We’re seeing travel brands across the world introduce flexible booking policies as a way of getting customers to plan future travel now, while remaining at ease that they can cancel if they decide not to travel.
We’ve seen these policies from many hotel groups, and Hyatt has just extended such a policy in a pretty awesome way, in my opinion.
In this post:
Hyatt’s flexible booking policy
Hyatt has today announced an extension of its cancelation policy, providing further flexibility as guests start making travel decisions again. This extended policy:
- Is valid for stays completed through July 31, 2021; for bookings as of July 1, 2020, there are some slight additional exclusions, which I’ll get into below
- Reservations (including Advance Purchase rates) can be canceled at no charge up to 24 hours before scheduled arrival, with some exceptions
- Reservations can be changed or cancelled through hyatt.com or via the World of Hyatt app
As Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian describes this policy:
“As we listen closely to our guests and members, we know that flexibility is more important than ever right now. In addition to offering a reimagined hotel experience that is focused on safety and wellbeing, we want to help our guests and members book with confidence as they start planning travel again and cannot wait to welcome them back soon.”
Hyatt has a flexible cancelation policy through July 2021
Exceptions to Hyatt’s cancelation policy
While this policy from Hyatt is quite generous, there are (understandably) some exclusions:
- For stays booked as of July 1, 2020, hotels may adjust this cancelation policy during some high-demand periods
- Reservations with MGM, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, and Lindblad Expeditions, aren’t subjected to this policy
- These policies apply for reservations made directly with Hyatt; if booking through a third party you’ll have to contact the booking provider to find out their policy
- Reservations made after April 1, 2020, at select Destination Residences, and reservations made after June 3, 2020, at Hyatt Residence Club properties, are excluded from this policy
Guests are encouraged to always review the rate rules shown when completing a booking, to ensure the above policy does in fact apply.
During high demand periods some hotels may be excluded from this policy
Bottom line
Hyatt is offering a flexible cancelation policy for stays through July 31, 2021. While this flexible policy should apply a vast majority of the time, you’ll still want to check the terms when you book, as there are some exclusions.
This is great peace of mind for Hyatt to give guests, and makes booking an advance purchase rate the logical choice in most cases, given that it’s cheaper but typically has the same flexibility at the moment.
Are you booking more future hotel stays right now due to flexible cancelation policies?
@Ryan, I think Hyatt feels like it addressed this with its winter double night promo. I made globalist in January. I hope they do something else, too, so that I can move on from my Globlite status.
Today Hilton announced the same, now Marriott and Hilton lead the industry. Worst is Accor who still is not giving any refunds not even for temprarily closed hotels they only allow rebook in same hotel and you must pay price difference. And that applies only for stays until June 30. Thats crappy and lousy.
Still holding my breath for a reduction in nights required for status. 60 nights for globalist just aint gonna happen. I have 32 nights done right now, but haven't traveled since early Feb.
It's definitely nice to see, but how can we trust it? Why should we?
We saw LH and Swiss introduce "Free Flex" in February, and I'm still waiting for ~2700$ in refunds for flights which they cancelled that should have been covered by that fare.