Marriott/Starwood properties have had new cancellation policies added for all bookings after June 15th. According to an official comment by Marriott (via Travel Skills) guests will be required to cancel their room reservation by midnight 48 hours prior to arrival. The previous policy was that guests were allowed to cancel their room the day before check in. Some Starwood/Marriott properties and bookings have more restrictive cancellation policies than this and they will remain unchanged, this change will also not be applied to Design Hotels. Marriott claims that the change was made so hotels could make rooms available to guests seeking last minute accommodations.
I’m not a fan of this change and I suspect it’s more to do with Marriott being able to use dynamic pricing and last minute booking websites/apps more aggressively without letting existing customers rebook than it is to do with allowing regular last minute bookings. That’s fine, it just means that I’m unlikely to book a SPG/Marriott property when I need that added flexibility (something I rarely actually use, but I like the piece of mind of).
Hat tip to Travel Skills
