Guilty as charged!
Yes, I admit it. That I’ve double-booked hotel rooms in the past only to cancel them at the last minute—or not at all.
It used to be when you canceled your reserved room by 6:00 p.m. on day of arrival there were no consequences. However those days are rapidly coming to an end…especially if the Marriott or Hilton hotel chains have any say in the matter.
With occupancy and average room rates continuing their year-to-year climb, hotel managements continue to adopt policies from the airlines.
After all, both industries deal in perishable products.
Airlines in seats. Hotels in rooms.
So like the air carriers have done, smart revenue management by hotel firms have been making the practice of double booking or no showing more restrictive—and expensive!
Marriott and Hilton corporations are implementing stiff penalties for reservations canceled within 48 hours of reserved stays which will allow them to ‘better manage inventories.’
And if it works as anticipated it wouldn’t surprise me to see cancellation penalty windows extended to seven days.
The bottom line: if Marriott and Hilton make a go of these much more restricted booking policies you can bet your bottom dollar that the rest of the industry will follow suit.
All I need to point to are those pesky resort fees that are spreading like wildfire.
Nuff said?
So book smart and stay ahead of the game. Oh, and don’t let the bed bugs sneak up on you.
use Air B&B
That’s really not the point.
We’re talking hotels here.
There IS a difference…….
24 hr cxl policy is the wave of the future. Some resorts or vacation locations have
7 to 14 day cxl policies with deposits required.
Hotels are tried of dealing with 3rd party web sites and guests who flat out lie about no show charges. (lost revenue) Expect lower rates with non-cancel reservation types.
Air B&B’s need to held accountable with all of the city, fire, elevator, food, health and ada codes as hotels. Also pay the proper taxes