Gallivanter

In early June my wife and I will be arriving at JFK at 6 am following a red-eye from the west coast. We will be departing JFK just short of midnight that same day on another red-eye bound for Africa. Sometimes we manage to sleep on these overnighters and sometimes we don't. We would like to find a moderately priced hotel very near the airport where we can rest up between these flights. Problem is I've contacted three hotels in the area and asked them if they could have a room ready for us for an early morning check-in (probably 7-8 am or so) rather than the customary mid-afternoon check-in and have been told by each hotel that they can't guarantee they will have a room ready for us at that hour. We don't want to stumble into a hotel in the early morning after an all night flight only to find that no room is available for us until hours later. Frankly, I'm surprised at this response. I would have thought ours might be a rather common request for hotels near a busy international airport. Anyway, do any of you Fodorites out there have a hotel you might suggest that is likely to comply with our wishes? We'd appreciate your input.

Odin

I've had rooms in hotels ready for me at 6am but I booked them from the previous night. Usual check-in is around 1-2pm so expecting a hotel to guarantee a room is ready at 7-8am is not going to happen. The way round this, is to book the previous night and guarantee it/prepay it and inform hotel of your expected arrival time, so they don't think you are a no-show.

Gallivanter

Thanks, Odin, for your input. My wife had suggested much the same thing. I'll probably go this route.