[brudgers]

Because, at least in the US, hotels have liberal cancelation policies. In addition, the hotel never really knows what kind of work will be required after a guest leaves...or exactly what time a guest will leave, so the order in which rooms are turned around is not known beforehand. And letting people into their rooms at check-in time or even before is a bigger deal for travellers.

In addition, there are frequent customers who may need a last minute room and companies (such as an airline when a flight is cancelled or overbooked or delayed) that may need a block of rooms on short notice.

An airplane on the other hand is a public space, and the individual has much more limited control over much less space...trash an airline seat and you're probably going to jail.

[asbestoshft]

Aren't most of these things something that a hotel could charge customers? You want to check in at 1 PM instead of the standard 3 PM, OK, that is more money? You want to be able to cancel up to 12 hours before check in, OK, that is more money? We can't guarantee you can't get bumped out of your room just like airlines can't guarantee that you won't get bumped off your flight. It seems like almost all of the same issues with airlines apply to hotels and yet airlines, as bad as they seem to be at customer service, are actually ahead of hotels in this regard and I assume they did it because they could make more money by constantly attempting to up sell customers and it seems hotels could do this as well.

[asbestoshft]

I meant you might get bumped out of your room and even the hotel if you decide to stay another day for which you don't already have a reservation. If you have a prior reservation you can't get bumped. Well, maybe you can. I've never heard of that happening with a hotel but I assume they do overbook and somehow they deal with it.

[avalaunch]

It's called 'walking the guest' and it happens somewhat frequently. Hotels always overbook when they can and normally it doesn't cause any issues because there are almost always enough cancellations and no-shows to compensate. But it does happen and probably more often than you'd imagine. Typically the late night arrivals will be the ones getting walked, especially if they're only staying for a single night, and even more so if they booked through a third party site like Priceline. I am not sure if it's legally required or not but the hotel that is walking you will usually set you up in a nearby hotel and pay for the first night. Of course if the nearest hotel with an opening is 20 miles away, this could be quite frustrating.

Edit: If you are going to be arriving late, call the hotel in advance and let them know and you greatly decrease the likelihood of getting walked as they will tend to walk someone before you instead.