Any flexibility on "non refundable" cancellations?
 

I booked three nights at the Ontario Marriott (CA) to take the California Bar Exam. After hearing there was tons of noise from the adjacent train tracks, I booked at a hotel down the road instead.

Unfortunately, it was a non-refundable rate. Does anyone have any advice on how I can either get a refund or credit for a future stay?

I know, boneheaded move, but it's almost $700 that I'll lose so I thought it was worth asking!

Thanks!

Your refund request has almost nothing to do with Marriott and much to do with Expedia/Hotels.com.

Actually, I stand corrected. After checking my reservation, it was made directly through Marriott. It was a special event, non-refundable rate.

Does that change things?

It shouldn't. While I understand your situation I would expect little "give" from Marriott as you knew and accepted the rules at the time of booking and should've ensured you'd done the research about the property prior to making the reservation.

Outside room noise is one of my pet peeves. Isn't there an basic understanding or premise that a room for sleeping should be offered as such and free from audible distraction? I'm sure there is some legal terminogoly here regarding "warrenty for purpose", I just can't remember back 20 years to my business law classes.

I wouldn't give up so easy if this is the case, especially for $700. Can the property give you any assurances that precautions have been taken, i.e. double pained windows like airport hotels do?

Also, it may behoove you to bring along some "white noise" to mask the sounds. I play a 20 minute file on my laptop over and over all night when I'm worried about getting uninterupted sleep. I could send it to you. Another option is find a blank channel on the TV or pull the cable wire out.


How crazy is it that we are supposed to do research and know all of hotels "secrets" in advance, without ever having set foot in the place first?

Even though I stay 100+ nights per year at Marriotts and should know what I'm doing, I recently booked inadvertently a nonrefundable rate at the Schaumburg, IL, Renaissance (a very nice, new hotel, by the way). Fortunately, I used the room, so no problem there, but it was amazingly -- and scarily -- easy to book a nonrefundable rate on the Marriott website without even realizing it. I didn't even know it had happened until I saw the charge on my VISA bill!

You might argue for mercy on those grounds -- although I suspect you won't get any.

Bruce

To me, this case has almost nothing to do with a noise issue and almost everything to do with the OP not wanting to be bound by the terms of nonrefundable room rates they agreed upon. But let's say it wasn't the noise, but rather a lack of a pool, for example, that caused a reconsideration of a booked stay, would that be any different? Non-refundable means just that without loopholes, clauses or conditions. FWIW, I don't find Marriott's website deceptive in how it labels these restrictive room rates.

If the $700 means that much, would 2 minutes scanning reviews on tripadvisor.com be too much to verify what other recent guests are saying about a particular location? I wouldn't spend too much time checking out a one night airport hotel stay, for example, for $49/night but sure would for a$700 total hotel bill. It's still caveat emptor, let the buyer beware.

You enter into a binding contract. So you can take the bar exam. Then just decide you don't want to abide by it.

There's sometimes flexibility with canceled flights, death in the family, etc., etc., but likely not "I changed my mind". Feel free to try though.

I suggest you read through terms and conditions carefully before signing/agreeing to anything. My lawyer taught me that.

To the OP.

As a fellow attorney I know how evil the California Bar is. I would personally go to the property in question, ask to speak to the manager. Explain to him the situation, making sure that he understands that you are not being a flake but new information came to light that you were unaware of at the time.

I would also sign up for Marriott Rewards immediately if not already. Let him know how much you enjoy Marriotts. Finally, it would also help if the other hotel that you booked is in the Marriott chain. That will show that you intend to be a long term Marriott guest.

I believe that you stand a reasonable chance of being allowed to cancel the reservation.

To reiterate, I know what I signed up for was a "non refundable special event rate" and I'm prepared to abide by those terms. I was just curious to see if Marriott had any leniency or if others had experience being able to change/modify this type of reservation.

Thanks to those who had positive suggestions/comments on the situation. I'll be sure to be more careful in the future.

Thanks! ^

Getting around the refund date
 

Most properties have a "must cancel by" clause. However all reservations can be changed to a later date. By changing your date it will also change the "must cancel by" date. You can then go in and cancel the reservation. I have done this the day of the reservation even when I was supposed to cancel 15 day sprior to stay.

Is this the Ontario Airport Marriott? I did not notice any noise problem when I stayed there a few months ago (seemed like a rather quiet place to me). And, if there is potentially a nose problem, investing in some simple noise blocking technology to use while you are there would be a much cheaper solution to your problem.

I've stayed here a few times and don't recall any noise problem. If it were me, I'd simply speak to the manager, explain your situation, that noise would be more than a "casual" issue for you, and ask them to book you a room away from the train tracks. They certainly must have some of those, and based on my experience with Marriott, I'd be surprised if they didn't try to help you.