BearX220

If you browse Hotels.com (and other sites like it) you will typically see two pricing tiers: one for prepaid / non-refundable bookings, and a more expensive one that allows cancellation up to check-in day. Fine with that. Cannot live with a three-day cancel window. Business trip plans change all the time; flights get screwed up. I'm not going to risk $250+ because I'm stuck in ATL owing to thunderstorms and can't get where I planned to go.

This. ^ More people should understand that the cost of chasing points often exceeds their value. Pay a couple of cancellation penalties with Marriott rather than hit Priceline Express Deals or Hotel Tonight in the first place, and the MR program is actually costing you good money.

There's your long-term silver lining: maybe more last-minute rooms at discount prices. I'm only Silver, MR is a secondary program for me, but now I don't see an incentive to continue reserving Marriott properties in the usual way at all.

GUWonder

Indeed.

Priceline, Hotwire, Hotels Tonight and some foreign sites/channels are going to indeed help make that silver lining for me quite bright. A huge proportion of my trips are booked with less than 24 hours before scheduled flight departure, and even then my plans change sometimes within hours of the trip commencing. It's not rare for me to book my hotels upon arrival at my destination, and then the difference in price between distressed inventory sales and direct channels ends up being so large that hotel loyalty program benefits may be insufficient to make it worthwhile to even go for a direct booking.

ehallison

I'm not happy about this. Even though we've been successful with canceling last minute through the Platinum line without penalty, it's still a hassle to do so (and I wonder if they'll continue to allow that if you miss the cancel deadline by 2 days instead of 2 hours).

I just checked my husband's frequent-stay cities - mostly California from Bakersfield to Redding - and they've all gone to 2-day cancel. The Hilton family properties where he stays in those cities are still at 1-day cancel. More reason for him to requalify for Diamond this year, unless Hilton follows suit.

SkiAdcock

Reading through the comments in the link above, some are seeing longer cancel policies at some Hiltons & Hyatts as well.

Cheers.

joshua362

Of course, like sheep and airlines, they will eventually all follow the leader. So is the strategy now never to reserve until the day of or day before when its concrete? There go any "advance" upgrades. Will they have a heart for cancelled flights? There has to a happy medium.

MSPeconomist

Let's count this as one of the early "costs" to customers from the Starriot merger.

It could be interesting when companies renew their corporate contracts or update their travel policies. For many business travelers, a three day cancel policy is almost the same as a prepaid reservation.

Moving away from a same day cancel policy already prevented customers from being able to book their preferred chain hotels in anticipation of airline IROPs when there appeared to be a significant risk of being stranded.

Once upon a time, most USA hotels (except resort locations) allowed cancellation until 4 pm (and sometimes 6 pm) on the day of arrival and they would hold a reservation without a credit card or deposit until that time; often you could call the same day and ask them to hold your room for late arrival. Back then, in the rest of the world, deposits may have been more common, but the tradition was for all sides to behave honorably. I recall that some countries (such as Germany) had laws allowing the innkeeper to recover damages from no shows and late cancellations but guests were also given protections if the hotel was overbooked.

TravelinSperry

It is not chain-wide yet. Have you tried to make reservations? I have all over Europe... they are still showing similar cancellations as they were before this thread was started. Where is the source of that this is going chainwide? Where is the source that his affects all rates, such a corporate rates and/or Platinums? So far, I don't see it. Maybe I will shortly, but so far, I don't.

christianj

Does not apply to Europe....YET! Here is what has been confirmed so far:

Americas including the United States, Canada, Caribbean and Latin America, across all brands except for Design Hotels

TravelinSperry

Not live yet at all properties. Just checked on some... I see 3 day, 2 day and 1 day prior cancel policies in place. It is not yet uniform. It appears (at a glance) that the higher end properties had the worst cancel policies (3 day) and the lower end ones had better (1 day).

But I do hear your point... I'd imagine it is on the way to being uniform shortly in those regions. At least we still have Europe (for now).

joshua362

I checked a few locales and hotels using my corp rate of a huge, largely traveling consultants. They are all over the board from 6pm day of arrival to 1, 2, & 3 days.

One, NYC Marriott Marquis was 6pm DOA, the standard rate was $100 more and 3 days CXL. JW Essex was $100 more for the corp rate and both were 3 days cancel.

I suspect large corps can pick out a few key hotels in major cities that are carved out of this nonsense.

Herb687

How does a policy like this come into being anyway? Do not individual hotels do their own pricing and yield management?

If I were the owner of the Courtyard Outer Bumblephuck West, why would I allow Marriott corporate to dictate my pricing (fare rules should be conidered part of pricing; they are in the airline world) and yield strategies? The Fairfield Outer Bumblephuck East is under different ownership and is a competitor. Why would I allow Marriott corporate to prevent me from taking share from a competitor?

I'm just curious how revenue management works in the hotel world where every property is a franchisee or licensee. I thoroughly understand it in the airline business.

rylan

Just another customer-unfriendly change in the step downward in hotel chains... thanks in part to the big merger.

First was the prepay non cancelable reservations, then making a normal res cancel by 24hrs, and now its 3 days. Seen this coming since some locations already did quietly go to 3 days several months ago.

writerguyfl

It's very dependent on the local market, but this is certainly a possibility. I make last-minute trips to the Lake Buena Vista, FL area rather frequently. That's a market known for having an extended time between when the reservation is booked and the actual stay. With the exception of FL residents making a last-minute weekend trip, very few people go on spur-of-the-moment trips to Disney World.

The market leader (Disney) has a 5-day cancel policy. As such, most chain hotels already had stricter policies like 3-day cancel. (I'm more of a Hilton guy, but I think Marriott properties were similar.)

On non-sold nights, I've found that rates tend to drop once the cancel period begins. On some occasions, I've seen rates drop $80. For people who plan, it's certainly distasteful. But, it's a good thing for last-minute travelers. Again, it will be dependent on the local market.

I used to be a hotel Revenue Manager, although not at any of the Marriott (or Starwood) brands. So, take this is a grain of salt.

Yes, the local hotel is responsible for their own rates and inventory management. Typically, hotels are required to use the chain's revenue management software. Each hotel is able to override the system, if desired.

When it comes to global policies such as cancelation periods, there is almost always a way to opt-out. Having a one-size-fits-all approach simply isn't logical in hotels. Hotel chains have begun to understand this, as evidenced by the Autograph Collection and Design Hotels.

I worked in one chain where it was extraordinarily simple to opt-out of global policies. You could do it instantly via computer or by calling and speaking to someone at Central Reservations. In a different chain, that process required forms and several days. But in either case, it was possible to change to a less strict policy than the global one.

joshua362

Great points, IDK. Does revenue management report to Marriott or the property owner?

I'm surprised existing Operating Management Agreements allow such a universal and sudden change in terms, but I guess they do.

kennycrudup

I have cancelled up to 6pm penalty-free.

I never call the property, I call the MR Plat Line and have them take care of it. I hate having to same-day cancel but it's saved me $$ several times now, one of the best benefits to being LTP.