I had booked the Cocoa Beach, FL Hampton Inn, driving in from Tampa that evening for a meeting the next day in Titusville. Due to nightly lane closures, it took me from 10:00 pm until almost midnight to get just past Lakeland, with another 1.5 hour drive to get to Cocoa Beach. I figured I could switch reservations and stay near the Orlando airport at the Hampton there, getting an extra 45 minutes of sleep before the next day.
Called the main reservation line, and told I would have to call the Cocoa Beach property to see if they would cancel without penalty, as it was within the 24 hour window.
When I have had other travel delays, I have always had an cancellation penalty waived at Marriott and Starwood properties, especially when I am just switching to another one of their properties.
Called the Cocoa Beach Hampton Inn, talked to the night manager who said that he was not authorized to make that decision. I would have to wait until the morning and talk to the general manager. I had asked if this was true in all cases, like if my fllight was cancelled. He said yes, repeating that he was not authorized to make that kind of decision.
I then asked if they had the 100% satisfaction gauruntee. He said yes. I told him that I was unhappy that the manager on duty was not authorized to make decisions. He told me that the 100% satisfaction doesn't start until I check in. So I guess that they can treat a customer with a reservation poorly until they check in.
Since my company does not reimburse cancellation fees, I drove out to Cocoa Beach, very tired and probably the most alert driver on the road. Since the general manager was not in until 9:00am and my meeting was for 8:00am, I did not get a chance to speak with him.
So, my question is: Is this standard Hilton Policy to only let general managers make cancellation fee decisions and only after the fact? Have other people encountered problems when travel plans forced cancellations? If so, I will not be staying at Hilton properties in the future.
As a silver HH member, they are not losing a lot of business, but 15 to 25 nights a year.