Check-in
Encyclopedia
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
, airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
, sea port or social network service
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
.
Airlines and airports
Check-in desks are found in the majority of commercial airportAirport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
s. Their main function is to take in luggage that passengers wish to, or are required to, place within the aircraft's cargo
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
hold and issue the boarding passes. After the luggage is weighed and tagged, it is placed on a conveyor that usually feeds into the main baggage handling system. Each airline is assigned a check-in desk, which it manage eithers through ground staff or a handling company. Some airports have curbside check-in, where passengers give their bags to an airline representative right before entering the terminal and then proceed directly to security.
Automated check-in
There is an increasing trend towards more automated check-in processes, with many passengers now able to either check-in online before arriving at the airport (often several days before their flight) or use an airline's self-service check-in kiosks at the airport, avoiding queues for the main, staffed, check-in desks. However some airlines will require passengers proceed to a dedicated desk (which is located near the main desks) to have their travel documents verified before moving on.Check-in scale
The airline check-in's main function is to accept luggage that is to go in the aircraft's cargo hold. The acceptance of luggage is of course restricted, and one of these restrictions is the weight. Therefore the weighing scales are mostly integrated in baggage handling or labelling conveyors, which ensures an optimum flow of passengers at check-in counters. The weighing scale bases use high performance strain gauge load cells for weight measurement and are protected against accidental overload.The check in scale displays can be mounted on top of the counter or integrated into the check in counter. Most of the check in scale displays are equipped with a totalisation function. Totalisation enables multiple baggage weights to be accumulated, per passenger or per group of passengers.
Hotels
At hotelHotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
s, check-in is normally required in order to obtain a room key
Key (lock)
A key is an instrument that is used to operate a lock. A typical key consists of two parts: the blade, which slides into the keyway of the lock and distinguishes between different keys, and the bow, which is left protruding so that torque can be applied by the user. The blade is usually intended to...
and provide a credit card guarantee
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
to cover potential costs such as room service
Room service
Room service is an accommodation available at many hotels, whose employees bring food or other items to guests in their rooms.Room service may also refer to:- Music :...
for the duration of the stay.
The hotel's check-in time indicates the time from which the hotel starts charging for the day. If anybody wants to occupy the hotel room before the hotel's check-in time, the hotel charges for one additional day and considers it as previous day stay (as compared to occupying the hotel room after the check-in time). Most hotels, however, can accommodate a little buffer time request (typically 30-60 min) by the customers, without any additional charge, if one wishes to take the room before the check-in time. For the most cost-effective usage of hotel room occupancy, the customer should try to reach at about hotel's check-in time and leave or hand over the hotel room at about the hotel's check-out time, but it may not be always practical because the customer's arrival and departure time of flights may not align with the hotel check-in and check-out time and for other reasons.
Social check-in
Many social networking services, such as Foursquare, Google LatitudeGoogle Latitude
Google Latitude is a location-aware mobile app developed by Google as a successor to their earlier SMS-based service Dodgeball. Latitude allows a mobile phone user to allow certain people to view their current location. Via their own Google Account, the user's cell phone location is mapped on...
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, Gowalla
Gowalla
Gowalla is a location-based social network. Users 'check in' at Spots in their local vicinity, either through a dedicated mobile application or through the mobile website. As a reward users will sometimes receive virtual "items" from check-ins. Items have developed to become a promotional tool for...
, and Brightkite
Brightkite
Brightkite is a location-based social networking website that is available on any mobile device. Users "check in" at places by using text messaging or one of the mobile applications and they can see who is nearby and who has been there before. The service was created in 2007 by Brady Becker, Martin...
allow users to "check in" to a physical place and share their location with their friends.
Users can check in to a specific location by text messaging or by using a mobile application on a smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
--the application will use the phone’s GPS to find the current location.
Many applications have a “Places” button or tab where a user can see a list of nearby places into which the user can check in. If a location is not on the nearby places list, the user can add the location directly from the phone. Once a user has checked in, they have the option of sharing their location with friends in services such as Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
or Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
.