Marriott and Hyatt allowing free cancellation of existing and future hotel room bookings

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Marriott and Hyatt have joined Hilton and IHG in offering free cancellation of existing and future non-refundable bookings.

For reference, here is our article on the IHG and Hilton cancellation policies.

What is Marriott policy on coronavirus cancellations?

This is the Marriott coronavirus page.

As usual, you should read that page carefully before acting and not rely on my interpretation, in case you make an expensive mistake.

However, as I understand it:

all EXISTING reservations, even Advance Purchase non-refundable rates, can be changed or cancelled up to 24 hours prior to arrival. You can cancel up to 30th April. The stay itself can be for any future date.

for NEW reservations, even Advance Purchase non-refundable rates, made between today and 30th April, you can cancel for a full refund AT ANY POINT up to 24 hours prior to arrival

So …..

Booked before 13th March? You can cancel for free until 30th April, irrespective of stay date.

Booked between 13th March and 30th April? You can cancel for free at any time, irrespective of stay date.

All good. Or is it? Because the small print says this:

“Some exclusions may apply. May exclude periods with special event restrictions or peak demand weeks. Please refer to individual property rate rules for details.”

This is as clear as mud. You can either cancel for free or you can’t. Marriott can’t have it both ways. In reality, I expect that the clause above will only apply in very rare circumstances, eg Super Bowl weekend or New Years Eve when hotels generally refuse to offer refundable rates at all. Marriott really should have removed the line however.

It is also worth noting that Design Hotels are excluded from this policy.

You can find out more on the Marriott coronavirus page here.

Hyatt covid cancellation policy

What is the Hyatt policy on coronavirus cancellations?

The Hyatt policy is very similar:

Existing reservations made before 13th March, for stays until 30th April, can be cancelled up to 24 hours before arrival. Advance Purchase non-refundable rates are included.

Existing reservations made before 8th March, for stays in May or June, will NOT qualify for a refund if cancelled. However, you will receive 10,000 World of Hyatt points (which I value at £100) as compensation as long as the cancellation is made 24 hours before arrival.

New reservations made between 13th March and 30th April, for ANY future date, can be changed or cancelled at no charge up to 24 hours before your scheduled arrival. Advance Purchase non-refundable rates are included.

Hyatt has also postponed the introduction of peak and off-peak points pricing until 2021.

It has also deferred almost all of the category changes due to be implemented on 22nd March until 2021. There are only five exceptions, and the only European one is positive – Park Hyatt Mallorca will still drop from Category 6 to Category 5.

There is no word yet on changes to status qualifications for 2021 but the company has stated that there will be adjustments made at some point.

Full details of these policy changes are on the Hyatt website here.

World of Hyatt update – December 2021:

Get bonus points: Hyatt is not currently running a global promotion.

New to World of Hyatt? Read our overview of World of Hyatt here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on what we think World of Hyatt points are worth is here.

Buy points: If you need additional World of Hyatt points, you can buy them here.

Until 30th December, you will receive a 30% discount, equivalent to a 43% bonus, when you buy Hyatt points – click here.

Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from Hyatt and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Category

Marriott Bonvoy, World of Hyatt

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Clive says:

13 Mar13 March 17:09

https://news.marriott.com/news/2020/03/13/a-message-from-our-ceo?fbclid=IwAR2a6SxYlSFrU3TPJlrlxAHqVGdoySor6-4XQy6rj0dvAA8BV_xeysdjZI4
- Peter K says:
  
  13 Mar13 March 19:26
  
  “*****Generally speaking*****, for guests with existing individual reservations, including reservations with pre-paid rates that are typically more restrictive, we will allow changes or cancellation without a charge up to 24 hours prior to arrival as long as the change or cancellation is made by April 30,”
  
  Generally speaking?! That is poor Marriott, very poor.
  - Bagoly says:
    
    13 Mar13 March 22:35
    
    Unless they are including that to prevent use by people who are not actually cancelling.
    E.g. cancel an existing booking and immediately make a new one at a lower price.
Paul says:

14 Mar14 March 05:33

OT: has anybody experience of cancelling an Accor booking recently. There’s still nothing on their website about Corona that I can see and I have a 10 day booking in Thailand and then onto Singapore that might prove to be difficult to get to (travelling via Paris).

Thanks.
Patrycja says:

14 Mar14 March 07:00

I have a booking at Marriott Tbilisi at the end of May. My booking still says that changes to reservation are not permitted. Is this superseded by the Cov 19 announcement? Can someone please explain how that works? I am still going to travel if I can but hotel rates now reduced so would like to rebook.
Waddle says:

14 Mar14 March 08:34

Sorry for the OT:
I’ve just earned another 2-4-1 on my BAPP and have stopped spending on it ahead of downgrading it to the BA Blue. I am about to get a refund which will take me under 10k. Will the voucher be clawed back?
Mike says:

14 Mar14 March 14:43

Ive got a reservation for Meliá Innside in Alcudia for May. Not heard anything whether they will let me change as it’s non-refundable.

At least easyJet are letting me change flights to a date later in the year.
- Shoestring says:
  
  14 Mar14 March 14:55
  
  Found this for you which if you don’t speak Spanish you can google translate: [“Ahora la misma tarifa de Meliá que contraté está con la cancelación sin coste”, explica Barrios, que tiene una reserva para ella y su familia en un hotel de Fuerteventura. Desde la compañía explican que entonces no existía la campaña actual. “Se ha lanzado para promover que la gente reserve sin miedo y pueda hacer sus planes de viaje. Pero las compras anteriores se regirán por la política de cancelación que tuviese”, sostienen portavoces de Meliá. Eso sí, si hay causa de fuerza mayor, la cosa cambia. “En esos casos sí se podrán realizar las cancelaciones. Pero porque haya miedo o una recomendación no”, defienden. Por ello, la insistencia de que se prohíban los viajes, pero no mediante recomendaciones. Por ejemplo, en el caso de Estados Unidos no hay duda: se devolverán los importes de los vuelos cancelados por la medida anunciada por Trump.]
  https://elpais.com/economia/2020-03-12/las-cancelaciones-de-viajes-por-el-coronavirus-enfrenta-a-empresas-y-clientes.html
  
  ie show there’s force majeure and they (Melia) will let you cancel free of charge
  - AlanC says:
    
    14 Mar14 March 22:37
    
    Hilton Glasgow executive lounge closing Monday until further notice. Reason the C word. No more stays there for me now! Guests get bar vouchers! The difference is?
    - Shoestring says:
      
      14 Mar14 March 22:44
      
      Cancer?
Lashious says:

15 Mar15 March 20:59

I’ve booked a marriot hotel via priceline, priceline have said they will try ask for the refund from the hotel but it’ll take 3 weeks…hope I could go direct and cancel but that is unlikely. Then it’s just the claiming on my insurance for the transport to heathrow and back, mexico return flights with 2 airlines and mexico hotel vis hotels.com, and my work leave.