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Sadly, Marriott and SPG have made a change to their cancellation policy, and it is not good news. Effective June 15, 2017, the hotels will be imposing a cancellation fee on cancellations made less than 48 hours in advance. The new policy will see you charged for the first night including taxes and fees if you cancel less than 48 hours in advance.
The new policy only seems to affect properties in the Americas and includes the United States, Canada, Caribbean and Latin America. In addition to properties outside the Americas, the policy does not apply to the Design brand of hotels.
Marriott/SPG have indicated that the new policy is to reduce the number of rooms that are left unoccupied due to last minute cancellations, although there is some suspicion that it is designed to prevent travelers making reservations at the standard rate and then cancelling them at the last minute, and rebooking via a cheap last-minute bookings website.
Bear in mind that some Marriott and SPG properties have much more restrictive cancellation policies than the new 48-hour policy. You will have to check when making your booking on the Marriott or SPG websites.
Overall
This is not good news, especially for business travelers whose plans can change very rapidly, and 48 hours is restrictive. The way things are going it will be interesting to see how the cancellation policy develops since its only recently that you could cancel without charge up to 6PM on the day of arrival, then it was 24 hours prior to arrival, and now 48 hours. Could we see a time when you need to give a week’s notice to get a free cancellation, only time will tell!
Source: Travel Skills
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