Ysitincoach

http://travelupdate.boardingarea.com...w-policy-says/

DealAddict

What exactly is new about this? Worst cancellation policy? This is already in effect at many Marriots in major cities and has been... i.e Manhattan hotels have had this for a while

SkiAdcock

If they go to this it might clarify the cancel rules where it says no cancel after 24hrs but then says you have until day before.

However, while I don't agree that it's the worst policy, I can't believe the spokesperson said with a straight face that 25% of properties have the new rule so that's why it's being implemented across the board. Uh, that means 75% didn't the restrictive rule. Duh.

The cynical part of me isn't buying it's not about getting additional fees.

Cheers

shonamac

I think the worst cancellation policy belongs not to a hotel chain, but to a country. Try to beat Singapore, with its 36-48 hour cancellation policy - which applies to Hilton & IHG certainly and in all probability to other chains as well.

notahappycamper

Going to have a major effect on me. Just today I am planning on making a few res. and calling each hotel to see which will let me check in around noon. If I don't have an actual res., I am usually told they don't know for sure or the information I get is usually incorrect. I will stick to other chains on days like these, quite often. Searching now in Chicagoland suburbs every hotel I have checked has a same day free cancellation policy. This is a seriously negative change.

GrizShel

Very, very upset about this news, came back to this board just to post my thoughts about this.

What the heck is Marriott corporate management thinking?

The flexible cancellation policies with Marriott hotels is one of the major reasons I ended up going with Marriott hotels as my major go to hotel family for business and leisure stays. Many times I'm flying late into another city and the 6 pm same-day cancellation policy means I can usually figure out if flight delays are going to cause me to miss my first night before the deadline is reached. On some road trips too I won't have any certainty how far I really will be able to make it a day in advance. I have often chosen Marriott hotels over other hotels because of the more flexible policy with Marriotts.

This change will cause me to book and stay at Marriott family hotels less than I now do (at least until every hotel has a day in advance cancellation policy, fortunately that is still rarely the case for me). It also means I'll have to make frequent phone calls a day in advance to determine if I'll be given some grace if a flight delay causes me to miss the first night. If I'm not given that assurance,then I'll have to cancel my reservation and book with someone else who offers me more flexibility.

To me it's the sign of a low-class hotel that seeks to make it policy to build this kind of gotcha trap into their standard policy. Their rationale for this change is baloney, I'm not going to make a reservation for the fun of it and deliberately wait until the day of arrival when I know farther in advance that I won't need the reservation.

hhoope01

I don't think I have ever had any Marriott hotel charge me for a reservation I missed due to flight delays/changes. I've always called the hotel up, let them know the issue and even if it was very late in the evening, they had no problems canceling or changing my reservation.

njcommodore

I hope that some/many of the airport hotels request the exemption.

GrizShel

Yes this is mostly true and something I really appreciate. But soon I will have the hassle of having to confirm this flexibility with almost every reservation. I am also worried that now that hotels have to justify to corporate offering a MORE flexible policy that it will encourage some properties to stiff it to their customers in some of these situations.

hhoope01

I can't argue that your worries won't come true, but I can say that Starwood hotels have tended to have the "cancel the day before" policies for years, and I've not had any of them really cause me problems either.

But in all fairness, I may not be the most experienced in dealing with hotels and airline changes/cancellations. I will admit that even with all my travelling, I really haven't had that many times where I had to call a hotel and cancel a reservation. While it has happened, I guess I've been fairly lucky over the years.

CJKatl

Same here. A couple times, I've had to provide proof the flight was canceled, but usually I'm stranded at another Marriott in my departure city, which is easy to prove.

I would rather have this clear, almost-across-the-board policy than allow some of the shadier hotels to do what people have been reporting: publishing non-specific "day before" policies and using that as an excuse to rip off guests.

For the record, I do play the wait-to-the-last-minute game when I'm driving to BHM, BNL or CLT. I'll decide during the day whether to drive that day or early the next morning. That might not be fair to the hotels or other potential guests when the hotel is full.

dw

One thought... often, when a property is not close to full occupancy, I'll see them drastically discount the rooms on the day of arrival... with the new policy, one will not be able to rebook at the last minute to take advantage of the last minute discounted rate (which I have done before).

Mr. Vker

I do enjoy the 6pm day of arrival. Usually irrops have been after 6pm. A call to Plat reservations has always done the trick. They call the hotel and the problem is solved-especially if I am reserving at another Marriott. This has happened MAYBE 5 times over 8 years-so no abuse.

I don't think this change is going to impact me much. 24 hours out, my plans are pretty solid.

Ysitincoach

I think a great deal of business travelers need hotels to be flexible. This new policy maybe fine for Ma and Pa Kettle on their twice annual snowbird drive...but for the bread and butter road warrior that doesn't want to chance a cancellation fee, and doesn't want to have to play cancellation arbitrator with an overnight front desk clerk playing by the rules--then it's just easier to book elsewhere.

lskohn

You are lucky. The bane of my practice is clients that cancel the day before a meeting, i.e. day OF hotel check-in for me. They know they will have to pay the airline change/cancellatin fee, but now a hotel penalty as well? There will be some unhappy campers out there...or I'll move to other hotels.