Current Hotel Policies Regarding Free Cancellations and Rebookings
With the current Covid-19 situation, many of the big hotel chain offer some great cancellation and recooking policies. We will give you a brief overview of them here.
It is good to know which hotel chain will let you cancel or modify reservations you will make for the future. There are big differences between all the hotels, with some allowing very generous conditions and others none at all.
Accor
Accor does not offer any special conditions, only flexible bookings that are refundable.
- Guests that booked fully refundable rates may cancel or modify their reservations without penalties
- Guests who planned to stay in Accor hotels prior to and inclusive of September 30th, 2020 may modify their reservation for a later date, without any modification fees subject to availability and applicable rates and conditions, or request a credit voucher for the full amount of the booking value for use at a future date at the same hotel
Choice Hotels
Choice hotels are not offering good conditions, non-refundable rates stay non-refundable.
- Guests with existing reservations made prior to July 10, 2020, the policies that were in place at the time of booking will continue to apply to your reservation.
- Guests with new reservations made on or after July 10, 2020 for arrival dates before September 30, 2020 will be able to modify or cancel the reservation within 24 hours of the arrival date with no modification fee or cancellation fee. However, reservation changes are subject to availability and rate differences.
- Reservations with pre-paid rates, such as our Advance Purchase Rate, are non-cancellable, non-changeable and non-refundable. If you’re not sure if you booked a cancellable rate, please call us by finding your local number here.
- Guests with new reservations made on or after July 10, 2020 for arrival dates on or after October 1, 2020
If you book direct with Choice Hotels on or after July 10 for an arrival date on or after October 1, the hotel’s individual cancellation policy that’s in place at the time of booking will apply.
Four Seasons
For the time being, Four Seasons offers very generous conditions as basically all rates are refundable.
- For guests with existing individual reservations for any future arrival date, including pre-paid reservations, full changes or cancellations are permitted at no charge up to 24 hours prior to arrival, as long as the change or cancellation is made by September 30, 2020*. Please note that changes to an existing reservation will be subject to availability and any rate differences.
- For guests making new individual reservations for any future arrival date, including pre-paid reservations with pre-paid deposits, between today and September 30, 2020, changes or cancellations are permitted at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival date.* Please note that changes to the reservation will be subject to availability and any rate differences.
Hilton
Hilton has one of the best policies, as for now all bookings can be modified up to 24 hours prior the arrival date.
- For reservations made prior to March 12, 2020 – when our new, more flexible reservation policy went into effect: You may now change or cancel any future reservation, without penalty, as long as you do so at least 24 hours before your scheduled arrival date, but not later than August 31, 2020. This includes reservations described as “non-cancellable” or Advance Purchase.
- Flexibility for the Future: Any individual reservations booked on and between March 12 and August 31, 2020 for any future arrival date can be changed or cancelled at no charge, up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival day.
Read more.
Hyatt
Hyatt, similar to Hilton offers free cancellations for nearly all bookings so far.
- Existing reservations booked prior to July 1, 2020 With some very limited exceptions, existing reservations booked before July 1, 2020, for arrivals through July 31, 2021, can be cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival. This includes Advance Purchase Rate reservations. Reservations made after April 1, 2020 at Destination Residences or under the Special Event Rates are subject to the cancellation policy disclosed at the time of reservation.
- New reservations booked July 1, 2020 or beyond. With some very limited exceptions, reservations booked on July 1, 2020 or beyond – for arrival dates through July 31, 2021 – can be cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival.
IHG
IHG offers generous rebooking and cancellation policies as well for nearly all bookings
- Bookings made prior to 6 April 2020 at IHG hotels* can be changed or cancelled for stays up to 31 August 2020
- For new bookings, two separate rates are available. Book Now, Pay Later: This new rate offers flexibility and savings. With no deposit required and cancellations possible up to 24 hours before your stay for direct bookings, travel planning is commitment free.
Best Flexible Rate: This rate offers maximum flexibility to change or cancel your reservation. For direct bookings this rate can be fully changeable or refundable up to 6 pm (local hotel time) on the day of arrival (dependent on the hotels’ individual house policy).
Marriott
Only existing booking are fully refundable.
- For guests with existing reservations for any future arrival date, the policies that were in place at the time of reservation, or as previously communicated, will continue to be honored.
- For guests making new reservations on or after July 6 for arrival dates through September 30, we will allow the reservation to be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before the scheduled arrival date.* Reservations with pre-paid rates will be subject to the rate offer rules communicated at the time of reservation. Please note that changes to the reservation will be subject to availability and any rate differences.
- For guests making new reservations for arrival dates on or after October 1, individual hotel cancellation policies in place at the time of reservation will apply.
Radisson
Cancellations are possible while modifications depend on the individual hotels.
- For existing reservations made prior to April 1, 2020, for stays until September 30, 2020, subject to local regulations and variations applicable to the hotel legal entity, we allow:
– Free modifications subject to availability and/or any rate differences
– Free cancellations with the following exception: - For new reservations made between April 1 and September 30, 2020, for any future arrival date, we allow:
– Free modifications up to 24 hours before the arrival date. Any modifications are subject to availability and/or any rate differences
– Free cancellations up to 24 hours before arrival date
○ This includes reservations on advanced purchase rates described as non-cancellable
○ If a deposit has been paid, the amount will be refunded to the credit card used (or maybe in the form of vouchers or credit, where required by local regulations)
Shangri-la
No special conditions apply for new bookings.
All reservations made prior to 1 April 2020, including advanced purchase rates, travelling to our hotels globally* before 30th of September 2020, we will waive the cancellation charges regardless of booking channel, if cancelled more than 24 hours prior to arrival date.
For all other reservations, our normal cancellation policy applies; please refer to terms & conditions.
Wyndham
No special conditions at all at Wyndham.,
- For new or existing direct bookings with arrivals after June 30, 2020, all of our properties are required to accommodate non-cancellable rate reservation changes if the request is received at least 48 hours prior to arrival and the same number of room nights or more are booked for a future stay.
Bottom Line
Some hotels, like Hilton and Hyatt offer some great cancellation policies regarding the Covid-19 situation, allowing you to literally change all reservations. While others like Accor or Wyndham do not offer you special conditions at all.
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