alphaeagle

I may want to cut off a day of an upcoming reservation. The price has gone up since I booked it. Changing it online shows the current price, as if I were booking a new reservation. Can phone agents change the reservation and keep the same rate for the remaining dates? Don't want to risk them messing up the reservation if there is no way to do it without basically book a new reservation at current prices.

ChoiceHotels

Hi there! Thank you for reaching out with your question regarding modifying your reservation. Hotel rates do fluctuate from day-to-day. Your rate is guaranteed at the time of booking, as long as no further changes are made. If we make any adjustments to your reservation after it has been booked, the rate will automatically update to the current hotel rate. This rate may be higher or lower than what was originally booked, depending on if the rate fluctuated for that day. We would be happy to take a look to see if your rate would be affected, or we encourage you to speak directly with the hotel to approve keeping the same rate. Feel free to send us a private message with your stay information and we will take a look. Please include the name on the reservation, date of arrival, and confirmation number. For security verification, please confirm the phone number and mailing address associated with this reservation. Thank you for reaching out, and we will be on the lookout for your message. -Taylor

alphaeagle

Thanks, the price did change so that's why I didn't want to just cancel and re-book. Wasn't sure if either the hotel or the reservations folks would be able to modify and keep the rate for the days not cancelled. Last time I called about something similar to this they broke my reservation, so wanted to get some info first.

ChoiceHotels

I would not want you to feel discouraged about the rate change, but we understand plans do change all the time. Try with the hotel first, as they would be the only ones in the position to maintain the same rate for an extended reservation. Thanks for reaching out here to gain more clarity. Please keep us in the loop on the outcome of the conversation in the event we need to explore other options. I appreciate you for considering Choice Hotels to meet your upcoming lodging needs. *Julio

alphaeagle

Just to be clear, it's shortening the reservation not extending it. But I actually just cancelled and rebooked elsewhere, was kinda hoping the cheaper price for the days I wanted to reappear thinking I took the last available room at that rate, but that didn't happen. Ah well.

ChoiceHotels

Well, we are still thankful you thought of giving us a try. I would like to give you something in return. Please feel welcome to message us with your confirmation number, hotel address, and arrival date so we can chat some more. Looking forward to touching base. *Julio

DCABarry

To avoid this problem in the future you can book contiguous one-night stays.
For example if you have a 5-night stay in mind, make five reservations, one per night. You must be careful to book the exact same room type (i.e. King bed) with the exact same amenities if your goal is NOT to have to switch rooms during the stay.
You then will have the free-cancellation for any one or all of those nights with the cancel requirements of that property (same day 4PM or 6PM, 24 hr 4PM, etc.) If the price goes down, re-book THAT night then cancel the existing booking (never do it the other way around.) Then there's no jeopardy if you want/need to leave early - considering the timing of the free-cancel policy.
To assure the contiguous nature of your stay with the hotel, at check-in, inform the desk personnel that you have five separate nights booked and you want to stay in the SAME ROOM. It has never failed in my experience. It may be a bit inconvenient to have to go down each morning to check in/out and give up your credit card, but it's the price I pay for this flexibility.
Now as to point collection, five contiguous nights will be interpreted by Choice's computer as ONE STAY and will effect your bonuses during the spring, summer or fall Stay twice, get 8K points promotion.
You will also need to be vigilant and know what bookings you have and their booking/cancellation #s . It can be a bit confusing if you don't pay attention to what you are doing. It could cost you too. If you book a 5-day stay and no-show, at most properties (not resorts), they will charge you for one night. If you have 5 separate reservations and no-show, you possibly be on the hook for five charges. It's never happened to me because I stay on top of my bookings!
One time, in a New York City hotel that had a 2day/4pm free-cancel policy I saw the night before my last day that the price for my exact room had dropped (Wintertime in NYC is not a big demand time and the computers must have adjusted the price to stimulate more action.) I had been there three nights. I went to the desk and told them I wanted to cancel and re-book but I need them to tell the computer to allow an 11th hour cancellation. She had no problem with this. It took less than 5min to save $30 bucks!

alphaeagle

The price ended up dropping for the dates I had wanted to keep, so no harm for me in this situation.

I've done this before, it is more of a hassle though so I prefer not to do it when I don't outright see a need to. Like not knowing the exact date I'll be leaving until close in. I always wondered if hotels don't like you doing that though.

DCABarry

I would imagine that the hotels (in chain hotels with an automatic res system) are agnostic towards this method. Since it's illogical for a person to make reservations that he/she has no intention of using I believe that a reservation is a reservation to them. People cancel, that's life for them and they don't get worked-up if you do.

And sometimes the hotel benefits since the earlier reservation had a lower price and it opens up a room to book at a higher amount. It's a dynamic process.