New cancellation policy coming to all Hilton brands later this month (Image: Hampton Inns)
Starting July 31, you’ll have to cancel your Hilton hotel reservation a minimum of two days ahead of time or face paying full price for that first night. That’s right. All Hilton brands will soon join Marriott/Starwood in this restrictive new 48-hour cancellation policy.
The new last-minute cancellation policies are going into effect at Hilton at the end of this month.
We checked today and found the 24-hour policy still in effect at some hotels, so we assume this applies to all reservations made on July 31 and beyond. Hilton already has restrictive cancellation policies of 2-3 days in effect in high demand cities like San Francisco or New York.
A Hilton spokesperson told TravelSkills: “…we have proposed an update to our policy guidance for US and Canada hotels that will begin at the end of the month (July 31). We have proposed updating the default house cancellation policy to 48-hours (72-hours in select locations) for our managed properties and have suggested the same for franchised hotels (this decision will be made at the property level). As always, the cancellation policy associated with any reservation is made clear to our guests throughout the booking process and in the confirmation emails they receive…We regularly review guest booking and cancellation patterns across our 5,000+ properties, and have seen cancellation rates rise the last few years These insights have led to the proposed update, which will allow us to maximize the number of available rooms for guests seeking accommodation. Both guests and hotel owners will benefit from rooms that would previously have gone unused.”
Listen to Chris discuss this with KCBS anchor Rebecca Corral.
Some observers suspect that hotel chains impose these rules to prevent travelers from booking a standard rate, then canceling the reservation at the last minute and re-booking at a cheaper rate using popular new last-minute booking sites and apps.
UPDATE: July 25: InterContinental Hotels Group brands (Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, etc) imposed a 24-hour cancellation policy effective this August. (It’s only a matter of time before it moves to a 48-hour policy, we expect)
In high demand cities, Hilton already imposes a 2-3 day cancellation penalty (Image: Hilton Parc 55 San Francisco)
This sucks for business travelers because our schedules can change on a dime, and frequently do so with much less than 48 hours advance notice. Remember the good old days when you could cancel without penalty up to 6 pm on the day of arrival? In 2015, both Marriott and Hilton did away with that, upping the deadline to 24 hours- which did not sit well with TravelSkills readers at all (see post). Now this.
Now that both Marriott and Hilton are imposing the new policies, we’ll likely see the rest of the industry follow suit. Also keep in mind that several brands or individual properties have their own policies in place, so always check before you buy!
Another tip: Many hotels will work with travelers individually on these fees, so try to work it out with the hotel if you can. It can’t hurt to ask for an exception, especially if the cancellation is beyond your control, such as bad weather or flight cancellation. A polite plea might do the trick.
See New York Times story here.
How do you feel about a 48 hour cancellation policy? Please leave your comments below.
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Excellent informed comment. Thank you Ben.
I guess customer service is dead. What happens when your flight cancels and you can’t get to the hotel? Does this mean that hotels will not overbook hotels and walk customers? Are Marriott and Hilton in dire financial straits and need to adopt such a draconian policy? I doubt it.
Also, I just checked our operations reports and our cancellation rate varies by month…. but it runs from 19% to 28% of all reservations cancel each day… people know to bounce their reservations all the time and rebook. When I land in Tokyo or another city, like mentioned before, I book my hotel while I’m walking to baggage claim… you’ll find something, no matter what… even if there’s a Super Bowl or something in town, hotels hold inventory for last minute bookings and if it doesn’t sell prices start to plummet. Same goes for airplane seats, just not as much as loads are so high these days, so it’s really risky. With hotels, the risk is just so minimal.
Your idea is very fair and reasonable!
