Inconsistent Cancellation Fee
 

Hi everyone,

I booked a stay at the Courtyard in Aruba a few weeks ago. I booked the AAA rate which I swear to god was refundable, but it apparently isn't. Last night I saw that the rate has dropped significantly, so I booked the room at that rate with the plan to cancel my AAA rate. I go to do that, and it says I'll be assessed a cancellation fee of $85.00. Since the savings was like $300 it was still a no brainer to me. Today I opened my original reservation, and on that it says the cancellation fee is $985! Note that is not factorial but an expression of my shock.
I have not been charged anything yet, and the reservation is still over a month out. Anyone have any experience with how Marriott handles this? I really don't want to pay for the hotel room twice, and if I do I should atleast get two rooms and can sublease them to someone or build a club house in the other one. Let me know your thought.

Marriott handles this as per the contract you have with the property.

Pull up your reservation confirmation and check the cancellation terms. Those will specify the deadline for and dollar amount of any cancellation.

What are those? Hard to advise you until you provide that information.

Let's start at the beginning: On your original confirmation email (for the reservation you thought was refundable), what exactly does it say under "Cancellation Policy"?

Here's an example from one of my recent confirmation emails:

• You may cancel your reservation for no charge before 11:59 PM local hotel time on Thursday, February 6, 2020 (3 day before arrival).
• Please note that we will assess a fee of 104.48 USD if you must cancel after this deadline.

What does your confirmation email say?

Did you cancel the AAA reservation yet? If not, check your cancellation terms for the reservation you just booked. If you made it today, It probably says something like "You may cancel your reservation for no charge before 11:59 PM local hotel time on February 17, 2020." If you didn't cancel the AAA reservation, then cancel the new reservation and modify the AAA reservation; log on to marriott.com, click VIEW/MODIFY, click EDIT ROOM, on the rates page click the desired room and/or update the Special Rates (if necessary) and click UPDATE and then choose the desired rate and then confirm your changes.

Many of my bonvOY confirmations specify a cancellation deadline, but not a single one specifies a dollar amount.

That's odd. Most will specify "one night's room charge" or somesuch. Some resorts will do more than one night.

If not, what is it that one forfeits?

I just checked a dozen of my 40+ reservations and they all have wording similar to what is shown below:

• You may cancel your reservation for no charge until Saturday, May 14, 2020 (3 day before arrival).
• Please note that we will assess a fee of 380.47 EUR if you must cancel after this deadline.

It appears newer reservations have wording with ...until 11:59 PM on... which is an improvement in my opinion. Also is my two award reservations do not list the second line above showing a cancellation amount.

I just did a test booking, without hitting confirm, for Courtyard Arube Resort using AAA rate. It shows nonrefundable after next day which is standard Marriott cancellation policy for nonrefundable rates. What does it say in your original confirmation email? Not what shows on marriott.com now but your original confirmation email when you booked. BTW, marriott.com does show full dollar amount to be charged.

If I check the confirmation email it says "985$" to cancel the booking.
When I cancelled the room it stated the cancellation fee was 85$. Obviously a big difference.

There are often both refundable and non-refundable AAA rates. I've almost been burned by that. Recently, I reserved a trip that required a large deposit-unexpected. It was a AAA rate. The info was in the rate rules. I'm much more careful reading this stuff before booking now.

Hi steveo,

We would like to help check the cancellation policy if you could provide the reservation details to us via private mail here or by email below.

Best Regards,

Christina Z
Specialist, Social Media
Marriott International

[email protected]

I really wish Bonvoy had a way to exclude non-refundable prices from searches. I never will book a non-refundable rate.

I can't be quite so bold, but this is part of a LONG list of things that Marriott has CHOSEN not to include in their IT capabilities (such as checking for resort fees, parking rates, and the like without having to go digging).