Could Hotel Cancellation Fees Be On The Rise?

A lot of the discount economy fares from Australia are fully not refundable at the time of booking, even 11 months out. Can't change anything even within 24 hours after booking. The entire payment is forfeit.

One more reason to avoid Hilton...

The Marriott policy sucks. Case in point, getting charged in state college when occupancy rates are very low due to PSU on break and lack of business travel due to holiday. It was no loss to them for a last minute cancel and sucky they did it to a plat. Member.

As of now, fully flexible rate is often at least 10-15% higher and if I choose to select a fully-flexible rate, it means that I need flexibility. It is like an airline selling you a fully refundable ticket. As of now, many price conscious travelers are already purchasing discounted rates, and myself chooses to pay more for that flexibility. I have no issue paying more but if there is a $50 fee, it is no longer a fully flexible rate.

Hilton is already bad enough, when it comes to elite recognitions, especially in the US. Some of the NYC hotels don't even honor late check-out and upgrades are almost urban myths. This $50 cancellation fee makes no sense at all!

Adrian

WILL NOT BOOK WITH HILTON if this happens.
If I am paying the higher flexible rate (like the more expensive flexible rate for airfare), I should have the advantage to cancel a day or a few days prior without any fees.

Could just be a random selection of places I've been staying but I feel like I've been seeing a lot of tighter cancellation policies lately. A few hotels I've stayed at recently had a 2-day or even 1-week advance cancellation requirement even on the fully flexible rate, instead of the usual 1-day or even day-of. A lot of hotels seem to have also gotten more aggressive about having a larger price differential between the prepaid and flexible rates.

I wonder if we'll see hotel loyalty programs add airline-style cancellation fees for award stays.

I ran into the 1-week advance cancellation at The Boulders. Was really surprised the cutoff was so early.

I've always been a little surprised that hotel cancellation policies allowed guests to cancel up until 6pm on the day of check-in. It's been really helpful a few times, but I'm willing to give it up knowing that when the reservation book is full, it's hugely unfair to the business and to anyone else who might be trying to get a room to cancel at the last minute like that.

I think there's a happy medium to be found. I would not be in favor of a $50 change fee for ANY change after booking (even if you can get out of it by being a program member), but a fee for canceling within a day or two of arrival? Sure.

I suspect the reason is different. I see more and more hotels having dynamic pricing, with high ratesvtwo months till three weeks prior to the stay, then adjusting down if needed depending on occupation. For that reason, i do not buy adv purch rates anymore, with a flex rate and using, sa they say, new technology, i can cancel and rebook if rates drop, i can even get that done automatically by some sites. Installing av50 grant cancellation fee, no matter the time, will take away that opportunity ,in other words, will allow the hotels to go for dynamic pricing all the way, or should we call it opportunistic pricing...

" Obviously with all these new technologies and things over the last couple of years, there has been lots of different sort of ways people are trying to game all our systems with cancel and rebook"

Clearly talking about people making a flexible reservation, then finding a lower rate later on, and canceling to rebook at the lower price. The $50 fee would make that no longer cost effective for the guest.

I think this is just a way to get more people to join the loyalty programs and book directly with the hotel. Note it says "Hilton HHonors members are exempt from the cancellation fee". Not elites, just members. That is a pretty easy hurdle. What I think would be a better idea would be to create a third tier of cancellation policy. Right now there are flexible rates where you can cancel the day before and prepaid rates where you can't cancel at all. It would be good to have another rate with a policy halfway in between (like 30 day or 14 day cancellation and a fee within that window) and to be able to capture some of the savings that come from the prepaid rate.

I used to be excusively Marriott till they changed their policy, now I almost never use them. When I am forced to I always use my BlueBird card as my card to put down to hold the room cause I never keep any money in that account for more than 5 minutes. They can try and charge me to their hearts content.

I never book a prepaid hotel or car rental, as too many things can change with travel plans. I will also not book a hotel until I am in route if I can't cancel without penalty on arrival date. Hotels may reduce the # of cancellations with these new policies, but they will also have more unreserved rooms that they need to discount to fill.

@paul m

I'd be careful, they can always send you to collection if they have the right info on you. That's a battle I wouldn't want to fight.

For those with a Citi card, their virtual wallet lets you generate a number and place a dollar and/or time limit on it. I'm wondering if the merchant can pitch a fit with citi and get citi to push the charge through anyway.

I stayed at PHM four month ago. They have a policy that you need to cancel four days prior to your stay.