sam

I think I've just been caught out by the revised IHG cancellation policy. I cancelled a Holiday Inn reward reservation just before 6pm on the day of arrival. I've just realised that the policy says that cancellation is only free until the day before.

Does anyone know if IHG will offer some flexibility given this recent change in policy?

I'm sure it used to be the case that the website would not let you cancel a reservation after the free cancellation period. Now it seems it lets you cancel and makes no mention of the fact that you will lose everything. Is this true?

markis10

No it’s not true, the cancellation process puts the onus on you:

“I understand that there are penalties associated with cancelling some types of reservations. I have read the cancellation policy and agree to the terms. “

Often1

There are tons of examples out there dealing with hotels, air travel, car rentals and whatever.

Policies change all the time and people should either not glibly check the "I agree" box without reading what they are agreeing to or they ought to be prepared to deal with the consequences.

Rare

Wow, when did IHG's cancellation policy change across the board? I always read the policy carefully, and noticed that recent bookings required earlier cancellations than before, but I thought that was just at those particular hotels (where I had not previously stayed). After reading this thread, I checked several hotels--both where I had stayed and where I had not--and found that the policy had moved to 24 hours earlier than before! Did I miss a notice or at least a discussion of this somewhere?

Take note that one cannot depend on the policy being 6:00pm the day before the stay. That may be true of the majority of hotels, but some that I checked were 6:00pm two days before, and others were 4:00pm either the day before or two days before. Gotta read the fine print every time.

markis10

All of the majors have recently moved to earlier deadlines, which makes best flexible somewhat less flexible. Then again it’s often the cast best flexible is prepaid and cannot be cancelled, which makes it somewhat misleading when it comes to rate descriptions.

olympian

It seems to have changed for UK hotels (at least) a couple of weeks ago such that the default cancellation policy stated is now 1600 on the day before check-in, rather than 1600 on check-in day as it used to be for most hotels apart from Staybridge Suites and some Crowne Plazas that were already 1600 the day before so haven't changed.

The website does indeed appear to still only restrict cancellations once you get to 1600 on check-in day itself, and still lets you do so earlier that day despite what the new wording says, so to me it's as if only the wording changed.

I've not tried cancelling a reward night reservation in between the two cancellation periods following this recent change, but have previously succesfully cancelled or modified paid reservations to a different check-in date at Staybridge Suites without any penalties.

In your case did you get your points back as normal and was there anything different about the cancellation confirmation email you received to indicate that you'd instead be charged to your credit card for the stay?

FFlash

I do see some of the properties that I frequent have recently changed their arrival day cancellation policy to 1 day before cancellation. Bad.

boekel

I've made a flex reservation beginning of July saying, that the reservation can be cancelled until noon at the day of arrival. Looking now into my reservation it states until noon the day prior arrival. The original conditions are also stated in my confirmation

I believe that its just their poor IT, but I'm seeing already the hassle, when I indeed need to cancel this reservation at the day of arrival prior noon

sdsearch

Announced by some blogs including this one almost a month ago:
For some reason, I never saw a thread about it in the IHG Forum here before this one, even though there were very active threads in other forums when the Marriott and Hilton 2-day cancellation policies were announced (a bit earlier than IHG's announcement).

Aug 4 of this year, according to the above link.

sam

I didn't get the points back. Hence the question

sam

On the App it just says "Are you sure you wish to cancel the reservation? Cancellation fees may apply" it has always said that but it always used to prevent you cancelling a reservation after the cutoff time. There is no reason to cancel a reservation after the cutoff time as you get nothing back.

markis10

Different wording but still warns re a possible penalty.

sethweinstein

Can they change the cancellation policy of an existing booking? I booked the Crowne Plaza Dubai a couple weeks ago (to check in today) with a day-of cancellation deadline. Today I saw the rate had dropped, so I rebooked and canceled the original. Now the cancellation e-mail says the first was nonrefundable. I guess we'll see whether I have to fight for it.

Seth

quitecontrary

Take note of the cancellation policy on Ambassador weekend voucher bookings too - IC HK is still 6pm on the day but IC Danang is the weeks before!

Edited to say reward nights at the IC Danang are also a week before cancellation.

sam

It seems they've just refunded the night I cancelled late. Good on them. I am grateful for this apparent gesture of goodwill. I would, however, been annoyed if they hadn't. I think they need to make a bit more of a fanfare about the change and certainly change the website to disallow cancellations after the cutoff (as they used to).