Usage of Rain Check

Solution 1:

Rain check meant - in case or because it is raining, I'll write you a check/ticket of compensation for the loss due to the rain.

Instead of actual rain, nowadays it could be any obstructive or contingent situation that prevents an event or the benefits of an event from occurring.

• Did the hotel encounter a situation which prevents you from enjoying their service? So that they should now present you with a replacement opportunity.

  • In which case, the hotel could give you a rain-check replacement.

• Did you encounter/provoke a situation of your own perturbation which prevents you from enjoying their service? So that now you have to provide a rain-check to the hotel as replacement opportunity for them to enjoy your patronage.

  • In which case, you would tell the hotel,

    "Could you take a rain-check? To privilege me to be your guest not this week but next."

Solution 2:

The way it was explained to me, many years ago, by an American is that a rain-check is something they hand to people attending a baseball match if it rains. It entitles them to free entry when the match is replayed.

Thus the metaphor is used when someone is unable to keep an appointment but intends to rearrange it. They could ask: please could I take a rain-check?, or they might be offered a rain-check.

A rain-check implies that no definite alternative time is arranged, but it just confirms an intention to do so.