NEW YORK CITY — Effective Jan. 1, McLean, Va.-based Hilton Worldwide and Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International will charge a penalty for late cancellations, according to The New York Times.
Business travellers have long been accustomed to being able to cancel a reservation at many hotels, without charge, as late as 6 p.m. on the day of arrival. However, the two companies said that if customers don’t cancel their reservations by the day before the scheduled arrival, they will be charged a penalty of one night’s room rate.
One trend driving hotels to tighten policies is that the number of cancellations has been increasing. “Part of the issue is that business travellers are cancelling more than they did previously,” Dr. Bjorn Hanson, clinical professor at New York University’s School of Professional Studies, Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management, told the Times. [The New York Times]
