I am taking my elderly mother to Florida for a week The thought of checking bags on the plane is daunting. has any one shipped luggage to hotels? who did you use and how did it work? Its hard enough getting my mom any where without lugging bags.(no pun intended) thanks

Hi ellenh, I know there are some services that you can use but unfortunatly I don't have their names or websites. I bet if you went onto the search on Google you could find some. Or how about boxing up what your mother will need for the week and sending it ahead by UPS. That might be the easiest for you. Good luck!

Peter Greenberg, the travel guy for the Today show, always ships his luggage to and from the hotel via FedEx. He never checks a bag.

Another Fodorite once pointed out that NBC pays the shipping though!

If you are going to be in one place, then you could easily ship a box as LoveItlay suggests - and then ship it home. The hotel may charge a $5 handling fee on top of the UPS charges, but it can be worth it.

If you do this contact the hotel in advance and find out whose name to put on the box - and get e-mail confirmation how to do it - and that it has arrived.

If you simply send things in advance to a guest who has not yet arrived - it is often "stored" in the bowels of the hotel - and a couple of days later when the folks arrive no one knows where it is. (Take this from someone who ships stuff to hotels constantly for meetings.)

Contact your airline and arrange assistance. This is done all the time for elderly passengers.

Thanks everyone, Im still working on it. I'll post what I find out.

Agree with getting help from the airline. Check bags at the curb, get an electric cart to the gate.
But if you ship it use FedEx ground. They are TERRIFIC and reasonable. I am a complete convert from UPS. The USPS is laughable.

One other option that's a little less convenient:

You can ship luggage via Greyhound Bus Lines, but the kicker is that you have to go to the bus station to pick it up.

I've done this when I had a lot of luggage and didn't want to schlepp it to the airport. Stuff always gets there quickly and in good shape.