Warning about Travelocity Cancellation Fees

I've noticed more restrictions to be a general trend in the hotel industry,
not just travelocity. Big chains now going to 72 hours and cancelation fees;
smaller B&Bs as much as two weeks and first night always forfeit.

(rick++) wrote:

I've noticed more restrictions to be a general trend in the hotel industry,
not just travelocity. Big chains now going to 72 hours and cancelation fees;
smaller B&Bs as much as two weeks and first night always forfeit.

Imagine why they are doing it.

There are nore and nore "clever" guests, which reserve rooms and
cancel in the last minute, because they did reserve rooms in more than
only one hotel to decide in the last second in which hotel they go.

If a hotel would do the same, sell the room more than one time for the
same period, these guests would complain about the hotel and you could
read he "Warning before Hotel XXX".

A hotel and the customer of the hotel are partners in a contract, but
the customer of the hotel only likes to see his rights, but not the
rights of the hotel - and this isn't correct.

Greetings from Cologne

Andreas

(rick++) wrote:

I've noticed more restrictions to be a general trend in the hotel industry,
not just travelocity. Big chains now going to 72 hours and cancelation fees;
smaller B&Bs as much as two weeks and first night always forfeit.

Imagine why they are doing it.

There are nore and nore "clever" guests, which reserve rooms and
cancel in the last minute, because they did reserve rooms in more than
only one hotel to decide in the last second in which hotel they go.

If a hotel would do the same, sell the room more than one time for the
same period, these guests would complain about the hotel and you could
read he "Warning before Hotel XXX".

A hotel and the customer of the hotel are partners in a contract, but
the customer of the hotel only likes to see his rights, but not the
rights of the hotel - and this isn't correct.

Greetings from Cologne

Andreas

Andreas H. Zappel wrote in message . ..
(rick++) wrote:

I've noticed more restrictions to be a general trend in the hotel industry,
not just travelocity. Big chains now going to 72 hours and cancelation fees;
smaller B&Bs as much as two weeks and first night always forfeit.

Imagine why they are doing it.

There are nore and nore "clever" guests, which reserve rooms and
cancel in the last minute, because they did reserve rooms in more than
only one hotel to decide in the last second in which hotel they go.

There is definitely this crowd. To a great extent it's why
I don't find restrictions up to about 2 weeks generally objectionable.
This is especially true for particular properties with narrow seasons
or events (fall color, christmas, bike week, that kinda thing).
Facilities with multimonth restrictions as a general policy are a
bit harder to understand. And it discourages advance booking to
some extent which can't really help them I would think.


If a hotel would do the same, sell the room more than one time for the
same period, these guests would complain about the hotel and you could
read he "Warning before Hotel XXX".

Larger facilities are more likely to be doing it already. Yeah,
a small B&B can't afford to, but many facilities are "over committed"
at various times but the have the statistics to pull it off, and
the relationships with other hotels to cover the occasional overbook.


A hotel and the customer of the hotel are partners in a contract, but
the customer of the hotel only likes to see his rights, but not the
rights of the hotel - and this isn't correct.
[snip]

There could be vastly more courtesty here I agree. The "first night"
guarantee has been around for a long time and is fairly understandable,
although it's getting harder to book a property without it. And as
I say, for properties which have very peak times that are often booked
out in advance, it can be necessary as well. But there are alot of
blanket policies out there that have nothing to do with any reasonable
need and they are getting quite long. Fees for canceling rooms in
facilities months in advance, for facilities which are no where near
peak, nor full (which is the case for many of these discount booking
services) is just a case of "what the market will bear". I personally
have begun trying to bear less of it.

Andreas H. Zappel wrote in message . ..
(rick++) wrote:

I've noticed more restrictions to be a general trend in the hotel industry,
not just travelocity. Big chains now going to 72 hours and cancelation fees;
smaller B&Bs as much as two weeks and first night always forfeit.

Imagine why they are doing it.

There are nore and nore "clever" guests, which reserve rooms and
cancel in the last minute, because they did reserve rooms in more than
only one hotel to decide in the last second in which hotel they go.

There is definitely this crowd. To a great extent it's why
I don't find restrictions up to about 2 weeks generally objectionable.
This is especially true for particular properties with narrow seasons
or events (fall color, christmas, bike week, that kinda thing).
Facilities with multimonth restrictions as a general policy are a
bit harder to understand. And it discourages advance booking to
some extent which can't really help them I would think.


If a hotel would do the same, sell the room more than one time for the
same period, these guests would complain about the hotel and you could
read he "Warning before Hotel XXX".

Larger facilities are more likely to be doing it already. Yeah,
a small B&B can't afford to, but many facilities are "over committed"
at various times but the have the statistics to pull it off, and
the relationships with other hotels to cover the occasional overbook.


A hotel and the customer of the hotel are partners in a contract, but
the customer of the hotel only likes to see his rights, but not the
rights of the hotel - and this isn't correct.
[snip]

There could be vastly more courtesty here I agree. The "first night"
guarantee has been around for a long time and is fairly understandable,
although it's getting harder to book a property without it. And as
I say, for properties which have very peak times that are often booked
out in advance, it can be necessary as well. But there are alot of
blanket policies out there that have nothing to do with any reasonable
need and they are getting quite long. Fees for canceling rooms in
facilities months in advance, for facilities which are no where near
peak, nor full (which is the case for many of these discount booking
services) is just a case of "what the market will bear". I personally
have begun trying to bear less of it.