When should hotels refund non-refundable rooms? Survey says …

When it’s unable to operate the property safely. In a multiple-choice survey about hotel  room refundability, 83 percent of readers voted “yes” on that option. There were 678 responses to the poll.

Another 65 percent said rooms should be given their money back when a guest has a verified emergency, such as a death in the family. Roughly half of the respondents said refunds should be given when a guest can’t make it because of an Act of God, like bad weather.

Only seven percent said hotels should never refund a room.

One of the most common reader responses to the survey was: It depends.

“If the hotel can fill the room, they have not lost anything,” says Lucy Smith. So why pocket the guests money when the room is being occupied by another paying guest?

That’s a good point, and I should have included that as an option on the survey. Clearly, from a guest’s point of view, keeping the money is like double-dipping.

Many readers felt rooms should always be refunded — yet another option that should have probably been included on this survey.

“Quite simply, they should never refuse unless they don’t want any return business. No one is so desperate as to pay to be slapped in the face,” says Liz Zollner.

But some saw the hotel’s side in this debate. Bunnee Butterfield says nonrefundable rooms are a risk travelers choose to take.

I have increasing difficulty feeling sympathy for people who have personal problems which interfere with their travel plans and then expect everyone to feel sympathetic and somehow make it up to them.

Chances are, hotel rooms that are non-refundable are much less expensive than those that are not, so you pay the price in other ways – the risk of losing your investment.

As a practical matter, hotels often bend their nonrefundability rules anyway, says Karen Zarnick.

Usually they are very understanding and will refund the room under a valid reason. If the hotel is sold out on the evening & you cancel your room at a reasonable time, they will still refund you.

There are hotels that actually care about their guests and will try to make the guest happy. But not all hotels practice good customer service.

  • Carver

    I would be curious to know the rationale of people who believe that a hotel should not refund a non-refundable room, even if the hotel cannot provide a safe room to the guest. That seems crazy.

  • Cory J.

    I’m in agreement with Bunnee B’s comments above. Booking a non-refundable room generally means that you’ve achieved a significant cost savings on the room rate versus a normally higher fully-refundable rate. Too bad about your personal problems, death in the family, bad weather, etc., as that’s your problem, not the property’s. It’s not worth it to take out travel insurance, so you better be prepared to suck up the lost cash in your wallet if you can’t make it. That’s the penalty for wanting the cost savings benefit and the property is under no obligation to refund any portion of a non-refundable rate, regardless of your sob story.

    If I book a non-refundable room, then I also certainly don’t expect to be walked when I arrive at the hotel, nor do I want a room that I didn’t specify. If I reserved a non-smoking two queen, then that’s what I expect. I obviously need a room with two beds, probably as I’m travelling with more than just my partner. So the balance must also be that the property honors what I’ve reserved as the guarantee is there that you’ll get my money.

    If the property can’t operate properly (i.e. no water, no power, etc.), then I would expect that my non-refundable is refunded to me. It may not be the property’s fault that they have no power, but that’s business, they have to deliver the service in order to get paid.

  • Chuck

    I’ve had to suck it up a couple of times when I’ve used priceline.com but the overall savings I’ve got from opaque hotel sites is SO worth the few snafus.

  • Carver

    @Cory J

    There are two different issues here. The first is what must the hotel do and what should it do. Admittedly, the hotel is generally not obligated to refund your money. However, from a humanitarian perspective or just good customer service, some leeway needs to be granted, particularly if the hotel actually resells the room

    Personally, I never purchase non-refundable rooms unless the change of plans changing is nearly zero. For example, I have purchased non-refundable rooms that day of travel while in the airport.

    The other thing to consider is being a regular guest. If I am a regular at your establishment, I expect preferential treatment. That’s not to say others don’t deserve good treatment as well. But if you are unwilling to bend the rules for me on occassion, I should probably find a travel provider who values my hard earned dollars.

  • http://monkeysunmasked.blogspot.com/ Dave

    If I book a hotel room, I’ve entered into a contract to pay for this room unless I cancel within a certain period, as applicable.

    Likewise, the hotel has a contract to have the room available that I booked.

    If the hotels want to take a hard line on not allowing refunds on cancellations, then it’s up to travelers to take a hard line on hotels when they overbook or are otherwise unable to provide a room. I urge travelers to file small claims suits against hotels who can’t or won’t provide contracted rooms. The suit can be filed in whatever court district the booking was made (likely the traveler’s home town) and should be for triple damages due to breach of contract.

