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The context is "I'm waiting in a line for checking in at a hotel and the front desk is processing the check-in procedure. At this moment, I want to complain to my companion about waiting so long."

Should I say "Why is it taking so long to check in for the customer?" or "Why is he taking so long to check in for the customer"

I want to say that the front desk has been processing for too much time.

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The phrasal verb check in can be used in two ways that are relevant to this situation.

I am waiting to check in at the hotel.

This usage is intransitive, and the subject is the customer.

The staff are checking in the guests.

This usage is transitive: the subject is the hotel staff, and the object is the customers.

In your sentence, you are talking about how slow the hotel staff member is, so you must use the transitive version, because the hotel staff member is the subject. The verb check is in its infinitive form, so the subject is moved to the verb take. Note that the customer is the direct object of check, so you don't need the preposition for.

Why is he/she taking so long to check in the customer?

If you don't know that the hotel staff are the cause of the problem, you could say:

Why is it taking so long to check in the customer?

If you think that the current customer is making a lot of fuss and this is causing the delay, you could use the intransitive form.

Why is he/she [the customer] taking so long to check in?

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  • Thanks for your answer. You explained it very well. I now know the difference between " Why is [it] and Why is [he]" .
    – John
    Commented Aug 21, 2022 at 9:59
  • Can I just say "Why is taking so long?"
    – John
    Commented Aug 21, 2022 at 10:04
  • @John, no you can't: the verb take needs a subject (the thing that you want to know about), so you need the pronoun it to refer to the thing that you want to know about. You could ask "what is taking so long?, because what can be the subject for take.
    – JavaLatte
    Commented Aug 21, 2022 at 12:13
  • So only "what" can act as a pronoun as "it" but "why" can't. Is that right?
    – John
    Commented Aug 21, 2022 at 15:12
  • Yes, that's correct. dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/what dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/why
    – JavaLatte
    Commented Aug 21, 2022 at 23:20
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The first option is correct: "why is it taking so long to check in for the customer?"
You can also say "why is it taking the customer so long to check in?"

Your second option, "Why is he taking so long to check in for the customer?", doesn't make sense: the 'he' seems to refer to the customer, but, as the object of the sentence, 'he' would be doing something 'for the customer', which is he himself (compare that to "he is taking so long to check in for [himself]").
A correct version would be "why is taking (him) so long to check himself in?".

Or maybe it was an accidental combination of the following two sentences:

  • "Why is [the front desk clerk/receptionist] taking so long to check in [for] the customer?"
  • "Why is [it] taking so long to check in for the customer?"
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  • Thanks for your answer. So, I could just say " Why is it taking so long to check in the customer?" or "Why is the front desk clerk taking so long to check in the customer?"
    – John
    Commented Aug 21, 2022 at 9:53
  • @John They are both correct, but the second is clearer. But the first one is useful when you don't know why it's taking long, and you don't have reason to assume the problem lies with the desk clerk.
    – Joachim
    Commented Aug 21, 2022 at 14:45
  • Thanks. I understand now 😃
    – John
    Commented Aug 21, 2022 at 15:13

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