Shanghai hotels to get user friendly

SHANGHAI: From May 1, people staying at any of Shanghai's 310 star and 4,500 non-star hotels will have a better say on when to check out.

A new law passed recently by local legislators will end a common practice in hotel industry: checking out by noon. Instead, a guest will set his own checkout time, with the hotel's approval.

A guest would be told about the standard checkout time at the time of checking in. If he needs to stay a little longer, the hotel should provide concierge services.