ricepaddy2

I made reservations at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, but I'm positive I've cancelled the reservation way before the arrival date. I was charged on my Mastercard for one night stay, but I can't find my cancellation number. What can I do? Thanks.

Blumie

I would call the hotel first. Some hotels will, as a courtesy, take your word for it that you cancelled in advance. Otherwise, you need to call the customer service number on the back of your Mastercard and contest the charge. It could be difficult, however, without the cancellation number. Call them and see what they say.

This has only happened to me once. I was charged for a reservation that I had cancelled for a hotel in Paris. Fortunately, I had the e-mail confirmation, which I faxed over to AMEX, and AMEX took the charge right off my account.

TRRed

As much detail as you can remember about calling to cancel will help. What day? What time of day? Who did you talk to? Did you call an 800 number or the hotel's direct (415) number?

A tangent:

In December, I was in the process of making a reservation through Travelocity. I could not find the specific hotel's cancellation policy listed, so I went to the hotel's website (not the chain's (Best Western), but the specific hotel's). On that website it indicated a 6PM day of arrival for cancellation w/o penalty. I finished the reservation on Travelocity. About 4 PM day of arrival, I determined that hotel would not work, so I called teh hotel to cancel, only to be told that there was a 4PM day prior to arrival cancellation policy. It was included in the notes of the e-mail confirmation that Travelocity had sent. Given the charge was small, I didn't fight it, but I learned that rates through Travelocity may have more restrictive cancellation policies than through the hotel directory. (And this was not a GoodBuy rate or other rate requiring prepayment.)

Blumie

That surprises me; I've never found the Travelocity policy to be more restrictive than the individual hotel's policy. That said, when I book on Travelocity I always click on the "Policies" link -- which includes the cancellation policy -- before I book. I think this may be the only way to find the cancellation policy.

TRRed

It was only after checking that section and not finding a policy listed that I went to the hotel's website. I agree that the policy is generally included there and was surprised when it wasn't in that particular case.

cordelli

Silly question - Did you cancel online? if you did when you log in and check your travel planner or whatever it's called it will be there in red if you did it all through the hilton site.

seat 50J

In a related matter, I booked a hotel in New Orleans through their own website. It was a small non-chain hotel. They never send an e-mail confirmation. I forgot the name of the hotel. How do I cancel? Close my credit card account? The reservation is for 4 months from now.

TRRed

Try calling your credit card company and see if they can be of any help. Maybe point out (if it is the case) that since you didn't get a confirmation, you are not positive that you actually have a reservation.

Otherwise, you are probably going to have to "re-find" the hotel. I think you mentioned that your internet History wouldn't go back that far. What about your cookies, do you delete those periodically (a separate process from the History being removed after so many days)? If you have not actively deleted those, try sorting those by date and looking back around the date you think you made your reservation, if that is the first time you went to that website.

Good luck.

ALadyNCal

If you called from home or your cell phone, look at your phone records.

ricepaddy2

I actually called from work and I'm trying to get our telecom group to pull my phone records before I call the hotel. Thanks for the input. I'll let you know how it turns out.