Originally Posted by Jon Maiman

Two points:

1) For those of us who work for large corporations (actually probably many corporations period), expense policy generally does not reimburse us for no shows on hotel rooms. They do reimburse for non-refundable airline tickets that are not used. So the corporation is budgeting for some unused airfare, but for whatever reason doesn't do the same with hotel stays. So it would be a major documentation hassle to show why something like this would be an exception. It is easier to use hotel chains that are generally understanding and willing to work with you in these situations and not blindly adhere to the letter of the law.

2) I have many trips where my flight is not scheduled to depart until well after the cancellation deadline for the hotel reservation. For example, a typical hotel has a 6PM local time cancellation deadline (though 4PM is becoming more common) and my flight is scheduled to depart at 8PM. Typically it would be 1 or 2 hours after the scheduled departure time before they finally throw in the towel and cancel the flight. So if I call as soon as the flight is cancelled I will be 3 to 4 hours after the deadline. Even if I called as soon as there was a possible cancellation due to weather, I would be 2 hours after the cancellation deadline. So unless I just want to not have a reservation for the first night of my trip (also a bad idea), I can't do better than calling the hotel as soon as I am aware of the weather delay.

3) Bonus point related to #2. I am also seeing more and more hotels going to 24 Hour (1 Day) cancellation deadline policies. I simply won't book them for the first night of my trip. If I like the property enough otherwise, I will book a hotel with a 6PM Local Time cancellation policy for the first night and then switch to the other hotel for the remainder of my trip. Since my typical stay is two to three nights, the property is losing 1/3 to 1/2 of my business due to the inflexible cancellation policy. If they are selling out the hotel anyway, more power to them! If not, they may actually be losing overall potential business rather than gaining it with the inflexible cancellation policy. Many business travelers’ frequently have to make same day changes.

--Jon