Hilton is testing a new, tougher cancellation fee. (Image: Hilton)
Major players in the hotel industry have been following the lead of the airlines in creating new kinds of fees that their customers must pay, above and beyond the nightly room rate. And now Hilton is experimenting with a significant expansion of its existing cancellation fee policy.
It used to be that hotel guests with changing travel plans could cancel their hotel reservation almost up until the time of arrival with no penalty. Earlier this year, Hilton and Marriott created a stir when they started to impose a new fee equal to the cost of one night’s stay if a cancellation was made less than 24 hours before arrival.
And now Hilton has started to market-test a new $50 fee for those who cancel at any time after they make a reservation (unless they wait until less than 24 hours before arrival — then the existing one night’s room rate fee still applies).
Members of Hilton’s HHonors program are exempt from the new test fees. (For now at least.)
Hilton officials told Skift.com that the test is being conducted only at 20 U.S. properties in the Hilton, DoubleTree and Embassy Suites brands. The properties were not identified.
The Hilton officials said that in spite of the one-night fee imposed earlier this year, they are still seeing what they consider to be unacceptable levels of cancellations during a period of record hotel occupancy levels. The test will help them determine if a tougher penalty will make a significant dent in those cancellation numbers.
NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: 5 ways to save using Uber/Lyft + New overseas plan from Verizon + Trans-Pac fare war?
Do you follow us on Twitter? It’s a great way to keep up with the latest news!
Please join the 100,000+ people who read TravelSkills every month! Sign up here for one email-per-day updates!
I once read about a HHonors gold member booking a few ‘flexible rate’ executive rooms on top of the standard room that he booked for himself to ‘block’ those rooms until the day of arrival, then cancelling those executive rooms (for free ofcourse) so the rooms became available again. This way he improved his chances of getting his standard room upgraded to an executive room…(especially when the hotel is very full)…. Makes you think…
Add another reason to the list of why Hilton is one of my last choices when considering where to stay. If hotels think following the airlines on how to deal with customers is the way to go then AirBNB is looking better and better.
No, it is not. But, if I fly during bad weather season or international, I know that things go wrong and this is why I book flexible rates for these occations. Everything else would be dumb.
Judy, just for now. After their “test” ended with a positve result, the fee will be implemented at every single property and by then, nobody will be exempt anymore.
The cancel fee idea would not affect HHonors members, at least those of us at the higher end.
I’m an HHonors person, so it wouldn’t affect me … but really, this is one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard. The corporate people who think this stuff up must be mad. If properties charge a $50 fee for any cancellation, why would anyone book with them? The only thing I see, and I don’t want to see it, is that Hilton’s bean counters think they’ll snag lots of people who won’t notice the fee when they book. That’s really disgusting. There’s a reason this is called the HOSPITALITY industry.
That was sarcasm, by the way.
I’m not at all convinced the hotels should have to be the ones to bear the costs of bad weather affecting their guests’ travel. I realize snow is not your fault, but it’s hardly theirs either, is it?
This is the best idea. Make non-refundable fares cheaper, and make those who might refund pay more upfront. The hotels should be able to figure out the accounting behind this to prevent too much cancellation.
Dear me will it never end
As a Hilton Honors member I have no problem with this.
It’s like everything else, they are now screwing the folks that only travel once or twice a year.
Can you image flying on United with no frequent flyer status and playing a cheap fare. You get your seat on the day of the flight, you board last so that you can’t get anymore overhead space and you will probably be in the middle seat with no leg room.
So it’s just like everyone else, take advantage of the people that don’t know any better.
A shame, but I guess they could pay for more upgrades like better seats with possible early boarding.
if Hilton is having problems with certain properties, then maybe it is the prices on the properties compared to other rooms in the city? Are they overpricing themselves ?
Why not give a BIGGER DISCOUNT for non-refundable pre-paid rooms? Trip insurance does NOT cover everything and if does cover it, it takes for EVER to get your money back. Trip insurance will not pay for that room when you are stuck in NYC because your flight is delayed and you miss your connection but you get there the next day.
Ever hear of SNOW? a week or two of the reservation (24 hours is NOT very lenient) when your plane is canceled from BOS-ORD-LAX when the snow closed the airport or delays your flight a day or two
Why not make all reservations non-refundable and be done with it? Tell your customers to buy trip insurance if they want their money back. That way they can lose all their business to AirBNB et al rather than the portion of it now at risk.
Wanting to reduce last minute cancellations is understandable but imposing a fee on any cancellation after reservation is dumb. What about those who genuinely have emergencies, or become aware of must-attend things elsewhere, etc? Or who have made plans far in advance that just have to change? It would make more sense to me to impose a fee if cancelled within a week or two of the reservation (24 hours is still very lenient), giving the hotel plenty of time to resell the room.
I’d say it depends. If the purpose is to scare off speculative bookings, this may actually be a decent idea. If the idea is to keep Hhonors members coming, it is absolutely vital to waive the cancellation fee for them.
The Delta of the hotel world “testing” another downgrade for the consumer? This is the formula to get a loyal 13 year Hhonors Diamond member to go from 30+ stays/50 nts per year to literally zero stays. Since the Chinese takeover of Hilton, Hyatt (and to a lesser extent SPG) have received every single dollar of spend that previously went to Hilton. Does Hilton management care? I guess not.