I think this is bad PR for hotels. If you stop to think about it, for guests who cancel more than one week in advance, I have a feeling that the hotels would have absolutely no problem re-selling the room, and probably at a higher rate. So, IMO, other than the opportunity for the hotel to double dip on customers (charge the customer who cancels, and also the customer who ultimately reserves and stays in the room), there is no reasonable explanation for a 45+ day cancellation policy. As a matter of fact, over the long run, it may well reduce the grosses of the hotels which use that method, since how many customers do you think will willingly return to a hotel which charges them a penalty fee?