Last week, I needed to cancel a stay at a Preferred Hotel I had booked with Choice points. Somewhere along the way, I noticed that the hotel had a 24-hour cancellation policy, so I set a reminder to cancel before then if I needed to. Approximately 30 hours prior, I initiated the cancellation (here) and was dismayed to see that the reservation actually had a 72-hour cancellation policy!
72-hour cancellation policy
I was sure I had seen a 1-day cancellation policy somewhere, so I investigated a bit… When booking with Choice points, the website no longer shows the cancellation policy. So, instead, I pretended to book the hotel with cash through the Preferred Hotels website. On the page for selecting a room, I clicked “Rate Details” and sure enough, the site indicated a 72-hour cancellation policy (yikes!):
Cancelling anyway
I was well past the 72-hour deadline. My usual trick in these situations is to change the reservation to a later date before cancelling. Unfortunately, the email confirmation from Preferred Hotels was explicit that the reservation was cancellable but not changeable. So, I returned to the cancellation screen, held my breath, and clicked the final “cancel reservation” button…
Nothing seemed to happen. I was returned to the reservation look-up screen. Then I checked my email and, sure enough, I had received confirmation of the cancellation. The email stated: “Your Choice Privileges® points will be returned to your Choice Privileges account within the next 72 hours, provided the cancellation was made within the hotel’s stated cancellation policy.”
That didn’t sound good.
I logged into my Choice account, and, amazingly, my points had already been returned!
Searching for the 1-day policy
The fact that I got my points back was great news, but I was still confused about where I got the idea that the hotel had a 1-day cancellation policy. So, I checked my original confirmation emails…
When I initially booked the hotel, I had received two emails from Preferred Hotels. Neither listed the cancellation policy. I also received an email directly from the hotel. This is where I had seen the 1-day policy!
Cancellation Policy: Any changes or cancellations must be done by 3 PM of the date prior to arrival to avoid a charge of one night’s room rate plus tax
It’s bizarre that the Preferred Hotels website lists a 72-hour policy, but the hotel itself has a 24-hour policy. Fortunately, they appear to have honored the hotel’s policy!
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Had a situation booking Preferred Hotel thru Choice, where it was clearly stated that my stay came with complimentary breakfast for two. Calling the hotel to confirm a few months before my stay, I was told that wasn’t the case.I was told by a Choice rep. that they had no link to my reservation other than seeing I had made a reservation. After two months of going back and forth between the two I cancelled my reservation. Took over 3 weeks to get my points back. There is a clear disconnect between the two.
I’ve noticed a pattern where Greg and Nick (and perhaps others) seem to be canceling flights and hotels all the time. Is there some underlying strategy going on that would be interesting to hear about, or do people change their minds an unusual amount? Any light you could shed on the matter would be truly appreciated. I can understand canceling a placeholder flight (or hotel) for a better one, but it seems like the whole trip is cancelled in some cases.
All you needed to do is just to hold the reservation with a debit card with only 1 dollar on it. Thank me later.
Is it possible that cancellation terms changed in between the time the reservation was made and the time of the cancellation?
Until we know the two have truly ironed out the IT issues, I’m reluctant to book Preferred via Choice.