Check-in is the process whereby people announce their arrival at an

office An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific ...

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergen ...

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as ...

or event.

Office check-in

Many offices have a reception or

front office The front office is the part of a company that comes in contact with clients, such as the marketing, sales, and service departments. The term has more specific meaning in different industries. Types General offices The function of front office ...

area near the entrance to greet or assist visitors arriving to attend a meeting. A

receptionist A receptionist is an employee taking an office or administrative support position. The work is usually performed in a waiting area such as a lobby or front office desk of an organization or business. The title ''receptionist'' is attributed t ...

may ask visitors who they are to meet and may ask them to sign a register. The receptionist may give a visitor instructions as to where to go or inform the host that his guest has arrived. The visitor may be issued with a visible visitor’s pass, often worn around the neck. However, research shows that long waiting times at the reception area could lead to loss of customers.

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

has led organisations to wider and faster adoption of technology to streamline the visitor check-in process, Visitor management systems automate the visitor check in process and reduces office check-in time with pre-registering visitors through email, effective communication, QR code express check-in, automate host notifications and efficient visitor management workflows.

Airport check-in

The check-in process at

s enables passengers to check-in luggage onto a plane and to obtain a

boarding pass A boarding pass or boarding card is a document provided by an airline during airport check-in, giving a passenger permission to enter the restricted area of an airport (also known as the airside portion of the airport) and to board the airp ...

. When presenting at the check-in counter, a passenger will provide evidence of the right to travel, such as a ticket, visa or electronic means. Each

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

provides facilities for passengers to check-in their luggage, except for their carry-on (also called cabin) bags. This may be by way of airline-employed staff at check-in counters at airports or through an agency arrangement or by way of a self-service kiosk. The luggage is weighed and tagged, and then placed on a conveyor that usually feeds the luggage into the main

baggage handling system A baggage handling system (BHS) is a type of conveyor system installed in airports that transports checked luggage from ticket counters to areas where the bags can be loaded onto airplanes. A BHS also transports checked baggage coming from airplan ...

. The luggage goes into the aircraft's

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tra ...

hold. The check-in staff then issues each passenger with a boarding pass. There is an increasing trend towards more streamlined checking-in processes, whereby passengers can bypass or reduce the time in queues at the staffed check-in counters. This may involve passengers checking in online before arriving at the airport or using an airline's self-service check-in kiosks at the airport. Some airports have a curbside check-in, where passengers can check in their bags to an airline representative before entering the terminal and then proceeding directly to security. Many airlines have a deadline for passengers to check in before each flight. This is to allow the airline to offer unclaimed seats to stand-by passengers, to load luggage onto the plane and to finalize documentation for take-off. The passenger must also take into account the time that may be needed for them to clear the check-in line, to pass security and then to walk (sometimes also to ride) from the check-in area to the boarding area. This may take several hours at some airports or at some times of the year. On international flights, additional time would be required for immigration and customs clearance. Auto check-in is usually provided by the airline on the website or via the mobile application during the

reservation __NOTOC__ Reservation may refer to: Places Types of places: * Indian reservation, in the United States * Military base, often called reservations * Nature reserve Government and law * Reservation (law), a caveat to a treaty * Reservation in India, ...

booking Booking may refer to: * Making an appointment for a meeting or gathering, as part of event planning/scheduling * The intake or admission process into a prison or psychiatric facility. * ''Booking'' (manhwa), a Korean comics anthology magazine pub ...

of the flight or can be added to an existing reservation/booking some hours before the scheduled time of the departure of the flight (this is, the time communicated at the time of the reservation/booking or later, by airline due to schedule changes; delays cannot be considered as schedule change). When auto check-in is completed a

is provided before departure.

Hotels

Hotels and similar establishments usually require guests to check in (also called registering or signing in), which involves the guest providing or confirming personal information, including contact information, along with a signature. The laws of some countries require guests to provide this information and to sign a register, often called a hotel register or guestbook, which may be in the form of a registration card, and some also require the provision of identification documents, such as a passport, national identity card or drivers licence which the hotel may wish to copy and retain in its records. Usually, only one guest is required to register per room. Sometimes, the register may need to be provided to a government agency, such as the local police, and sometimes with a court warrant or similar authority. The establishment may require guests to provide a

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the ...

or a security deposit as a guarantee to cover potential costs such as the use of

room service Room service or in-room dining is a hotel service enabling guests to choose items of food and drink for delivery to their hotel room for consumption. Room service is organized as a subdivision within the food and beverage department of high-end ...

or a mini-bar for the duration of the stay, and to facilitate a more expedient check-out process at the end of the guest's stay. At the end of the checking in process, the reception staff will provide guests with a room key. More and more hotels are implementing an Online or contactless check-in options. Check-in times vary, but can range from about 12 pm to about 3 pm, depending on the establishment's rules and regulations. Late check-ins can be arranged through the hotel as long as the guests book this in advance and arrange all the necessary details. Hotels usually specify a check-in time after which they expect guests to check in. If a guest wants to occupy a hotel room before the hotel's check-in time, some hotels may charge for an additional day or treat it as a previous day's stay (as compared to occupying the hotel room after the check-in time). Most hotels, however, allow a grace time (typically 30–60 minutes) upon request by a guest, without any additional charge, if a guest wishes to have access to the room before the check-in time. Some hotels also have a latest check-in time, often 6 pm – 8 pm, after which they may give a room to someone else if the room has not been prepaid for or the guest does not phone in to indicate their expected time of arrival. Some hotels have a deadline for checking in because the reception desk may close for the night. For the most cost-effective usage of hotel room occupancy, a guest should try to arrive near a hotel's check-in time and leave or hand over the hotel room near the hotel's check-out time. However, doing so may not always be practical because, for example, a guest's flight arrival and departure times or car trips may not align with a hotel's check-in and check-out times.

Social network

Many social networking services, such as Foursquare, Google+,

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

, Jiepang, VK, and GetGlue, as well as

Gowalla Gowalla was a location-based social networking service. It launched in 2007 and closed in 2012. Users were able to check in at "Spots" in their local vicinity, either through a dedicated mobile application or through the mobile website. Checking-in ...

(closed), Google Latitude (closed), and Brightkite (closed) in the past, allow users to what has been referred to as self-reported positioning, or more commonly known as a "check-in", to a physical place and share their locations with their friends. Users can check in to a specific location by text messaging or by using a mobile application on a

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whi ...

—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 users have checked in, they have the option of sharing their location with friends in services such as

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

or Facebook. Since the check-in became a ubiquitous mechanism in most mobile applications, the industry especially in the gaming branch, has tried to find alternatives. Gaming applications, in particular, require the user to check in multiple times in a row, so the mechanism becomes a sustained routine. Currently, possibilities for an auto-check-in are being tested by developers.

External links

References

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