How Checking My Hotel App Spared Me From a $50 Early Check-In Fee

How a quick scroll through my phone saved me fifty bucks, beat a stubborn check-in policy, and proved why you should never ignore a hotel's official app.

Greetings everyone.

It’s been nice to be home for a bit. After attending some of the Buffalo Sabres playoff home games, I got to spend some serious time up at our family cottage. One of the nights, it rained hard, and I’m the type that prefers being up there when it rains over anything else. I get the best sleep to the sound of the rain—not the fake rain sounds you get from an app. Windows open. Thundershowers. I love it.

Speaking of sleep, I desperately needed some during one of our final road trips covering the Maple Leafs last season. For some reason, the schedule makers blessed us with having to fly up to Northern California in the middle of a road trip in Los Angeles and Anaheim.

It wasn’t ideal to leave and come back instead of just doing these games back-to-back. In fact, I had no choice but to take a 7:00 a.m. flight from SJC to LAX following the game against the San Jose Sharks. That meant an earlier-than-ideal wake-up. With the Leafs scheduled to practice at 1:00 p.m. local time, I was intent on getting a good nap in if my hotel room was ready.

I showed up at the Hotel Figueroa, which is about a block away from Crypto.com Arena, around 9:45 a.m. I was exhausted, hoping the room was ready.

The Hotel Figueroa in Downtown Los Angeles has a nice outdoor pool. But a terrible early check-in policy

It was. However, they said that because I was so early, I could only check in if I paid a $50 early check-in fee.

Seriously? I should note this is a Hyatt hotel and I have status. They said if it was noon they would have waived it, but because it was just hitting 10:00 a.m., it was a no-go. I cover my own bills and $50 USD is still money worth saving, so I told them I was just going to hang out in the lobby. I gave them all of my information, passport, etc. They were nice enough to hold my carry-on in case I ventured out. Paying a fee when the room is ready is ridiculous.

I wasn’t happy about it. There had to be a way around it. And here’s how I did it.