What does this cancellation policy mean?
 

Have a reservation beginning on Tueday. FS Marriott property has a 3-day cancellation policy so that to be cancelled without penalty a reservation must be cancelled 3 days in advance. The reservation email from Marriott says "You may cancel your reservation for no charge until Saturday September 27 (3 day[s] before arrival)."
So, in your opinion, when is the last time at which this reservation can be cancelled without penalty? Anytime on Saturday? 6:00 pm on Saturday? 12:01 a.m. on Saturday? 11: 59 p.m. on Saturday? By checkin time (3:00 pm) on Saturday? By 11:59 p.m. on Friday? I've already spoken with the property; just curious as to what folks here think.
Thanks.

If you cancelled the res Friday night at 2359 (hotel local time) there could be no dispute. Otherwise my second choice would be Saturday at 1800 hotel time.

This question has come up before in a dif thread & the wording isn't specific, which means it can be interpreted (and has been) in many different ways by the hotel, the guest & MRCS. Quite annoying. I'd probably lean towards 4:00pm, 6:00pm or check-in time vs. 11:59 Sat.

Cheers.

As the OP states they have already talked to the hotel, what did the hotel say?

The wording in the email is explicit, just as I quoted it. If you mean ambiguous, I agree.

Oh I know that's what the verbiage said/totally believe you, as it did come up in another thread & the hotel was fighting with the elite. But because it doesn't give a time like you must cancel by 6pm Saturday 9/27 it's ambiguous & can be (and has been) interpreted differently by property, guest & MRCS. It's sloppy wording.

Cheers.

Property (Niagara Falls Marriott Fallsview) insists that Friday midnight is deadline. So, cancelling at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday is too late.

Wow! This is harsh! I canceled on "Saturday" (in your example) before and was not charged one night fee. I would fight that one.

Agent insisted that charge was valid, there was nothing she could do, and I could only call Marriott corporate customer service. I (politely) insisted on speaking to a manager. She came back to the line a few minutes later and said manager said to waive the penalty this one time. But the loose and ambiguous language used by the property to describe the cancellation deadline is unacceptable, IMO. I asked the agent to pass along a suggestion to management that a better use of easily understandable language would be to notate the rule with "any cancellations after _____ will incur a penalty." Agent seemed completely uninterested. By the way, my conversation with the agent occurred about 10:00 a.m. Saturday, hotel time--about 3 days and 5 hours before check-in time.

That's basically what happened in the other thread. I also agree that the loose & ambiguous language is unacceptable. Good grief - if they can say 6pm DOA, then why not 6pm 3 days before.

Cheers.

Unfortunately sloppy writing is often used to confuse the customer. As I recall my contract law class, ambiguity goes to the side that did not write the contract. In this case the property should lose.

Of course the first place to start to resolve this is with the property. If they are concerned with customer satisfaction they should waive the fee. If that fails, many times escalating with MRCS is all that is needed. Failing that, disputing the charge with your CC is in order. Being sure to include the specific wording in the confirmation. Depending upon your relationship with the CC, they may choose to absorb the fee and not bother with the property, which I think is too bad. Assessing the chargeback fee just might motivate them to make the changes in wording or attitude.

These days there are so many "one-time exceptions" that it's tough to distinguish them from policy.

Agree this is ridiculous way to word something and enforce it, but the English is right there if you look at it this way:

You may DO SOMETHING (cancel) until THIS DATE.

"You may cancel your reservation for no charge until Saturday September 27 (3 day[s] before arrival).

If drinks are 2 for 1 until 7pm, does 7:01 pm get you 2?

IME, this is purposely written to trip people up. How unusual in the travel industry. :(

If Marriott cared, they would use standard language in all bookings like they do such as "4pm day of arrival"

My instinct would be that if the time isn't specified, it means check in time because three days before would seem to mean three days before arrival time, not just arrival date. Just my opinion here.

Found the thread that I was referencing!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...licy-ever.html

Cheers.

I always chuckle at "cancel by 4PM day of arrival."

Why would I cancel if I was going to arrive? And if I never arrive, shouldn't I always be able to cancel?

:D