I haven't questioned this a whole lot before, but I guess I never tried to book at a property that had such a different policy. 99.9% of the time that I travel the hotel's cancellation policy is 6 pm local time, day of arrival. I just "moved" a reservation in Houston from the West Loop to the JW. I booked the JW first to make sure it still had a room, then cancelled the West Loop.

Didn't even notice until a co-worker was on the phone that the West Loop has a cancellation policy that says "1 day before your arrival (11/25)". I now see that the JW is the same. Have many Marriott properties changed their policies from 6 pm to up to 48 hours???

I called the West Loop to make sure I wasn't charged a one night stay, and the woman explained they had a full day policy because of the amount of business travelers. I don't have stats to back this up, but I'm betting that most people who cancel their reservations day of are business travelers...

My experience is that they resorts and vacation locations have tougher cancellation policies than the locations I stay at for work. They are mostly 6pm day of arrival.

I have seen resort locations employ a more restrictive cancellation policy with something like 3 days before arrival. And I suspect that locations that tend to have higher occupancy levels or possibly higher than normal cancellations, may try to add a little extra time to their policies to give them more time to get others into the room should someone cancel.

Yup, the Marriott Waikiki in Honolulu has a 3 day cancellation policy. Consists of a 1 night stay cost forfeit if you cancel within 72 hours of arrival, otherwise you don't get nickeled and dimed if you cancel outside of this 72 hours.

Sanosuke!

to piggy back, i have learned that most beach front properties (resorts or standard FS or CYs) have the 3 day policy...this is the first I have heard of an inland hotel having a 1 day cxl policy....if they were truly catering to the biz traveler, then they would know that plans change at a drop of a hat and should keep the 6pm.........

I reckon its up to each individual hotel to set a cancellation policy that ensures maximum revenue, that's the American Way.

But I would appreciate it if a "non standard" 6pm Day of Arrival policy was predominately displayed and flashing some how to bring it to your explicit attention. More often that not, its buried under the "rate rules" and it doesn't appear in the Outlook appointment.

Its there, you just have to check carefully. I was burned once but not twice!

I had a res. at the Orlando Center Marriott and I had to cancel 7 days b/f to not get charged.

Skiing season reservations: Payment in full is charge to your CC 30 days prior to arrival for all non-award reservations at this hotel. Cancellation less than 30 days prior to arrival result in cancellation penalty which is forfeiture of Full Payment. Cancellation prior to 30 days there is no penalty.

Vail Marriott makes those 1 day cancellation policies seem very liberal!

FWIW, I stay at a lot of business and resort properties. I have learned the first thing to always check is the cancellation policy. Of course that might have something to do with staying at properties like Vail and being accustomed to varying and severe cancellation policies. Cancellation policies are shown when making the reservation, and also shown in the confirmation email and in the online reservations on Marriott.com. The Outlook information excludes a lot of information from the reservation and while I use it to show a pending stay in my Outlook calendar, I don't use it for other reservation info such as rate, taxes, room or hotel info, or cancellation policy as none of that is included.

The 1 day before checkin deadline to cancel has become a very common occurence New York City Marriott properties ... it used to be pretty much only the case at the Marriott Marquis but this year it's been expanded to the Courtyards and other Marriotts as well ...

It's also the case for the Renaissance in Richardson TX .

I went back and checked previous reservations at this JW from February, and they had a 6 pm day of arrival policy then, so it's changed in that span of time. I would expect a 3 day policy at a resort or destination location, but at a business hotel in Houston? Both my coworker and I got out of the fee, which makes me wonder how often they actually collect on that fee anyway.

It sounds like other people have had the same expierences with changing policies on this...

It varies. Sometimes it's 6pm, sometimes 24, 48, 72, sometimes 2 weeks, sometimes 30 days. Depends on the property & the situation. And there have been some properties that unless you cancel w/in 24hours of MAKING the reservation you get hit w/ full fare (encountered that in a sold-out city-wide event one time, but luckily caught it before pushing the reserve button).

BTW aaupgrade, several years ago Vail Marriott had a once you hit the reserve button you were charged upfront & it was non-refundable. I got stung w/ that one once, and had to jump through hoops to get it reversed.

Cheers.

Also sometimes it is 4 PM day of arrival like the ORD Ren Suites this weekend for me.

Oh yes, I remembering booking 11 months in advance for, at the time, some fantastic rates at the Vail Marriott and then the full payment for 3 weeks was due upon booking. But you could cancel up until 7 days AFTER the date you booked the reservation and you would get a full refund. So if you booked a resrevation for the dates of Jan 5-26, 2003 on February 10, 2002 you could then cancel before February 17, 2002 and get a full refund. BTW, the cancellation policy was hotel wide for all rates, not just for these great rates I happened to encounter. Their new 30 day cancellation policy of the past few years is much better, IMO.

Totally agree! Cheers.

Cancellation policy varies from property to property. Buyers beware! Read the fine prints on "cancellation policy".

As SkiAdcock says, it's not only from property to property but also can be different dates at the same property (depending on the situation).

I remember this year being surprised when my favorite Renaissance, which normally follows the "6 PM on day of arrival" rule, had a two-week rule for one period (which as I recall coincided with a big convention in town).

The key here is check cancellation policy every time, don�t get complaisant!