New Hotel Policies Mean a Late Cancellation Will Cost You - New York Times

Excerpt from New York Times

The new policies, hotels say, will increase the availability of rooms in locations like New York City, where occupancy is high and rooms can be scarce.

But some business travelers and managers say these policies effectively punish them for circumstances outside their control.

“Corporate travel is a little bit tricky because you do have so many itineraries that change,” said Douglas Quinby, analyst and vice president for the research and travel market research firm Phocuswright.

Adrienne Dancer, who coordinates travel for an events marketing firm specializing in the automotive sector, said the new policies could wreak havoc on her budgets because employees often need to transport equipment on the roads.

“It can shift often, especially due to weather delays, because we do have a lot of travelers who are driving,” she said. “They might get delayed by a flat tire or other instance and get stuck somewhere,” she said.

The hotel companies say their policies are just good business.

“Last-minute cancellations in particular have prevented rooms from being made available to our guests,” a Hilton official said in an emailed statement.

Brian King, global sales officer at Marriott International, said that the industry “is really running at an all-time high of occupancy and rooms are at a really strong demand.” He added, “People were canceling and customers couldn’t find rooms when they needed them.”

Industry experts predict that other brands will consider their own 48-hour cancellation windows — if they haven’t already.

“There’s certainly no question that the industry is thinking long and hard about different channels customers have to book room reservations,” said Scott Berman, hospitality and leisure group leader at the consulting firm PwC. “It’s become a far more competitive environment.”

Stephanie Sheppard, a spokeswoman for Hyatt, said in an emailed statement that the company “has no plans to make changes to its cancellation policies on a national or brandwide basis.” Currently, the cancellation window varies, and “the most common cancellation policy at Hyatt hotels in the U.S. is 24 to 48 hours in advance.”

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