Deposit required three weeks before reward stay
 

Anyone seen this before?

I booked three nights in Hotel Indigo Edinburgh, UK on 17 August.

The Modify or Cancel policy on the booking is:

"Canceling your reservation before 4:00 PM (local hotel time) on Friday, 27 July, 2012 will result in no charge. Canceling your reservation after 4:00 PM (local hotel time) on 27 July, 2012, or failing to arrive will result in forfeiture of your deposit. Taxes may apply. Failing to call or show before check-out time after the first night of a reservation will result in cancellation of the remainder of your reservation."

I presume this is a mistake?
I know Edinburgh is very busy in August, but what sort of deposit could they be talking about relating to a reward stay?

This is normal. It just means that if you fail to show (or cancel before the deadline) then they will bill you for one night's stay to your credit card. That's what they mean by deposit in this instance - it's poorly worded, but standard practice.

the normal practice is when it is cancelled by guest AFTER the deadline ;)

Now that's bad news for my grammar isn't it! My mother tongue is supposed to be English, after all......... :D - of course what I meant is "It just means that if you fail to show (or *fail to* cancel before the deadline)....."

I'll bring you an apple for the next lesson, nicolas75, sir! (But hopefully it will be on the fruit tray anyway). ;)

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And the long cancellation notice is probably because those dates are during the Edinburgh. Festival, when hotels go for silly money

Which should mean that the hotel shouldn't mind a cancellation that far out -- it will most likely be able to sell the room again. A week, I could understand.

HTB.

I have seen this exact wording on award reservations before. It is the same text as for paid bookings. My assumption is that they did not bother changing this to an award booking specific text.
What normally happens: when you cancel the award booking before the deadline the points are refunded. After the deadline or no show you will loose the points.
Does anybody have a different experience?

Yup - had a night's charge billed to my card for a missed awards booking. I thought this was the standard practice? I'm fairly certain it is.

Surely the OP's issue here is with the three week cancellation policy. I thought reward stays had a day of arrival (i.e. fully-flex) cxl policy system-wide?

Forfeiture of deposit is simply the points. IE you lose the points you have paid.

Not sure what happens if you've pre-paid for 3 nights and you cancel one day over the cancellation policy: not sure if you get two days' back and forfeit one night, or if you lose the whole lot.

Please everyone take the time to read the Priority club T&C's
Here http://www.priorityclub.com/hotels/u...l#rewardnights

I will post the relevant one for this discussion. Please take the time to read the terms of all the programs you belong to and contracts you sign otherwise you look foolish and lose money

from their T&C
11# Priority Club members who cancel their Reward Night reservation will have their points used for that reservation re-deposited into the member's Priority Club account, and may be subjected to a processing fee. Priority Club members who do not cancel their Reward Night reservation by the cancellation deadline and do not use their reservation (no-show) are still subject to a no-show charge for the first night of the reservation, plus tax, per room, billed to the credit card used to guarantee the reservation upon booking. The points redeemed for the no-showed Reward Night reservation will be re-deposited into the member's Priority Club account.

Generally, but not always (in cases of high demand). I have a couple of points stays upcoming that have more restrictive policies - 7 days out for a stay over New Year, and no changes/cancellations whatsoever on a stay at IC SIN over the F1 weekend.

3 Week cancellation policy on a rewards booking is unusual but not unheard of. Forfeiture of deposit is not simply the points - you will usually be billed for your first night if you don't show, or fail to cancel before the deadline. This is usual (in my experience) and is definitely the policy if you read the t&c's.

Reward nights have the same cancellation policy as Best Flex for those nights, but Best Flex may have a more-restrictive cancellation policy than day of. If a reward night is late cancelled or no-showed, a charge for the first night is made, but the points are refunded.

[QUOTE=IAMORGAN;17661020]Surely the OP's issue here is with the three week cancellation policy. I thought reward stays had a day of arrival (i.e. fully-flex) cxl policy system-wide?

No the three week cancellation is not the only concern

He said "I presume this is a mistake?
I know Edinburgh is very busy in August, but what sort of deposit could they be talking about relating to a reward stay?

I just did a dummy booking at this hotel (didn't go all the way to confirm). It looks like for paid stays they are requiring a 100% deposit be paid three weeks in advance. For reward bookings, the same language appears. The deposit issue doesn't make sense with reward nights. I would call/e-mail the hotel to clarify.