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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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They should make it flexible for folks having status
As a business traveler many times my plans change in the 48 hour time period now imposed … it may effect my future hotel bookings. But personal travel I think it’s acceptable. maybe a “business travel” upgrade with a minor price would allow them an alternative?
This is not good. I frequently need to make last minute changes and really value the more flexible cancellation window.
48 hours is not reasonable. I’ve had flights delayed so an evening arrival turned into a next day arrival.
I hate this update! It gives more incentive to book through sites like Booking that allow you the free cancellation, or to wait until the last minute to book anyway.
Yeah I plan far enough in advance and pay the prepaid rates to get the lowest price so I usually do not cancel
This is the death of the great Marriott program…i have cancelled multiple time at the nick of the time due to travel restrictions. This policy really is going to change the behaviour of my bookings…
I have noticed this change in my recent bookings. But I also see 48 hours for some Hyatt properties. I guess it depends on the property.
This is the new norm
i use cancellation to get the lowest possible price. but 48 hours is still reasonable.
I agree that it’s not good, but 48 hours is still a short period of time. I was unaware of the change and glad that I was able to learn of it here.
I’ve never stayed at Starwood and I don’t stay at Marriott more than a couple of times a year but my initial thoughts were the concern that this would spread to other chains that I stay with more.
When I thought about it though I mostly book cheaper non-refundable rates anyway and take the hit for times that I have a change of plans, so it really won’t make any difference to me.
If this helps avoid other types of devaluations, then this one is not so bad!
Excellent point and perspective.
That’s an annoying change. I’ve had flight cancellations & diversions that required a last minute cancellation. Hope they will still accommodate.
Some properties previously already implemented 48hrs free cancellation windows now changed to 72hrs!!! It’s so unreasonable!
Just use a cancelled / dead credit card to make any non-prepaid bookings. Nothing gets charged when you book and nothing can be charged if you cancel within the 48 hr window.
The first of many changes with the merger. I would say that this should be waived for loyal members
In this era of increased fees across the industry, not a huge surpise
Is this 48 hours similar to what other hotel chains do as well?
This is, unfortunately, a good example of cases when industry consolidation can be bad for consumers…
For the majority of travellers it’s not a big issue.
In my opinion 24 hours was a better compromise.
I can’t wait for the full merger of rewards programs so we can see how much worse it is.
Hahah!
I wonder if they may waive this for Gold or Platinum members? Would encourage more people to achieve those status levels I think. Much like premium seats on airlines.
Interesting concept; I like your thought process here.
You know, I used to not worry about booking chain hotels (especially Marriott) due to the very reasonable cancellation policies. And The Marriott chain was always my first choice. this will make booking with them less pleasurable. And, I will now have to compare the Mariott SPG folks with other hotels that have more generous cancellation policies. I almost never cancelled. That was because I knew I could! They want business travelers. If I am travelling on business I am now most likely going to book with another hotel that is more generous. I think Marriott does not know what they have wrought. Sad.
I will no longer book a Marriott or SPG property unless I am already in town. Who wants to pay for a room when your flight was cancelled because of bad weather and you cannot get a flight out until the next day.
At least they only charge for the first night, not for the entire stay. Perhaps they intend to exempt top-tier members later on, presenting it as a status “benefit”.
I don’t think that requiring a 48-hour cancellation is unreasonable. Gives the hotel a fair amount of time to resell. Usually at 48 hours my plans are already set. If at that point I’m not yet sure, I’d either cancel if it makes sense to do so (when rooms are still plentiful and selling at the same rates anyway), or keep it and risk it (if last-minute options are significantly more expensive).
There might be an upside to this: I once requested a BRG kickback when getaroom had a lower rate than Marriott’s site, but Marriott allowed cancellation up to 6 PM while getaroom allowed free cancellation only up to the day before. Marriott refused the BRG on the grounds that the terms of the rates where “significantly” different…
It could be worse, they are only imposing charges if not cancelled outside of 48 hours. One day no dought charges will be imposed with immediate effect!
(Knock on wood) although I’ve never had to be concerned with a 24 or 48 hour cancellation policy, I have to wonder if this was really that much of a loss leader that it mattered?
Welp, thus begins the death knell for me and SPG/Marriott. That is enough for me to strongly reconsider choosing them for my new reservations.
I think the 48 hr cancellation policy is still reasonable. besides if you had to cancel less than 48hrs prior to you scheduled arrival it’s more than likely it’s do to an event that may be covered if you were to use the appropriate credit card