First of all, let me explain that basically all major online hotel booking websites are professional and fair. In my opinion, all non-cancellable or other restrictions have been clearly stated before booking. In the spirit of the contract, there should be no refunds if we are unable to check in. Moreover, hotel rooms that are generally non-cancellable are given corresponding discounts on price. Therefore, this article does not intend to challenge any contractual spirit or integrity issues. And when I see many questions from friends on the Internet about canceling non-cancellable reservations, many Chinese people always say that Chinese people should be honest, or that they should have planned something long ago. I always feel very unhappy when I see this kind of reply. Since you can't help others, please leave silently.
Okay, let’s talk about credit cards first.
Hotel reservations generally require credit card guarantee, pre-authorization, or direct debit. For example, with BOOKING, it seems that credit card information has been entered during registration.
If you have not received information about consumption and pre-authorization when you want to cancel, and there is no relevant record in your credit card center, then my suggestion is to report the loss of your credit card (or reduce the limit to 1 yuan Or close overseas business), this operation depends on your credit card. It depends on how simple and convenient it is. It costs 50 yuan to report a loss. Of course, it is free for some levels of credit cards.
But even if you do this, you still cannot cancel your hotel. After reporting the loss, the hotel should not be able to charge or pre-authorize your credit card through normal channels. Some hotels will quickly notify you that your credit card is invalid, require you to update your credit card information, and reserve the room you reserved for a period of time, usually 3 days. If you do not complete the update of your credit card information within 3 days, the hotel will cancel your order. If you have reached this point, congratulations, your order has been cancelled. To be precise, your order has never been established.
However, many hotels often do not perform pre-authorization or deduction until closer to the check-in date. There may be a considerable wait before this, and the closer to the check-in date, the more difficult it will be to cancel later. There are even hotels that don't process your credit card at all before check-in, and not until you haven't checked in.
Many people on the Internet ask that since the money cannot be deducted after the loss is reported, it does not matter whether the withdrawal is canceled or not. However, according to the relevant information I searched on the Internet, in this case, the hotel still has ways Deduction. The hotel can request this fee from your card-issuing bank, and the credit card stipulates that you are still responsible for your unaccounted consumption. In other words, the bank will come and collect the money from you. Of course, if your credit card is reported lost, you can say it was stolen, but the hotel also has documents showing that this was a normal consumption, and there is also a third party like the booking website that can prove it. I estimate that in the end this has little chance of winning, and it puts my bank credit at risk. At the same time, we found that there are hotels on some websites that can be booked without a credit card. I think it is the same principle. But one problem in this situation is that if the hotel that does not require a credit card pursues your consumption through the credit card, then obviously the hotel booking website Your credit card information was leaked. Okay, you have taken care of this, but it cannot change the fact that you will be deducted if you make a reservation but do not show up. Of course, you can fight against the hotel booking website. The benefits of this fight may be huge, but it will definitely take a long time, haha. Of course, I think that most hotels that do not require credit card bookings may be because the hotel is small and does not have credit card operation equipment, or it is purely based on reputation that they believe you will come. If this is the case, it will be nothing in the end.
It seems that the only way to report a lost card is to hope that the hotel will find that the card cannot be used, and then notify you that if you do not operate, the hotel will cancel it.
So what should you do if the hotel does not operate the card and does not find that the card cannot be used and you don’t want to wait?
In the final analysis, cancellation still requires the hotel’s consent. The booking website is actually very neutral. When you submit a cancellation request, whether by email or phone, I believe the website will communicate with the hotel and help you obtain free cancellation. But often the results are less than satisfactory. Because the hotel has no obligation to cancel for you, does canceling for you mean that the non-cancellable discount is given to you for free? This is not in line with the hotel's marketing strategy.
Well a good reason is the key to whether you can cancel.
Rejected? Get ill? Pregnant? No, these are all your problems. These problems have nothing to do with the hotel, and cancellation will cause losses to the hotel, just in case this room is not booked.
In fact, what you need is a reason for the hotel to have no "loss" and even gain, and the cancellation of the reservation must have something to do with the hotel and be within the hotel's service scope. Have you thought about it? Haha, I didn’t expect to follow the steps below.
On websites other than your booking website, it is best to use Chinese websites such as Elong, Ctrip, Qunar, etc. (these websites provide fast refunds, and I guess the communication with the hotel is not as smooth as BOOKING, etc.). Search and find the same hotel as you, with the same check-in date and a higher price than when you booked, and it can be canceled for free, and it can be canceled for free, and it can be canceled for free (I say important things three times, if you make a non-cancellable reservation I was speechless) room and then settled. Then they call the website where you booked and want to cancel the reservation and tell them that another person in the same party also booked the same hotel at the same time with the same name on other booking websites and hopes to cancel the reservation. Please pay special attention to this. , asking the website and the hotel to say: The same person staying at the same hotel at the same time made two reservations and wanted to cancel one. Don’t worry, the website will do it, at least BOOKING will do it. If you need it, BOOKING will call the hotel immediately to communicate so that you don’t hang up and wait. Okay, let's imagine that after the phone call was made, the hotel staff saw that the two orders were indeed made by the same person at the same time. This problem is obviously within the hotel's service scope. Your hotel can't charge me twice for one stay. The staff took another look and said, OK, the ones I want to cancel are the cheap ones, and the expensive ones I want to keep. If I continue to look, the expensive ones can be canceled for free. So, if I don’t cancel the cheap one, won’t the customer cancel the expensive one? Maybe the customer hasn’t found the expensive one yet and can cancel it. . . Then I'll cancel this cheap one for him immediately. . . At this point, your non-cancellable hotel has been canceled for free. Wait for notification from the website (BOOKING will inform you that it has been cancelled)
Well, just write it down and cancel your subsequent reservation that can be canceled for free, if you forget it. . . I dare not think about it.
Finally, I have to say. . . There is suspicion of deception. . . . All right. . . It's just a lie. . . But no one's money comes from the strong wind (please ignore the rich people who are really blown by the strong wind...), this is all hard-earned money, and every point you can get back is worth it. Besides, the hotel didn't cancel it for higher profits. Yes, why didn't you tell me to cancel the more expensive order? . .