canceling hotel reservations | a primer

entrance to the Four Seasons George V, Paris

Canceling hotel reservations sounds like such a mundane, cut-and-dry subject, but it really has layers of complexity. As a travel consultant specializing in luxury hotel bookings, I have years of experience both making and canceling hotel reservations for my clients. I want to share some basic but hopefully useful information on the subject.

Cancellation Policies Vary

City hotels typically have a deadline of 24 hours or 48 hours prior to arrival. You need to request a cancellation by a stated hour local hotel time on that day; time zones matter very much, as does the fact that it's already tomorrow for hotels west of the International Date Line.

Resorts have longer cancellation deadlines and often take deposits. Four Seasons resorts in Hawaii take a two-night deposit at booking, completely refundable up to 21 days before arrival. If you must cancel within the deadline, you can often use the deposit towards a future stay with one change of dates permitted under such circumstances. Las Vegas hotels typically have a one-night deposit at booking and a two-day cancellation deadline.

Festive Season bookings have more stringent policies, sometimes with non-refundable deposits due at booking and the entire stay becoming non-refundable perhaps 90 days before arrival.

Travelers can sometimes save money by booking pre-paid, non-refundable, non-changeable reservations. These always make me nervous, as the unexpected can always happen

The amount of the cancellation penalty can vary. It is usually the cost of one night's stay including tax, or the amount of the deposit that you paid, but it can be more than this. 

Travel insurance will refund the amount of your penalty if you have to cancel for a covered reason (usually, medical situations involving yourself or a close family member).

How to cancel a reservation.

1. Make sure you get a response to an emailed request to cancel a reservation. As we all know, email is not 100% reliable, and not all email gets delivered. In the case of a time-sensitive cancel request, know that I can't read my email 24/7. If you do not receive a prompt response acknowledging your request and providing a cancellation number, pick up the phone and call me ... or the hotel.

2. It's OK for you to cancel directly with the hotel, or the chain's central reservations office, but let me know you've cancelled (see the reason at #5 below). If someone tries to tell you that "only your travel agent can cancel this booking" (which may not be true), insist that the agent record your request in the reservation record. The important thing is to time-stamp your request, especially important if you are close to the cancellation deadline.

3. You can also email the hotel. If you've got an email with your reservation, just "reply" to the email and make sure the hotel's reservations department is in the address field (and copy me). Again, the important thing is to get your request "time stamped."

4. For last-minute, after-hours cancellations of reservations made through Sabre, Brownell provides 24/7 after-hours support through CCRA to make revisions or cancellations for you. Phone (800) 627-8681 — or from overseas, (682) 233-1914. You'll need your six-letter PNR locator and Brownell's Agency/VIT Code: SG8Y0. Note: we are charged a $17.50 per call charge if you use this after-hours service, and we will pass this charge along to you.

5. Please let your travel agent know when you make a cancellation yourself! We spend a considerable amount of time "chasing" unpaid commissions, and hotels spend a considerable amount of time researching our claims. 

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copyright (c) 2012 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website. .