cancellation policy question
 

Hi all - I'm trying to find a hotel with a day of arrival cancellation policy and cannot. We have a 40 minute connection in DFW so there's always the chance we won't make it to the hotel at our destination that evening. Everything is 1 and 2 days prior to arrival and obviously with air travel, you just can't make that guarantee. I've never encountered this before - is this something new with Marriott? I'd hate to stay at another chain, but it looks like I may have to.

Is there a specific date? I just checked the Fairfield Inn, Springhill Suites and Courtyards in the area and they all show a 6 pm DOA cancellation policy.

Call the Gold line and ask for help.

What is the location?
Hawaii has always had cancellation penalties if you don't cancel several days (or a couple of weeks) in advance. It really depends on the local market. You might find that other hotels in the area have the same cancellation policy as Marriott.

Edited to add..
I assume you are connecting in DFW, not wanting to stay the night there?

I'm specifically looking at Temecula, CA early next month. There isn't anything going there as far as I can tell, either, that would account for this. Actually I've stayed there before and can't remember it being anything but day of arrival. Ah well, maybe it's just a temporary thing. Still, frustrating.

If you are talking about overnighting at DFW because you're worried about missing a connection, that's exactly why airport hotels have longer cancellation periods. It's one thing to have a couple of rooms cancelled, but if it becomes the norm, it's a good way to go out of business.

FT above has provided you two places which appear to be relatively acommodating.

Cancellation policies are not Marriott-wide, but property/location specific.
For instance TownePlace San Diego Carlsbad/Vista which is showing 22 miles from Temecula has a 4pm day of arrival cancellation allowance.

Yeah, I realize that. There were a few more I checked that had the same thing (I think Riverside, can't remember, because the location wasn't ideal), so I wasn't sure if it was the location or not. I've stayed in Temecula before without policies like this.

May be easier to just not make a reservation until you know you will be there? I've used the i-phone app to do this once while sitting on the tarmac. There's also the Hotel Tonight app, which sometimes has Marriott properties.

But for airport hotels if you call them after the cancelation window and tell them flight got delayed or cancelled I'm sure they would understand. I've had that happen before and they allowed me to cancel.

it varies by location due to market conditions

I think most hotels will be OK with a late cancellation due to flight delays/cancellations, especially if you are showing up the next night for the stay.


Is the hotel sold out? If you're really, really worried, make the reservation now, cancel it the day before and book it when you board your connecting flight. This minimizes the missed-flight cancellation problem, and mostly protects your against a sell out (if it's sold out the day before, don't cancel and take the risk. And there's the small risk is sells out between 4p day before and your flight).

But, again, most hotels understand flight cancellations. And it looks like <$100/night. Not nothing, but not a huge risk.

If Temecula historically has NOT had a 24-48 hour cancel policy, and for your dates it DOES, logic says something is going on in the area....
Also seems that if you wait, you may not get a room!

I would make the reservation.

When flight delays have prevented me from reaching my final destination, I have called CS and explained As long as I still showed for the remainder of the res (which I did), never an issue.

Of course, it also helps if (in your example) you stay at a Marriott property in DFW!

Agree.

Also OP - what are the dates of your Temecula stay? IIRC there are some festivals that occur there (including a large music one), so you might be running into one of those.

Cheers.

Here's two alternate strategies:
1) Book nights 2 and after in Temecula. Book night one at an airport hotel - I assume you're flying into ONT or another airport not too close to Temecula. Then just rent the car the next morning to drive to Temecula.

2) Same as above except book night 1 in Temecula at a hotel that allows you to cancel same day.

Hope this helps.