There are a number of little idiosyncrasies in my business travel life that help solidify my place in the “contrarion” category when it comes to the miles and points space. Living where I live, I think flying Delta is the easiest to forgive, though one could argue that I should wise up and start crediting to Alaska MileagePlan. Then there’s the other side of the business travel coin – hotels. Marriott Rewards always wins a lot of awards so it must not be so bad, but it catches a lot of flack in the bloggerverse for being among the least rewarding hotel programs. Appropriately, I spend most of my hotel nights in a Marriott family hotel. 🙂
Travel Update reported this weekend that Marriott’s cancellation policy will change on January 1, 2015, from a “cancellation deadline from the day of arrival (e.g., 12:00, 4:00 or 6:00 p.m.) to 11:59 p.m. local time on the day prior to arrival.” For whatever reason, a lot of my business travel is last-minute. Likewise, a lot of my planned business travel changes at the last minute. As a result, Marriott’s admittedly generous cancellation policies at most properties were a benefit to me. Frankly, it is one of the reasons that Marriott.com is usually the first place I look for hotel accommodation in any city I’m traveling to.
When I look at things through the eyes of a revenue management analyst, I can see the benefits for hotels being better able to manage inventory and price distressed inventory appropriately. Then there’s the cancellation fee possibility as well. However, I’m not a revenue management person for a hotel, I’m a business traveler, and this is not a positive development in my travels. I’m not the type to wail on about any little change sending me somewhere else. The truth is that I’ll still be spending plenty of time at Marriott in 2015. BUT this one little change alone will cost them some business from me as there are other hotel properties in cities I frequent that I prefer, and I no longer have the better cancellation policy to sway me towards Marriott. End of the world? No. End of defaulting to Marriott without looking anywhere else? Definitely. Will Marriott’s change in cancellation policy impact your hotel decisions?
-MJ, October 13, 2014
Ash – Why would anybody want to stop winning? It’s fun.
no question i will stay there less often since my travel plans are often uncertain until the day of.
Yes-it won’t eliminate my Marriott stays, but it will reduce them. I can’t afford to take a chance on a reservation that I may need to cancel that morning if my plans suddenly change.
So what, adapt like the rest of the world. Stop winning…
Call me a “wailer” or whatever, but I’d say about half my plans can change overnight. So if I have any doubt I will book elsewhere (or not book in advance).
And I won’t pay a higher rate as long as a number of the other programs I use still have 4 PM or 6 PM day of arrival for cancellation.
Why can’t they just raise the rates for 6pm day of cancellation. This is aimed squarely at the business traveller. I suspect issue is increased sale through last minute portals, like hote tonight… I’m currently in Europe and all of my bookings are 6pm cancellable in case I need to change plans. Yes the rates are high but I need the flexibility.