Have you ever had to deal with taking a fragile gift on a plane? With the restrictions on liquids, you may not be able to take it as a carry on so you’re forced to check it. But what if the item you’re taking with you is valuable (perfume, wine, etc) and you don’t want some sasquatch just throwing your bag onto the plane? The easy solution is to ship it to your hotel. Hotels can sign for the package and as long as you’re checking in within a few days, they’ll hold it and let you know that it’s arrived when you check in. The beauty of this is twofold.
First, no messing about with checked bags that might get lost or contents that could be damaged or stolen at the airport. Look, I know the bulk of airport personnel are honest people. But all it takes is one incident for you to lose all trust. This removes the chances of anything shady happening to your things.
Secondly, you can insure your items when you ship them (even though I really haven’t felt that it’s necessary to spend the extra money). When you ship it via FedEx or UPS, you immediately get a tracking number and you can track your package all the way to its destination. If something happens, you have proof. As an added bonus, shipping your items (although dependent on weight) is typically comparable in price or slightly cheaper than the checked bag fee but you get all the added benefits of your items making it.
Now this works mainly for domestic shipments since international shipments can really get expensive. But the next time you need to have something fragile or bulky that you don’t want to deal with at the airport, look into shipping it to your destination. The time and frustration it saves could be well worth it.