You could and who knows maybe there is something there. But I suspect it is more likely a situation similar to airlines setting flight prices. One changes the price with the others seeing it and matching it because they liked it.

Quite possibly if only one of the major hotel chains modified their cancellation policy and none of their major competitors matched, if they actually started losing business due to that change, they would reverse it. But they all matched each other instead and we now have to deal with it.