Contesting No Show Fee
 

September 24th, I ended up stuck in CLT as I missed my connection to MCO. Had a one night award booking at the Hyatt House Orlando Airport as was moving on to MLB the next day. As soon as it became apparent I was going to not make it to MCO that night I called the hotel and cancelled the res. When flying home Thursday I was checking something else and found a charge for $150 on my card. I called Hyatt and was told that I never cancelled the room so they charged me a no show fee. Was told I had to call the property to contest, tried to call the property and got no answer, left a voicemail briefly explaining the situation. No call back in the two business days since I left the message. What are my next steps? Don't really want to file a charge back, but I will if there is no other choice. The points went back to my account.

Did you ask for a cancellation code when you cancelled the reservation? Did you note the name of the person you spoke with, and the time of the call?

They did not give me a cancellation code. I don't recall the name of the person. I do have the exact time of the call.

Is it a no show fee or were you past the cancellation time and they charged for one night.

Sounds like a cancellation fee, as OP would've been well beyond any normal or reasonable cancellation window given the circumstances described. The hotel is well within their rights to charge that fee as airline irrops aren't their responsibility, and any chargeback would have zero merit. The only recourse is to file a claim through travel insurance, if OP has any, to get reimbursed.

My suspicion as well. I'm curious about the interaction when OP called the hotel to cancel . . . was the fact this was outside the cancel period expressly discussed? The property certainly has the ability to waive the no show fee on a late cancelation, and many (but not all) will in these circumstances.

I normally call MHC and have them contact the hotel for me in these situations and also have them book a room for me at my delayed airport. The last few years the MHC has been able to get the hotel to cancel without penalty every time. In one case about two years ago I called the hotel (one I stay at fairly often) and the desk clerk said that I would be charged for the stay; I then called MHC who contacted the hotel and came back on the line with me and said that they had agreed to cancel without penalty.

I had a similar positive experience when I asked MHC to cancel a reservation at HR LAX due to a flight delay. The property wasn't answering the phone. MHC reached them and was able to effect the cancel.

Do you have any travel insurance from a CC or perhaps an annual policy? You may be able to file a claim as your trip had a disruption.

If you didn't expressly ask to cancel without penalty, you're probably out of luck. It sounds like you just called to cancel, which they did. And they charged you according to the terms of the reservation.

I would keep trying the property though. Even if they're not willing to refund the charge, they might be willing to apply it to a future booking.

Was specifically told it was a no-show fee. I guess I will try to get reimbursed through the CSP insurance.

What exactly is the coverage you are asking for?

You need a qualifying reasons for trip interruption if you cancel the trip. And trip delay won’t cover that.

i was curious about this as well - card insurance covers the cost of new hotel in the event of delay but i don't think it covers no-show/cancellation fee (which can run into thousands at some obnoxious places during ski season)

If you had cancelled a trip because of a covered reason, then the insurance would cover the cost of cancellation fee.

But it doesn’t cover the cancellation or no show cost associated with delays.

Yeah, this should make the OP whole. They're still out the cancellation/no-show fee paid to their original hotel, but effectively pay zero for a hotel at the airport in which they're stranded by virtue of trip delay coverage.