JBord

This idea makes a ton of sense. I'm sure some of the property owners wouldn't like it (they'd rather have a NO cancellation policy!), but 48 hours is more than enough time to fill those few rooms that are late cancellations, IMO. It would be a valued benefit for business traveler elites, at little cost to Marriott (I think).

Is that true about large corporations? Not doubting, just wondering where you got that. My former 60k person company was subject to the hotel deadlines at Marriott, even though they were a large client of ours and we also had a corporate contract.

And while the policy is similar to airlines, the environment surrounding the policy is not. If my flight is cancelled, I can't get to my hotel, and I'm by definition inside the cancel window. Is the penalty waived in that case if I cancel my room?

I agree. I can't think of a more customer-unfriendly policy at Marriott. Just a few years back, most hotels were 6 pm day of arrival. Then 24 hours, etc. At that time in my life, I was often traveling to two cities per week for work, and schedules changed or flights were delayed/cancelled/missed occasionally. I can't imaging being a road warrior now and having a 48 or 72 hour cancellation window. And even after the SPG acquisition, which added more resort/leisure properties, Marriott is still primarily geared toward business travel, IMO.

I have had to call the property directly a couple times and explain my situation to a manager to avoid the charge. I do think, as another poster suggested, that higher level elites should have some kind of automatic waive of the policy. If you stay 50 nights in a year, that's enough to suggest that you may have to cancel at least 1 stay at the last minute. If not a complete waive, maybe they give everyone a few waivers to use -- Gold gets 1, Platinum 3, Titanium 5 or whatever. Enough to cover unavoidable situations, but not enough so that people are abusing it.

AirMiles2001

A wonderful elite benefit would be to have a shorter cancellation window.

RogerD408

However, I can see this resulting in more speculative bookings, after all us top-tier members play the game better than others. My suspicion is the properties are trying to get a solid handle on their occupancy rate to better schedule staff, it's about the only variable cost that can be managed. To staff presuming being full can be quite costly, especially if they end up with a lot of cancellations/no shows. Some simple things can get very complicated quickly.

AirMiles2001

Agreed, but thats why you don't give it to everyone. United 1K can make speculative award bookings and cancel up to the last minute with no penalty. It's along those lines for your BEST customers.

Kacee

Yep. Virtually impossible.

And at least airlines offer flexible and unrestricted fares which allow low or no cost changes/cancels. The thing about the new hotel cancel policies is they apply even to the most expensive rack rates.

As a result, I sometimes don't book hotel now until very close in. This obviously carries risks and you can't do it during a high demand period, but the new cancel policies definitely encourage new booking strategies.

neo_781

Yes I think its true. Maybe not all companies still negotiate this but I do see for one company I worked for when they negotiated with preferred hotels (not all hotels in each chain) the policy they negotiated was for 6pm day of arrival so some companies due still try for this.

KRSW

To me it seems that Marriott has forgotten about the business traveler in this whole merger. From dropping the Plat line to Ambassador status becoming useless, now the cancellation policies. They've also forgotten that business travelers, not leisure travelers, are the ones who are staying 50+ nights/year with them. Business travelers are also the ones who are paying some of the highest rates -- last minute bookings.

Last year I had a project where I was told that I'd be on the road for an indeterminate amount of time. I had one week to prep my house & affairs before living out of a suitcase for the next few months, not knowing where I'd end up each night nor how long I'd be in a particular city. All that I knew was I wouldn't be back in my own bed for awhile. Plans sometimes changed multiple times a day. Fortunately, most of the hotels I stayed at were understanding about this, and for some of them it paid off big-time. All of the bookings were last-minute. The one Springhill Suites alone got $6k of business out of me in 3 months last year. If they hadn't been flexible, I would have taken that business elsewhere. I should be their ideal customer -- filling their last rooms at the last minute, not picky about room types, not the type of squabble about points or welcome gifts. Just give me a clean room and good service, and I'm happy. When I see 72 hr cancellation policies, I'm more likely to book elsewhere.

flyou10

What annoys me about this (Hilton started 72hrs last year) is that they sell an "advanced purchase" and a flexible purchase that cost more. Here pay more, but you still better know what you're doing 3 days out. If you pay the more $ it should be 24hours.

SkiAdcock

1.

2. Fair enough. Agree going to 72-hours is not customer-friendly. What's annoying is in the same area (checking downtown LA, Pasadena, etc) brings different cancellation policies, ranging from 1-3 days so it's not even consistent (although that's good for those who are still less than 3 days). Means we have to be extra vigilant when booking reservations to note the cancel & not just assume. I know I've been working under a must cancel 2 days out mindset; now I need to be mindful it could be 72.

Cheers.

JBord

I haven't gotten to that point. Worst case is, I can still expense it if there's a legitimate change of business plans. But it's certainly not something I'd want accumulating on my expense account record over time. To be honest, I don't feel any better about that charge than my employer does. I doubt most people feel very good about wasting their company's money because of a stupid hotel policy.

The thing is, if I'm cancelling a stay at the last minute, it's out of my control probably 100% of the time (which is why I can expense it of course). That's different than changing a restaurant reservation or other reservations that have a penalty attached. I doubt many people are cancelling a hotel last minute because they don't feel like going on vacation any more.

Kacee

One of the more repugnant features of what the hotels are doing (in the US) is that they will play follow the leader in a particular market. When properties started going to 48 hours in SF, it quickly became the norm throughout the city. There's a good chance we will see this with 72 hours (and on that point, I see that Marriotts in SF have now gone to 72. As have Hyatt and Hilton).

KRSW

I believe that these exist solely for the purpose of gaming Expedia.com and other OTAs -- get your hotel to show up as the lowest price in the search results. They're hoping that it'll get you to their page and you'll pick one of the regular rates from their hotel rather than this come-on rate. It's just like Basic Economy fares with the airlines. Maybe some FT'ers book them, but I believe the majority of us stay far away from them.

Cledaybuck

I know Hilton started also doing semi-flex, which is slightly cheaper and +2 days from "flexible". I wonder when someone will bring out a day of cancellation rate that costs more?

sdsearch

But for which stay dates? During Spring Break and Summer, or also in slower fall and next winter?

damon88