Here is my dilemma....

The family and I will be arriving in Lison on on a Thursday morning at 6:15 AM. The family includes two kids (8 and 6 years old). I plan on heading straight to the hotel to deposit our luggage. But - I assume there is no way the hotel will actually be able to give us access to a room at that time (probably around 8:30 AM).

My problem is that we (especially the kids) will be dead tired. I just can't imagine forcing them out to go sight seeing at that point. But - given that we don't have access to the hotel room - I can't think of what we can do in terms of getting to a few hours of shut eye.

Has anyone confronted this problem before. Any suggestions as to a solution???

Thanks,

Rick

Whops - Libon should read Lisbon.

What hotel, rh?

stu

This is our hotel

HOTEL AVIZ
Rua Duque de Palmela ,32
Lisboa, 1250-098
Portugal

We went ahead and paid for the extra day at our hotel in Milan due to the same early arrival situation. There just isn't any way we were going to wander around for several hours after an all day journey. Fortunately, our hotel isn't terribly expensive. I would reserve the room in advance with two little ones to cope with.

I am seriously considering that.

We too reserved our room for the night before our arrival. Our kids wer 4 and 7 when we went to Portugal and I was so thankful we had a room reserved to go right into.

Do contact the hotel and make sure that they understand that you won't be checking in until the next AM, as they could assume that you're not coming at all if you don't show up that first night and could even (although it's unlikely) cancel the rest of your stay and give away your room.

I have good luck with checking in early (though never before 8:30 AM) at hotels in Europe after a transatlantic flight, but I can certainly understand wanting to have things settled ahead of time in this instance. Large business-type hotels are generally better at being able to accomodate early check-in requests, and it helps to belong to that hotel's loyalty club.

If the hotel has a room available at 8:30 a.m. when you arrive, they will in all likelihood let you check in.

I once checked into a hotel in Krakow at 7:00 a.m. after arriving on the overnight train from Prague. I wound up with a better room than the one I had booked, for the same price.

You might get lucky.

I also would not be so pessimistic about the hotel not letting you check in.
Even though most hotels have a check-in deadline in the early p.m. hours, I have checked-in at very early hours in many hotels.
If you want to be on the safe side, you should tell the hotel your problem. Instead of having to pay for an additional night, the hotel could also guarantee you an early room free of charge, or ask for a surcharge (but not the equivalent of one full extra night).

Like many other factors, much depends on the time of year you will be visiting Lisbon. If it's not peak Tourist season, your Hotel may not be full. If that's the case, the Hotel may allow an early check-in (i.e., as early as 9AM).

Therese writes: << ... Large business-type hotels are generally better at being able to accomodate early check-in requests, ... >>
I've found the opposite to be true. I (we) stay at Mom & Pop owned Residenciales and have found them to be much more accomodating than large, impersonal Hotels at which the housekeeping staff starts work around 8AM.

If your Hotel does not have a room available immediately, seek out a nearby Pasteleria and tell the Desk Clerk you'll be waiting there. Lisbon has some really great Pastries!

My point about large business-style hotels is not that they are necessarily more accomodating than a small property but that they are more likely (in my experience, that is) to have had a room that was not occupied the prior evening, and those are generally the rooms that you'll be able to get into well in advance of the housekeeper's turning those rooms vacated the same morning. As you point out, if it's high season somewhere this approach is unlikely to be successful no matter what sort of hotel you've chosen.

Lots of good input here. Thanks.

First - sometimes the hotel has empty rooms and will let yuo check in early - we have this happen quite often.

BUT - with 2 kids I would reserve rooms from the night before and let them get some sleep so the first few days aren;t unbearable.