New and unpopular policies may make you think twice before canceling your hotel reservation last minute. Measures rolled out by hotel brands Marriott, Hilton and IHG include pricey cancellation fees when waiting until 48, or in IHG’s case, 24 hours before your scheduled stay.
Cancellation policies are predicted to get even stricter in the future as hotel brands profit from these fees. Popular hotel brand competitors may also follow suit with policies of their own. On the same token, flexible cancellation policies may emerge from competing brands as an incentive for customers to choose them over competitors.
In correlation with this, U.S. hotels are projected to bring in a record amount of revenue solely from fees and surcharges. A large amount of this includes fees for cancellations, early check-in, additional persons, WiFi, minibar, gym and more.
According to Bjorn Hanson from the NYU Center for Hospitality and Tourism, the amount totals $2.7 billion. Cancellation policies are good business for hotel brands and, unfortunately for travelers, they may be here to stay.
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