Mail to a hotel?

January 3, 2008 4:09 PM

Can I mail myself stuff to a hotel ahead of time?

I'm taking a trip later this year within the US and would like to take as little as possible on the plane. (Air travel makes me crazy as-is, and having stuff...bleh.) Is it possible to box up the stuff I won't need right before the trip and mail it to my hotel?

I'm not sure if this is a crazy question to ask, so I thought it'd be worth bouncing off the worldly-wise MeFites. Thanks!

posted by epersonae to Travel & Transportation (17 answers total)

Can I mail myself stuff to a hotel ahead of time?

Of course you can. And people do. Whether it's a good idea or not in this particular case depends on the hotel in question. Call them and ask if it would be okay.
posted by grouse at 4:10 PM on January 3, 2008

Yes of course. I have done this a few times before. Just call ahead to make sure.
posted by special-k at 4:11 PM on January 3, 2008

I've done this before when traveling on business.
Just call and talk to the hotel about it.
posted by vacapinta at 4:14 PM on January 3, 2008

Best answer: I ship stuff to hotels for people who work with me. Call the hotel and ask to make sure, of course, and ask if they have a specific way that it should be addressed (this may include not just your name, but your dates of stay). Use a shipping company that has tracking, and try to time it so that it doesn't arrive too much in advance of your arrival - a day or two is good, in my experience.
posted by rtha at 4:14 PM on January 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thank you! (All hail the hive mind.) I thought so, but I rarely travel and didn't want to feel like a complete doofus calling a hotel.
posted by epersonae at 4:25 PM on January 3, 2008

Best answer: If for whatever reason this is not possible, you can send your stuff to a nearby post office poste restante and pick it up on your way in.
posted by digitalprimate at 5:04 PM on January 3, 2008

Note that some hotels will charge a holding fee.
posted by acoutu at 5:50 PM on January 3, 2008

My sister lectures nationally, and all her materials are mailed to her at the hotel/conference center before each lecture.
posted by FlyByDay at 5:51 PM on January 3, 2008

Best answer: I've done this before but be aware that a lot of hotels have started charging for the service. (Especially if it's more a box than, say, a letter or a FedEx envelope). Some even charge PER box, which can really add up if you're sending more than one thing. So it's definitely worth calling in advance.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 5:56 PM on January 3, 2008

As a rebellious teen, I used this method to avoid the intensive search of our belongings on a school trip. When I arrived at the hotel and claimed the large box of contraband booze, I was an instant legend.
posted by Lame_username at 6:06 PM on January 3, 2008 [7 favorites]

Before my honeymoon, I had a shop in Michigan send a box to a hotel in California, for delivery the following week, containing what my bride said she wanted - fur-lined earmuffs. I sent payment to the store, but as it turned out, I was $25 short. The store sent them anyway, and earned my undying patronage thereafter.

I bet it gave them a lot to talk about for a while.
posted by megatherium at 7:04 PM on January 3, 2008

Another option if you are traveling on business is to ship the materials to the local office and have someone there hold it for you. Many of my coworkers do this.
posted by Octoparrot at 8:23 PM on January 3, 2008

There's a service called Luggage Forward that does this. I'm not sure if they work with hotels in general, or only Starwood Hotels, but I read about them whilst staying at a W Hotel in San Francisco.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:22 PM on January 3, 2008

Best answer: You can also mail things to a local post office care of general delivery and they will hold it for a time for you to pick up. Just dont mail it too soon before you go because they might send it back to you if its sitting around for a while. My friend who bikes across the country does this all the time to have the gear he does not want to carry on the road with him waiting at his next stop.
posted by outsider at 6:26 AM on January 4, 2008

A few years ago, the night before I was leaving on a two-week vacation, I lost a contact. The next morning, (wearing glasses), I stopped by a Lens Crafters, got an exam, ordered lenses, and had them shipped to the hotel I would be staying at.
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:16 AM on January 4, 2008

Anyone who's exhibited at trade shows could tell you that it would be pretty lame to set up trade show exhibits if you couldn't ship the stuff to the hotel ahead of you. I think I've never seen my dad arrive at a hotel without some kind of parcel waiting for him...be it stuff for work, or wine he didn't want to check through to his destination.
posted by crinklebat at 1:10 AM on January 5, 2008

What about non-US -- what's the word on doing this for hotels in (for example) Japan? Europe? How about India?
posted by Rash at 4:04 PM on January 5, 2008