Comments on: Mail to a hotel?

Question: Mail to a hotel?

epersonae — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:09:35 -0800

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!

By: grouse

grouse — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:10:58 -0800

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.

By: special-k

special-k — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:11:34 -0800

Yes of course. I have done this a few times before. Just call ahead to make sure.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:14:02 -0800

I've done this before when traveling on business.
Just call and talk to the hotel about it.

By: rtha

rtha — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:14:41 -0800

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.

By: epersonae

epersonae — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:25:20 -0800

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.

By: luriete

luriete — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:37:43 -0800

I do this often. Call hotel first as they said. Addresses often look like this:

Firstname Lastname
guest arriving on xx.xx.xx
c/o Hotelname
address

By: digitalprimate

digitalprimate — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:04:21 -0800

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.

By: acoutu

acoutu — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:50:31 -0800

Note that some hotels will charge a holding fee.

By: FlyByDay

FlyByDay — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:51:11 -0800

My sister lectures nationally, and all her materials are mailed to her at the hotel/conference center before each lecture.

By: bitter-girl.com

bitter-girl.com — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:56:36 -0800

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.

By: Lame_username

Lame_username — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:06:56 -0800

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.

By: megatherium

megatherium — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:04:39 -0800

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.

By: Octoparrot

Octoparrot — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:23:12 -0800

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.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:22:40 -0800

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.

By: outsider

outsider — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 06:26:50 -0800

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.

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:16:20 -0800

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.

By: crinklebat

crinklebat — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:10:15 -0800

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.

By: Rash

Rash — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 16:04:00 -0800

What about non-US -- what's the word on doing this for hotels in (for example) Japan? Europe? How about India?