Originally Posted by
supatight80
The supervisor I spoke with specifically said that flexible rate does not mean refundable. She said flexible rate pertains to payment being not pre-paid. (ie. flexible to pay on arrival with cash or card). As per her, that's what flexible rate means.
She also said it's not the case that all Non-refundable reservations have a 24h grace period to cancel. Such as my case where my booking is past 90d cancel without penalty.
Well now we know...
I mean, of course "flexible" doesn't mean "refundable" -- although I think you're using the phrase "refundable" interchangeably with "freely cancellable"... there's no reason for "flexible" to mean "refundable" because on a flexible rate you don't actually make a payment until you arrive (unless the property takes a deposit -- sometimes they take one night, usually nothing; very very rarely more than one night).
The real (meritorious) point of your OP is that no one takes "flexible" to mean "flexible as long as you cancel 90 days out," which is why your rate conditions were obviously in error and why the hotel agreed with you.
But it's common practice for "flexible" rates to be binding and non-cancellable on short notice (as in, within 1 to 3 days of arrival), and it's common practice for rates not to have a 24-hour grace period to cancel (as far as I've seen, the 24-hour grace period is expressly stated when it exists, so there's no reason to assume it exists when it's not stated).