    Anyone out there more lawyerly than me care to comment on this strategy? (No, I haven’t tried it myself, but then again, I’ve never been “walked” or otherwise denied my room).

    -Dave

  • Chris in NC

    I’ve had to eat a few non-refundable reservations in my life. I generally AVOID making non-refundable reservations because my schedule changes with enough frequency that I’m not willing to take the risk. Thats why I’m somewhat unsympathetic towards individuals who make “non-refundable” reservations then want out because of a personal emergency.

    In the times that I had booked a non-refundable rate and couldn’t make it, a polite written request to the general manager usually allowed re-booking at a different date. I may be upset if such requests aren’t granted, but its certainly not the fault of the hotel.

    Like Carver, I’m curious of the rationale of those that believe no refund should be given, ever. On the other side, what truly “defines” when a traveler can’t make the trip safely? If I have oceanfront room on the Atlantic, and a cat 5 hurricane is approaching and there are mandatory evacuations, thats one thing, but to say that I can’t make my Florida resort because there is a snowstorm in the Carolinas and I don’t want to drive through it is another thing.

    This year for Valentines Day, my wife and I took a trip to Asheville for the weekend. We had a rare southern snowstorm and the roads were awful. We made it to the hotel, but small talk with the front desk clerk revealed that many did not. This particular hotel (a Marriott property) was very liberal in waiving penalties.

  • http://travelsitecritic.com/reviews Pam

    It all boils down to a customer service issue. Just like any other business, hotels should refund a “non-refundable” room when any reasonable person believes they should do so. This also means that most people who book a non-refundable room won’t get a refund because that is what they agreed to upon booking, and I’d venture a guess that most of us don’t experience a true emergency prior to arriving at the hotel. Even if you get to the hotel and realize it is a dump, did you take the time to read hotel reviews prior to booking? In the case of a true emergency, or if the room booked is not available, then any reasonable person would come to the conclusion that it should be refunded. There are far too many people who think they are entitled to a refund for any reason under the sun, and many hotels will grant their wishes in favor of good customer service. But, I think it is time to realize that when you book a hotel, you are agreeing to their terms and conditions whether you like it or not, and if the hotel decides to play nice you should count yourself lucky and praise their good service.

  • Joe Farrell

    I dunno – looking on the Hilton website since I have premier status on their program – I often see a fully refundable room [example here is Hampton Inn] where the refundable price is $10-14 less than the lowest AAA rate – with the average per night price I see somewhere around $140 – that means if I have a $130 room rate non-refundable or $140 refundable – I need to stay 10 nights to make up the difference – honestly – its never worth it to me –

    On the real pricey places – save a Four Seasons – who occasionally have these deals – its more like $50 – I’d kill myself to lose $450 instead of $500 for a refundable price.

  • Joe Farrell

    @Chris in NC – well – even in your example hotels refuse to refund money – I had a reservation for 4 nights in August 2008 at the Villas at Cypress – it was $100 a night for gosh sakes – not alot of cash – but there was a hurricane forecast for central florida that was forecast to hang around for 2 days – the first 2 nights of our trip. The Governor of Florida, Mr. Crist, declared a state of emergency for central Florida and asked tourists NOT TO COME.

    Would they refund my money? Nope.

    Would they allow to reschedule my stay? Nope.

    When we went to central Florida 6 months later – did I stay there? Nope.

    Do I tell everyone else NOT TO STAY there? Just did – again.

    Hope they choked on that $100.

  • KD

    I have very rarely had to cancel a room reservation for any reason, but several years ago while driving from our hometown to our adopted home we ran into a blizzard in Wyoming while planning to stop for the night in Denver, Co. I called the hotel and asked them to move the reservation from that night to the next night with very little problem despite our non-refundable reservation. They understood that the road conditions had become hazardous and with two small children in the car we were planning to stop at the first available hotel.
    I also question those who believe hotels should never refund a non-refundable room. True emergencies do happen. For instance, I had yet to book the hotel room my husband and I had planned to use for a small trip at the end of this month, but had I, we would have needed to cancel as I am having urgent surgery tomorrow and will not be traveling for several weeks. I have no control over the need for surgery and did not know it was urgent until this week, making this an emergency. To me, part of customer service is serving the customer in the best way possible which means making exceptions to the rules in cases where it is warranted. as far as bad weather conditions? Anyone who was involved in the major Portland, OR snowstorm in 2008 can tell you that it did not matter what the weather was in Florida or anywhere else, no one was leaving the Portland area. Flights were cancelled, trains had frozen, buses were crashing and the roads were impossible for several days. In cases like this, the weather where people were coming from was an issue.

