This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Check-in Online
May
29
2026
For a recent trip, I reserved the hotel online a few months ahead of time, as is usual.
What was unusual was that they emailed me 3 days before the trip and asked me to check-in online.
This has been a thing with airlines for many years now, but they limit it to 24 hours. And it still doesn’t make sense as it is; I wish they would rename it to “obtain your boarding pass” rather than “check-in”, because “check-in” means that you are there.
Back to the hotel email: I thought I would humor them though, and see what the process was for checking into a hotel 3 days before I get there. It’s not like they’ve been waiting to see what gate assignment the terminal gave them, and I don’t need a boarding pass to get into the hotel.
I answered a few general questions, and then the next screen they wanted me to upload photos of my ID. It was at that point that I decided I did not want to waste any more of my time doing the job of the hotel clerk. Not that the job of a hotel clerk is bad, but they’re getting paid to do that paperwork, I am not.
So I just closed that browser tab and did not finish checking in online. It’s not like it saves me any steps – I still have to go to the front desk to get my key.
When I got to the hotel, 3 days later as planned, I just walked up to the front desk and checked-in like usual and no one asked or cared if I checked-in online before I got there.
More and more things are getting “self-service” options, and in some cases it makes sense. I like having the option at the grocery store to do the self-checkout. In that case I know the benefits versus responsibilities. For the airlines, if I’m not checking any bags I know the benefit of getting my boarding pass online is that I can skip the counter.
In the case of the hotel, they did not present any benefits to me – it’s just extra work for me for no reason. So unless they can convince me why I should check-in early, I won’t be bothered to do it.
But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you let the people neglect their work? Get back to your labors!”
Exodus 5:4
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 11:46 am and has been carefully placed in the Current Events category.
