Last October, Marriott announced that they would be changing their global cancellation policy as of January 1, 2015. Not surprisingly, Hilton matched within a month, also for stays starting January 1, 2015. They were changing the cancellation policy on the most flexible kinds of rates, which previously mostly allowed cancellations until the day of arrival.…
Continue reading: Starwood Implements Most Restrictive Cancellation Policy Of Any Hotel Chain
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
On the other hand, this may make BRGs easier.... unless those become even MORE restrictive
My favorite hotel chain, Hyatt, cancellation policy is generally by 4 pm of the day before the stay - some locations or corporate codes may have more generous cancellation allowances.
at least corporate rates are still being honored as my corporate rate (for the most part) are originally 6pm cancel.
This is where being Platinum really helps. Just call them and ask them to make the cancellation penalty go away and they will call the hotel and go to bat for you. My win rate is over 90%.
@Daniel
For SPG, cancellation policies aren't one of the criteria for BRG approval.
I like how people rejoice that...if your Plat it MAY go away. I'm plat. But it still rubs me the wrong way. It's the slow March towards crappie and crappie "benefits" we have see clawed away over the past decade+.
plat too, once got my arrival date wrong for a 3-day res, so i actually arrived 1 day later. they looked at my res & changed the date w/o any fuss.
Call me crazy - but thought this was always the way they did standard cancellations ?!
@ Andrew -- It all depends on the property. As Starwood Lurker stated, this impacts about 35% of hotels, so only a third of hotels allowed you to cancel until day of.
Er, the boxed text in the screenshot says "cancel by 6pm Day of Arrival" not "day before arrival". Or am I missing something?
This is where using your corporate rates for personal travel really count. As most corporate rates have very liberal cancellation policies. So in the event you have travel dates that aren't set in stone, using the corporate rate, which may not be the lowest available, could save you from having to pay for a night not used.