Have you ever had to cancel a hotel room at the last minute and then been told you had to pay a cancellation fee? Don’t you hate that? I mean, sometimes things happen and you just won’t be able to take the trip. I have found a way to work around that. Didn’t I tell you I was The Travel Guru?
Well, here is what I did a few months ago. I called to cancel my hotel and I was told, “That will be $50 to cancel this reservation.”
“$50? That’s a lot of money. Well, there is nothing I can do?”
The customer service agent on the other end said, “Well, you could push the reservation back and then cancel it.”
You should have seen my face as I was processing what he said. “So, you’re telling me that I can keep the reservation and just push it back, then call back and cancel it and I won’t be charged?”
He said, “You didn’t hear it from me.”
I said, “Well thank you so much for not telling me anything!”
So, there you have it. You can call and change the reservation which isn’t being a no-show, it’s just changing the dates. Then, you can call back and cancel it. It’s not illegal, and it’s not wrong. I am not saying this is going to work for every hotel chain, but it has worked for me on a more than one occasion so try it the next time you are told you have to pay a cancellation fee for your hotel room. One thing you do need to know before you try this is what the cancellation/change policy is for the hotel. Some hotels want to charge you if the reservation is changed less than 24 hours before your stay, others are 48 hours prior. Just know what you’re dealing with so you will be prepared.