hi,
I am planning a trip for late June with my teenage daughter. Leaving from NYC and landing in Shannon.Would like to fly out Saturday to arrive early Sunday morning. We'll be staying in Clare the first day. I've been to Ireland before so I know how wiped out one can be. The last time, I was able to check into my hotel that morning and crash for a few hours. That was on a Monday though. Does anyone know if early check-in is a better possability than here in the states? And yes, I will be trying to stay awake as long as possible but I find it nearly impossible to sleep on a plane and my daughter certainly likes her sleep. Thanks in advance.

Why not contact the hotel you have booked and ask them? They are the only ones who can answer your question.

This is a hotel specific question. They can give you a room if they happen to have the type of room you booked not used the night before, something they really like to avoid. They would not know until that particular morning if there is any availability.

IF you want to be sure to have a room upon arrival, book it for the night before.

IF you are arriving on Sunday morning, book the room for Saturday AND Sunday nights. Tell them you won't arrive to early Sunday morning, so they don't cancel for no show.

Unless you pay for either early check in OR pay for the night before you can't guarantee having access to the room. W/o paying, a room might or might not be available. If this is a must -- you need to call the hotel and make arrangements.

There is no way for a hotel to guarantee you an early check-in unless you book the night before as DebitNM says.

Two other points. First, it is never a good idea to sleep during that first day, you just screw up your internal body clock even worse. The fastest way to get over jetlag is to stay awake until at least 10pm on that first day.

Second, some people suffer more than others from jetlag and for those people, the best answer is to find a 'daytime' flight rather than an 'overnight' flight. Daytime flights do exist but they may not seem to be as convenient and of course the price or departure airport may differ.

Aer Lingus started a daytime flight from NYC to Shannon a couple of years ago. I don't know if they are still flying it, you'd have to check but the point is daytime flights do exist.
http://www.irishcentral.com/travel/a...blin-takes-off

With a daytime flight such as that one, you suffer less jetlag since you arrive in the evening of the same day. For example, if you arrive at 11.30 pm local time and that is 6.30 pm NYC time, how will you feel? You will be more awake obviously and may find yourself not ready to sleep for several more hours. No problem. Come say 2am local time, you go to bed, sleep normally and when you awaken, you are ready to go.

What you need from a hotel then is a LATE check-in which is never a problem if you advise them when booking.

The Park Inn at Shannon used to have day rate for just your situation, that stopped when Raddison took over a few years back I believe they did see the light but you would have to email them.

Oakwood Arms Shannon, again they did stop morning check in for a while. http://www.theoakwoodhotel.com/contact.html

Recently refurbed and getting good reports The Shannon Springs might be worth contacting.http://ag.avvio.com/crm/site/Shannon...613.1488996212

Depends Where in Clare?? you will be staying but your accommodation there might have early check in facilities Ennis is reachable by bus or taxi but other parts of Clare are less accessible.

thank you all. I'm still in the early stages of planning but checking with the hotels is the way to go. I'm well aware of the need to stay awake as long as possible and did it the 2nd to last time I was there.

Dogeared–thanks for the Aer Lingus early flight suggestion. Will look into that.

Tony2phones–did you use to post on Pat Preston's site?

Never contributed on Pats forum, knew her and know a lot of her old regulars. Must be about 6 years since she passed away.

Greg is right, no hotel is going to force guests to leave at 6 am, so there is no way they can promise you an early check-in, unless you pay for it.

Christina, the hotels by the Airport have folk checking out from about 4 am. Housekeeping starts (anywhere I've worked) around if not before 7 am, it is easy to have half a dozen rooms ready for 8am if catering for flights arriving.

As I said the (old regime) Park Inn had the option but as You say booking or at least enquiring beforehand is the way to go.