Hi,

Ironically I saw that some hostel companies have a nice system of actually taking a 10% non-refundable deposit. On a two-day private room that might be under $10. Enough to avoid a lot of vapid bookings made with little intention of use, but not so much that if your plans change (stay with friends, go upscale) you would be particularly upset. It can act as your first-line assurance, that you know you have a reasonable room in your name.

The hostel booking company even has an insurance thing for a fraction of that, so if you cancel ahead of time properly, then credits even that deposit into your hostel (world or bookers, one or both) company booking account (remember, these places book B&B, small hotels, etc. also). So if you use the small bank in another booking you only lose maybe $1 a day, the cost of the insurance.

Seems like all this is a nice compromise. Generally, I don't book hotels so I dunno if the hotels themselves or the big hotel booking companies can do similar on web reservations. However it seems like this would solve a lot of the problem (the booking company could give the hotel or B&B the option to insist on the small deposit). Granted more is involved in a $150 room for a week, so the numbers might have to be a bit different (maybe 5%, maximum loss, $50 or $100).

I realize all this might exist already .

Steven