Originally Posted by
EuropeanPete
It seem pretty obvious that people who want to book flexible rates and then go ahead and book flexible rates probably want a flexible rate. I also see no evidence for what you're suggesting here which is that companies have decided only to offer cheaper inflexible rates that they call flexible. That would really make no sense in a pricing strategy.
I get the feeling that "it's all the OPs fault for not reading the cancellation policy" is being used in the same way that Boeing were initially using "it's the pilots fault for not reading the manual" in the 737MAX cases.
Like most behavioural stuff, this one is not 100% black and white, and there are other, less-tangible factors here which come into play which condition users to skip over checking the cancellation policy.
When you book online, historically rates have always been presented separately on "Flexible", "Prepaid" and maybe also "Package" tabs. "Flexible" rates were always cancellable to within a day or two of the stay.
Marriott have quietly renamed the "Flexible" tab to be "Standard", and also changed it's function so that it now also contains rates with significantly more restrictive cancellation policies. It's not surprising at all that a few experienced users haven't noticed this, and so don't pay particular attention to the cancellation policy when choosing rates listed on this tab.