To ease crowds jamming airline counters, more airports are installing self-service kiosks farther from the terminal lobby for travelers who don’t print their boarding passes at home.

“Off-site” check-in kiosks are appearing at airport rental car offices, hotel lobbies, parking garages and other outdoor locations near — but not in — the terminal. “It leads to reduced lobby ‘dwell time.’ It’s good for everybody,” says Todd VanGerpen of Seattle-Tacoma.

Hotel lobbies. They’re an ideal choice because hotels don’t provide printers in rooms for customers wishing to have boarding passes before leaving the hotel. The Venetian and Luxor hotels in Las Vegas feature “common-use” kiosks in the lobby that spit out the boarding passes of several airlines, says Michael Picco of Arinc, a kiosk maker. Some hotels near airports, such as Hilton Chicago O’Hare and Hyatt Regency DFW in Dallas, provide them as an amenity.

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