there a player's tier level where this fee is not charged? i.e 7 Stars and Diamond?

4. If the room is a comped room will the fee apply or only on rooms that aren't comped?

5. If a reserved room isn't ready at posted check-in time will I receive a $25 credit for my room not being ready? Seems fair and it should work both ways.

Response:

"The policy is different at each property but you are more than welcome to contact us in the future prior to your arrival to verify if their is an early check in fee at a particular property. If there is a fee to check-in early, we will find out how much the fee is for you. Certain properties waive the fee for Diamond and Seven Stars members. Official check-in time is after 4PM - 6PM, so customers only pay the fee if they choose to check-in before 4PM. There is typically no credit given if the room is not ready between 4-6PM, however that decision would have to be made on a case by case basis by the Manager on duty. I will definitely suggest this to upper Management for their consideration in future business decisions. I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Have a great day!

Nikki Borino
Total Service Representative
Caesars Entertainment, Western Region"

Thanks, raisin7 for sharing that.

I would have added several questions:
- Have you guys lost your minds?
- Is there some benefit to having EVERYONE check in between 4pm and 6pm? Really?
- Does it not make more sense to have check-ins throughout the day, to decompress the 4pm -6pm crowd?
- What exactly does the "fee" accomplish for your company, other than a money grab? Do you have to pay your staff overtime to check guests in before 4pm?
- Are you prepared for the animosity this will create toward your company?
- Do you realize that we view this as an insult to previously loyal customers?
- Are you not aware that guests fly in from all over the country, in fact all over the world, are somewhat at the mercy of the airlines, cannot always set our arrival times to between 4pm and 6pm? That when we arrive we expect a hotel to at least check us in without an ADDITIONAL charge? That for years your properties have checked us in before 4pm without this ridiculous scam of a fee?

Pretty obvious this burns me up.

Just back from a trip to Vegas and stayed at both Ceasars and Paris and was not charged an early check in fee at either. Hubby (gold level) checked in at Ceasars around 9:30 with no problems other than getting a double upgrade (free) and I checked into the Paris around 11:00 with no problem other than having to wait around 15 minutes to for them to get a room ready.

Hey Lt.ax49 why was hubby at Caesars while you were at Paris? Is there more to the story? Is it something we should know? Just kidding with a try to throw a little levity into a perplexing situation involving my favorite casino group and the astonishing choices they seem to be making. I am guessing that some suit or a group of suits will soon be admonished and this early check-in fee will disappear but who knows.

Since they stayed at both hotels, it sounds like one rezzy was in husband's name and the other in hers.

ha ha. I could say it was because of his snoring or with him being a firefighter just use to him not being in the same bed. Alas nothing that interested just moving from place to place to get free nights.


Yes--they are going to start losing customers if they keep up charging early check in fees, but you battle MGM with resort fees or Harrah's with early check in fees.