New Cancellation Policy
 

I have a reservation starting tomorrow. I'm confused about whether I can cancel or not without penalty today. It says "by March 3rd." Today is March 3rd. Does that mean I can cancel or not?

Thanks.

Yes you can cancel it today.

Actually, there hasn't been any clarification on that. Do they mean before 23:59, check-in time, or 00:01? And it's only a presumption they mean local hotel time. I know what we want it to be, but I've seen posts stating all three. Asking here is not safe thing to do. Call the property and see what rule they are using at that moment (it could change from one FDC to another too).

The best answer is the sooner the better.

I would think it means the day before going by hotel time, but it's confusing and I don't know why they changed from the old description. The typical note said that you had until 6 PM hotel time to cancel. I'll have to ask tomorrow when we check in.

I was making a reservation over the phone this week (to get a particular corporate rate not available on line) and was told this specific cancellation policy: you may cancel this reservation until 11:59 PM local time the day before arrival.

Per Mr. Socrates, that is true and PLT's still have day of arrival cancellation privileges. Would like to see the later confirmed in practice!

I recently inadvertently made a reservation at an RI for the next day (when I meant for the next month). Realized my issue within 10 minutes and panicked. I called the Platinum Elite line to get their help and they were very nice and reassuring and told me they would cancel it without charge. Eventually it all worked out, but they didn't deal with it properly initially (got charged by the RI). After seeing the charge on my credit card, I called Platinum Customer Service, who spoke with the hotel directly, and the hotel said they would reverse the charge. They didn't. Finally spoke a third time to Platinum Customer Service (a week later, after waiting long enough for a refund) and it was finally dealt with properly.

I'd like to see it in writing. Unpublished benefits can be hard to enforce.

The time is 23:59 on the cancel by date (standard policy is 23:59 day before arrival)

Thanks Socrates, that's good to know. However, how come when you look to cancel a reservation the day before, before midnight, it comes up with the extra screen saying there may be cancellation charges (I assume that's just a warning then?)? It has made me concerned more than once, even when I was cancelling well before 4pm or 6pm of the day prior. But, if it is in fact before midnight instead, that is good news. But, Marriott should change the online system to only bring up the warning at midnight or later then. It's very confusing and I really really wish they would clarify it much better.

+1 I got the same extra warning screen when I cancelled reservations at 9AM the preceding day. The online system should only bring up the warning when the cancellation penalty will apply.

--Jon

Just a guess, but it sounds like a simple math error to me. Cancellation Date = Reservation Date -1 gives you the wrong date (let's not even get into time of day). And since they have to take into account the property's timezone, they've got to be doing more math as the likelihood of the web server actually being in the same time zone is probably rare.

Yes, it's frustrating when the system doesn't work right. Yes, it should be fixed. Will we see it anytime soon? Probably not. So in the meantime it's up to us to keep track and hope the backend works and a charge is not processed.

Cancellation policy for a reservation made on the day of the stay
 

I was tempted to start a new thread, but will try here.

What is the cancellation policy for reservations made on the day of the stay? I'm watching the weather and may need a room tomorrow night. But I won't know until later in the day. If I make a reservation tomorrow (for tomorrow) and then cancel tomorrow evening, what happens?

The unpublished platinum benefit isn't giving me the warm-and-fuzzies.

Thanks.

Generally, they become non-cancellable at time of reservation and messages should pop up saying so. I've had system issues that changed the date to current when searching different rooms. So far when that's happened, a quick call to the front desk has gotten it cancelled.

Personally when I've been in similar situations of not knowing what's going to be needed, I've called the property and ask them. Sometimes they will look and say if they are close to being full where a rez would be wise or if waiting until I arrive at the airport.

I thought you always had 24 hours to cancel any reservation, including advance purchase rates?