Stressed from work and need some time to collect your thoughts and get things done? Staying at a hotel could be a great option. But can you rent a hotel for a few hours?
Can you rent a hotel for an hour?
Generally, the answer is yes, but it all depends on the hotel. Traditionally, potential guests have to talk directly to hourly hotel representatives to find out if this is possible. But now that the hospitality industry has started to embrace the concept of hourly booking, more and more hotels are now renting rooms by the hour. Below are two booking platforms that offer the booking of hourly hotel rooms in select countries.
HotelsByDay
HotelsByDay.com and its accompanying mobile app let you find hotels that offer hourly rates easily.
HotelsByDay allows same-day last-minute bookings, early check-ins, and late check-outs to suit any schedule. Perfect for a workation or daycation, rooms booked via HotelsByDay offer private, clean, and safe spaces furnished with comfortable furniture and on-site work equipment at half the price of a one-night stay.
A trusted partner of several hotels in over 1000 popular cities around the world, HotelsByDay offers the booking of hourly rooms and day-use rooms for early morning check-in and late-afternoon check-out. A common time band on HotelsByDay lasts from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The hotel is also under contract to keep your room until one hour prior to your day room check-out time. While you cannot check out after your listed check-out time and could be penalized for doing so, you can call the front desk and inform them of your desire to check out later than the initial time you indicated. Depending on the availability of your room, you may stay a little longer by paying a small supplement, which depends on your desired check-out delay.
Pay-at-hotel bookings are charged at the hotel and can be canceled at any time prior to check-in, for any reason, at no penalty. However, service is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Meanwhile, non-refundable bookings guarantee the service and can be canceled for HotelsByDay credit if canceled 25 hours prior to check-in. However, any cancellation within 25 hours prior to check-in is final and cannot be refunded.
Dayuse.com
Based in Paris, with offices in Hong Kong and New York, Dayuse.com is the first platform to offer daytime hotel bookings. With Dayuse.com, guests can book a room at a high-end hotel for a couple of hours and enjoy its luxurious amenities.
Founded by David Lebée at the age of 29, along with his two partners Eugénie Lebée and Thibaud D’Agrèves, Dayuse.com first became operational in 2010. Working as a director within large Parisian hotel groups at the time, Lebée was often asked about daytime bookings. For instance, Hotel Amour is popular with touring artists and musicians, who would ask about renting a room for a few hours during the daytime as a place to relax before a performance. But that hotel and similar establishments never had that kind of service at that time, so Dayuse.com was created to fill that gap in the market.
As of this writing, Dayuse.com lists over 7,000 partner hotels in over 25 countries, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Brazil, Netherlands, Austria, Australia, Ireland, Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, Sweden, and Thailand, among many others.
Unlike other hotel booking services, Dayuse.com lets guests book a daytime hotel based on their desires and purpose. Whether you’re looking to stay at a daytime hotel for a business meeting, to take some me-time, enjoy room service, or dive into a pool, Dayuse.com allows easy browsing of available hourly hotel rooms, as the service has meticulously categorized them based on the type of experience you want to enjoy.
To book an hourly hotel room, simply go to Dayuse.com or use its mobile app. Using the search function of the service, find the hotel of your dreams. Then, choose your desired room at the hotel you chose, specify your time slot, and tick all the add-on services you want to avail of. After validating, all that is left is for you to arrive at the hotel room and enjoy.
Dayuse.com offers a free cancellation. When you are required to prepay your Dayuse booking fees, you can cancel your booking anytime before the start of the purchased time slot. The booking fees, however, are not refundable.
You can also pay at the hotel itself at check in and can reserve a room without a credit card. Booking a daytime hotel room through the service can save you up to 75% of the price compared to when booking an overnight stay.
According to its website, Dayuse.com boasts a 4.5/5 rating on Trustpilot, with over 1 million satisfied customers around the globe.
How much do I need to stay at an hourly daytime hotel?
The cost of staying at an hourly daytime hotel varies depending on the property’s location, the room size you want to stay in, and the services and facilities the establishment offers, among many others. However, most hotels have what the industry calls “day rate,” which is typically cheaper than a normal stay. According to UponArriving.com, the day rate is usually discounted by about 45% from the standard nightly rate.
What are the disadvantages of renting a hotel room by the hour?
If you rent a hotel room for just a few hours, there’s a good chance that you may not be able to get full use of the room. And since you are paying for each individual hour that you are in the room, you are expected to pay for a whole hour, even if you only used the space for just 30 minutes or less.
Many hotels only offer limited amenity access to guests who are not staying for a whole night at their properties. Since you will not book a room for an entire day or more, there’s a possibility that you are not allowed to use the hotel’s pool, gym, conference room, and other amenities.
Also, you may or may not get access to the free breakfast, as most breakfast times at hotels end at your time of check-in, which usually starts at 10 a.m.
If you will only rent a hotel room for an hour or so, some boutique hotels may not allow you to book specific hotel rooms like junior suites and suites, as they are probably reserving these rooms for guests who would like to stay at their property for an entire day or more. Most companies, however, seem to offer their full inventory of hotel rooms available for day rates.
During certain times of the year, especially during holidays or if there’s a big event happening in the area, some hotels will block out availability for hourly rates and day rates. For example, during the busy holiday season, a hotel may not allow guests to rent rooms by the hour. This could also be the case if there are conventions and concerts happening on a specific date.