A couple of years back I had booked an advanced purchase rate room at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue in Bellevue, WA. because my son had an appointment at the Seattle Children's Hospital. However, on our drive up there (normally a 2.5 to 3 hour drive), a massive snow storm hit the mountain pass and we had no choice but to turn around and return home.

While we were driving back, my wife called the hospital to inform them that we would be missing the appointment, and when we arrived back home, I figured I would call the hotel to let them know that we would not be arriving. I explained to them our situation and went ahead and asked if there was anything that could be done about the prepaid amount for the room. I fully understood the policies of such rates, and was not expecting a refund by any means, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. They put me on a hold for a couple of minutes, and came back and said that they would be happy to simply refund the amount to my credit card, and that they looked forward to welcoming us when we rescheduled my son's appointment.

Oh, and yes, we did stay at the hotel about a month later.