  • Chuck

    Apparently I’m a real hard liner when it comes to Non-Refundable.

    Unless the hotel is a complete disaster and I feel I have to call the health dept. imo a 30 dollar room off priceline is a great deal. Rather strange that my most HATED Priceline hotel was a W. Ugh.

    I move frequently and if opaque sites didn’t exist, I’d be at the fleabag motel next to the strip club – oh wait that’s WHAT I DID before Priceline.I’m moving next month.

    I rest my case.

  • Chuck

    OH BTW Priceline now shows a checkbox for Emergency Cancelation.

    Has anyone used this feature?

  • Mark

    “Unable to operate the property safely” – really, 17% of people think that you are not entitled to a refund if the hotel cannot give you a safe room?

    I’ve only ever asked for a refund once, and that was when I turned up to a hotel in Rome and found that it had no power, and no water. We refused to check in, but left our bags and went for dinner. When we came back (midnight), still no power / water, so we advised the front desk manager that we would not check in for that night (and stay in another nearby property, at our expense), but return the next day.

    In my opinion – perfectly reasonable grounds to request a refund for one night’s accommodation. I called LastMinute and they agreed – one was issued within 10 minutes of my call.

    Do the 17% really think that the hotel should not have refunded the room in that situation? Should I just ‘suck it up’, even though the hotel has failed to fulfil their side of the contract?

  • Carlo

    And I find it very interesting that 65% of people responding to this poll think a personal emergency is a good reason for a hotel to offer a refund, but on a later story that is nothing if not an extreme personal emergency (the guy ended up with a broken jaw and emergency surgery), only the same number (about 2/3) of people thought no refund should be issued. And moreover, it shouldn’t be even considered for mediation.

    So which is it? Or does it depend on whether it’s something that is “in theory” vs. what looks like a play for sympathy?

  • Jim H

    I think that there should be a short grace period during which a cancelation should be offered… enough time to see the confirmation and react. Here are some reasons why:

    1. The customer may not have understood the terms and conditions until seeing them on the confirmation. A (very recent) example: My son was doing a reservation on behalf of a small group of friends. He booked a room at the San Francisco Intercontinental last night and realized immediately when reading the email confirmation that he had a purchase rather than a reservation. He called the 800 number on the confirmation and got a recording saying that they were closed. He called the hotel and they said that they couldn’t cancel because it was after 11:00 pm(!). He called the 800 number this morning and they told him “to pound sand” (his words). I called the customer relations number later in the morning and had an extended conversation. They said that he should have known before the last click what he was getting into. They did offer to check with the hotel to see if they would be willing to cancel, but of course I am not him so will see if he wants to pursue this.

    2. The customer may have made a basic mistake, like typing in the wrong date, which might be obvious when seeing the confirmation.

    3. There may have been a technical glitch with the website. I had this kind problem on Delta Airlines’ website a few years ago. If you clicked back to a previous screen it would reset the month to the current month, which I didn’t notice. I ended up with a reservation for the right day of the month but the wrong month. I called Delta immediately and they fixed the reservation without any fee (but of course I wasn’t trying to cancel).

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  • Ksea1

    I will NEVER stay there.  Thank you for the heads up!   What a rotten thing to do.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Katherine-MacLeod/1018681697 Katherine MacLeod

    I booked a nonrefundable room at a Ramada Inn for two nights to go to my cousin’s wedding.  The night after I booked my room, his bride to be decided she did not want to get married.  I called Ramada Inn and they gave me a refund and also expressed how sorry they were for my cousin, who was clearly upset.  I think in certain cases, out of your control, it is not necessary to refund the room but it is a good show of character.  I can say, for certain, that I will be more likely to stay at a Ramada Inn and pay more for their services because they take you, as a person, into consideration.  Too many businesses revolve around “the almighty dollar” and leave human interaction and feelings out of the equation.  My friend booked a vacation to Vegas recently.  Two weeks before she was to leave on her trip, they put her mom in hospice and told her she had a few weeks to live.  This is another circumstance where it is not necessary to get a refund it is just the decent thing to do, even if it is simply a voucher for future travel.  She should not be out $800 dollars because she would rather be with her mom right now.