Yep… very true… it’s car rental agencies, and airlines that really led the hotel world to where it is today. For us, we had to start charging separate fees in order to have our hotel display on the first page of results when people sort by rates. This is how it all started… people sort by rate most of the time. For example in downtown Phoenix there’s a hotel that ranks highly due to a low rate, let’s say $149 in mid-season… but then parking is $55 plus taxes, and there’s a fee for a higher tier of internet, and there’s daily charge for things like the use of their gym and pool… you end up paying $130 per night extra on top of that $149, so $279/night!!! If we were $199, we’d still be far cheaper, but then we didn’t rank, and if you don’t rank you pretty much won’t get booked by most people. Our fees are $10 for parking, and a $20 daily charge… but that charge includes: local/seasonal/organic made to order breakfast for two (about $25 value), one complimentary cocktail per person per night, even our $12 specialty top-shelf cocktails, 100mbps internet, local/long distance/international calls… and best of all, we have a completely free and unlimited minibar… all soft drinks, snacks, sweets, etc are free. So we at least try to give value in there. I’m also looking at starting to include slippers that guests can take home (they cost hotels $0.80/pair), and even pajamas like you’d find at Ritz Carlton or Andaz hotels overseas… those only cost about $3 for the pants and top and they’re awesome… we are always trying to separate ourselves from the chains… and I hope people stop supporting chain hotels… after all the essence of travel is to experience that which you cannot experience at home… if you travel and stay in the same chain hotels and get the same chain coffee and the same chain food, why’d you even leave home to begin with. Also, if it’s miles you want, we’ll give you 1000 miles per night… you’ll be lucky to get a fraction of that at any hotel chain…
For our hotel, The Clarendon Hotel and Spa in Phoenix, I tell my staff to waive almost every cancellation without penalty unless it’s a group and we’re left high and dry. From the other side, we’re just 105 rooms, and if we have people cancel at the last minute or not show up, we’re out money when we could have sold the room if we had 2-3 days’ notice. It’s like missing a flight, or appointment for a haircut, dentist, doctor, etc. Everyone’s holding their time and space for you, so we’d appreciate the follow through. Now, with third party booking engines: that’s beyond our control… they take your money, we don’t have it sometimes until 30 to 60 days after you stay, and their cancellation policies can be very strict. My suggestion: always book direct with the hotel… always, always, always. If the hotel won’t match or beat a 3rd party online rate, then something is wrong. Also, if you get charged a cancellation fee, you can always dispute the charge as “services not rendered” and you’ll win 99.99% of the time… but a word of caution: if you dispute too much with your card issuer, that’s a pattern that will likely be flagged. I think the best solution here is a lower rate that is fully pre-paid with no cancellation allowed, and a higher rate that allows full refunds up to 24 hours in advance, then a 1 night room/tax charge… that seems fair and reasonable.
So then would a fair resolution be to have different cancellation policies based on date of booking? If you book within 48-72 hours of check-in, the chances that you actually make it to the hotel are very high, so no cancellation would seem fair to me. Bookings further in advance are more likely to cancel based on plans changing, so a more lenient cancellation policy would seem fair. Just an idea.
Well, OK. But even so, as long as the rules are spelled out, then you know what you are getting. And this presumably means more rooms for sale at the last minute, for those whose plans are more likely to change at the last minute.
I’ve noticed that last minute rooms are often discounted as well, if they would otherwise go empty
No. It sounds like it’s for any booking that can be cancelled. The basic model has always been anything from cancelling anywhere from same day to the day before or even three days before. They typically say it’s something like 3PM the day before, or something to that effect.
Prepaid rates are often heavily discounted at the cost of having no means to cancel.
As a hotelier, this is partly true… what’s hard for me is that about 60% of our guests book within 0-3 days out… it’s hard when you see those cancellations and rebookings, because we really are trying to turn a profit. My suggestion to everyone out there: book your room as soon as you land at the airport… when I go to Tokyo, rooms that are $500-$1250/night in advance at my favorite hotels end up under $300/night.
Presumably this only applies to cheaper advance bookings that you are know are harder or more expensive to cancel. I only do those for vacation stays.
A business traveller surely will book fully refundable rooms, and pay more for them, no? When I book hotels I am usually offered at least 2 prices – a cheaper one with restrictions and a more expensive one without. Same for air fares, of course.
Hotels saying these new policies are to stop unused/unsold hotel rooms from “losing” money for them – that’s total BS. It’s true only in a world where the hotel isn’t allowed to overbook and bump guests. Just because I book a hotel room, the booking doesn’t take it out of their inventory until I check-in to said hotel/room in which case I’m using the room and they’re getting paid. So there is still a chance the room can be booked again, even up to and including the night of the stay, even if I cancel last minute.
You saw the airlines start to screw over customers once they consolidated with a $200 change fee and even high baggage fees. Now, after the Marriott/Starwood merger, you’re seeing hotels come up with new and creative ways to screw their customers as well.