A walk-in is a guest who turns up at the front desk without a reservation and asks for a room on the spot. Walk-ins are more common at roadside, airport and city-center hotels, and on nights when nearby properties are sold out.
They go through the same steps as any other arrival: ID, registration, payment guarantee and any local taxes. Because there is no booking history, most hotels take full prepayment or a card pre-authorisation at check-in.
In practice: decide in advance what rate the desk quotes to walk-ins and when it can flex it. Late in the evening an empty room is worth nothing tomorrow, so a clear rule (for example, a floor rate after 10 pm) stops the desk from either giving rooms away or turning business away.
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