hhoope01

I am planning a Universal Studios trip for October and just checked all the nearest hotels. Other than the JW Marriott and the RC in Orlando which are 5 day cancellations, everything else I could find were all 2 day cancellations.

DCLoppy

The 48 hr limit seems harsh, but in my experience with Marriott, cancellations more than 24 hrs but under 48 hrs are not charged. So it seems more of a threat to discourage overbooking than an actual penalty.

CPRich

Weird. "Los Angeles", "Feb 27-28", first property - The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites - first room type - 1 King, City View:

Very strange how different people get such different results.

C17PSGR

When I listened to various Hotel operators 3rd quarter conference calls, none were complaining about integration problems at Marriott. However, they were, excited about two initiatives across brands: (1) fewer corporate discounts and (2) increasing cancellation penalties from 24 to 48 hours. Multiple Hotel operators commented on this in response to questions from analysts.

aaupgrade

Uh, OK. One Mile at a Time not keeping their web site links for future reference and detouring to another web page is beyond my control. Their link "http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/06/15/new-marriott-cancelation-policy-72-hours/" actually detours to "https://onemileatatime.com/ultimate-guide-spg-marriott/". You may want to let them know their links no longer work.

The FT thread was about 72 hour cancellation policy, which I knew happened a year or so ago, so I decided to do a search (heaven forbid) and actually try to be helpful in answering the OP's very first question:

Kacee

How long did it take you to find that? Every other property downtown (six of them) has a three-day cancel.

This is what I booked (Sheraton Grand, Feb. 24/25):

In the immortal words of Jim Morrison, "people are strange, when you're a stranger."

Full lyrics here: People are Strange

SkiAdcock

And what is not strange is different properties have different cancellation time frames, including at different times of the year, based on events, conventions, blah, blah.

I just checked a bunch, both domestic (US) & int'l (outside of US) & basically encountered 1 & 2 days. So your comment that MAR has gone universal to 3-days worldwide is not correct.

The bottom line - everyone should note what the cancellation date is on their reservation & mark it into their calendar - regardless of chain, because multiple chains have a myriad of cancellation dates, just like MAR. If someone doesn't note the cancel date that's on them.

Now that you know (OP), the hotels you're looking at have 3-day cancels you can choose to book them or not, but you can't book & then kvetch about it.

Cheers.

damon88

Kacee

I don't believe there is any FT rule against doing exactly that

Kidding aside, I don't see anything wrong with commenting negatively on a very nasty trend (among all the major chains) toward ever more punitive cancel policies. Saying we have a choice kind of misses the point, because what tends to happen is these are introduced market by market, leaving consumers little meaningful choice.
Most of the high-end Asia properties are also 1 day cancel.

SkiAdcock

And I just checked SoCal properties & they range from 2-3 days. Also checked int'l & a # of them were 1-day. Again, the 3-day posited is not a universal change. And it's up to everyone to check the cancel policy before they book anywhere in the world - because the policy could be 1, 2, 3, 14, 30 days in advance.

Cheers.

lamphs

The two properties in Malaysia that I had booked (in January 2019) were both 24 hour cancellation, thankfully, as I missed the fine print about not having non-smoking rooms available. I have also had success as a (old) Silver MR where the cancellation fee was waived with a phone call to the property for last minute cancellations for legitimate circumstances; although that has been some time ago. But isn't the >24 hour requirement a reason why the (some) Feds no longer use Marriott?

damon88

Aventine

24 hours for St. Regis Astana.

Jon Maiman

I only have a sample set of one for a particular large corporate contract and it recently moved from 6 PM day of arrival to 72 hour cancellation policy. for most reservations. This is in Philadelphia where I stay multiple times a month. So I fear it is going to creep into all of the corporate rates. Like many (if not most) business travelers my plans change frequently and even managing a 24-hour cancellation policy has been a challenge. 72-hours is not workable.

As to your airline analogy, the ridiculous change fees on most of the legacy carriers and my need for flexibility at a reasonable price point drove me to giving most of my business to Southwest Airlines where there are no change fees. Yes I do sometimes have to pay the difference for a high fare due to a last minute change, but I don't have to pay penalty fees on top of it. Furthermore Southwest Airlines highest fares, at least for the routes I travel, our still typically a little lower than the legacy carriers. I realize this is very market specific. If the hotel chains (Marriott and others) keeping going with increasingly more restrictive reservation policies, I suspect one of them will become the Southwest of the hotel industry and attract a lot of business by doing so. Time will tell and there is more variation in the quality of hotel product but I still suspect one of acceptable quality will eventually become the flexible player.

--Jon

RogerD408

Maybe it's time to start researching travel insurance policies to help mitigate this issue. My company chooses to self-insure on most items and as long as I exercise reasonable planning, there's been no issue with covering last-minute cancellations. Over time you learn when you can pull the trigger and when not to. I look at total cost of booking now vs waiting and pick the lowest risk. But with all games, sometimes you win, sometimes you don't.