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Request to prepay cancellable rate
I received this rather strange email today:
Originally Posted by Marriott
Dear RCyyz
I hope this message finds you well. Thank you for your loyalty as a Platinum Elite tiered Marriott Bonvoy Member. We are writing to confirm your upcoming stay at Protea Hotel by Marriott Cape Town Waterfront Breakwater Lodge from 28/12/25 - 29/12/25 .Please review the booking details below and kindly confirm that everything is correct: Booking Details: Guest Name: RCyyz Check-in Date: 28/12/25 Check-out Date: 29/12/25 Number of guests: 1 Number of rooms: 1 Special Requests: Estimated time of arrival: To ensure that your reservation is secured, we kindly ask you to confirm your booking by responding to this email, should we not receive payment, your booking will be cancelled. We look forward to welcoming you to Protea Hotel by Marriott Cape Town Waterfront Breakwater Lodge and providing you with a pleasant and comfortable stay. If I absolutely need to prepay, I will. I'm going there and I will stay there. But I find the demand to prepay a cancellable rate very strange. Anyone ever experience this before? |
I personally would not respond. You are not contractually required to agree to any changes they unilaterally make in the contract you have with them.Just make sure you have a printed confirmation of the reservation clearly indicating the rate.
I suspect that this is just a poorly worded email sent out to all reservation holders, independent of pre-payment status. |
This is relatively common in South Africa - if you want to keep the reservation, I would contact the hotel directly to verify the authenticity of the request. You’ll still probably need to prepay.
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Pre-pay rates can be cancellable and refundable as well. Did your reservation show that a pre-payment was needed? I would certainly deal with the situation rather than risking a cancellation and then spending a ton of time trying to resolve it
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The reservation itself should've had details about a prepayment/deposit being required. If you canceled then the deposit would be returned as long as outside that 7d limit.
Strange the hotel would ask though, since if you had a CC in your profile and reservation, then they should be able to charge any deposit to that. |
Originally Posted by rylan
(Post 37476167)
The reservation itself should've had details about a prepayment/deposit being required. If you canceled then the deposit would be returned as long as outside that 7d limit.
Strange the hotel would ask though, since if you had a CC in your profile and reservation, then they should be able to charge any deposit to that. |
The email talks about responding to the email. I hope they don't expect OP to give credit card details by email.
Has the OP checked that the email did indeed come from the hotel? I wonder whether calling Marriott would be a way to make the deposit without calling or emailing the hotel. |
Originally Posted by RCyyz
(Post 37475447)
I received this rather strange email today:
I'm booked on a standard member rate flexible which is normally fully cancellable 7d in advance. Are they "allowed" to demand prepayment? I don't even know how I would do this, short of phoning the property which I'm not about to do (time zones etc.). If I absolutely need to prepay, I will. I'm going there and I will stay there. But I find the demand to prepay a cancellable rate very strange. Anyone ever experience this before? |
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