In my many years in the hotel industry .. the late check outs had been requested often enough and it is at the discretion of the front desk clerk to approve or not approve the late check out. Truth be told, the only reason why the hotel demand that you check out at 11am is because of housekeeping purposes and the turn over of rooms. In case of high occupancy.. you need to have the rooms prepared for the next check-in.
One can definitely understand from a hotelier’s stand point but what about you as a guest in the hotel who has a flight at 11.55pm…?? what are you gonna do from 11am – 11.55pm..??? afterall, you can only do the city tour for a certain hours.. and you would wanna go shower.. and refresh yourself before going on the plane right..?? i completely understand you .. and if you don’t want to fork out half the room rate for another few hours… this is what you do.
If you are a business traveler, try to use the same hotel everytime you stay in that city because as a long time guest of the hotel, you do get special priviledges. And if you are not a business traveler, try to be nice to the front desk ppl or better yet, drop your business card to make sure the hotel manager knows that you will recommend other clients and your co-workers or employees .. to this hotel.. even though you are currently not on business. The free late check outs.. are entirely at the discretion of the front desk clerks.. so do be nice to them. They don’t really have to give an explanation for giving out free late check outs.. especially if it is not peak periods.