falcon

We live in Albuquerque and often make reservations for out of town company who come to visit for Balloon Fiesta, which is a wonderful event. This year, I made a reservation at Hilton Garden Inn on San Antonio Blvd. for our visitors. An unforeseen event (the news that they would soon be adopting a baby) caused their plans to change. I called this evening to cancel their reservations and was told by a central reservations agent that there was a 30! day cancellation policy, so our deposit of $217 was forfeit. I checked the on-line site carefully and the 30 day policy is not readily apparent. Instead it says, "Easy cancellations." Click for details. The 28 days (different from the 30 days told me by the reservations agent) listed on the site is quite far down the blurb and could easily be overlooked. One would think that 10 days in advance would be plenty of time to cancel, but no, the requirement is 28 days. This is an expensive lesson. Be advised that if you make reservations there, you should take out trip insurance against an unforeseen need to cancel.

DebitNM

This is THE prime time for hotel reservations in ABQ (as you well know) and especially for a hotel so close to fiesta park. I am guessing that has something to do with the unusually long cancellation period.

While it may have been quite far down the blurb but - EVERY hotel reservation I make (almost monthly, and at lots of different brands), the confirmation clearly spells out the cancellation terms.
Consider trip insurance next time.

Sorry. Lesson learned, as you said.

DebitNM

FYI - I just looked at a "reservation" for next week, 10/7 - 10/14. When I checked the cancellation policy when the rate came up, the first sentence said

"Cancellation Policy:
If you wish to cancel, please do so 30 days prior to arrival to avoid cancellation penalties."

Dukey1

This is obviously for the particular location as the usual Hilton/Hampton cancellation policy is not 28 days.

DebitNM

This is due to the dates involved, not the location per se. I am guessing all hotels have much stricter policies for this huge event in our city.

Brian_in_Charlotte

Seems that every time someone has a rant about a hotel, airline, etc. it is because of an action directly attributable to the customer (i.e. need to cancel, change flight, etc).

The hotel in question here is blameless.

NeoPatrick

The Hilton family of hotels, like many hotels offers both easy cancellable reservations as well as often advance purchase reservations. The current reservation window for the hotel in question does show both. Since you say you had to "forfeit" your deposit, it sounds very much like you did an advance purchase reservation (or else it was a very special thing because of the festival). Normally there would be NO deposit required for a simple cancellable reservation!

So it seems pretty clear to me that either A) you didn't read the contract or B) you got a special rate because of the non cancellable option and now you are upset because you don't like the terms of that price.

Could you repost this with a more honest title "Be aware that you need to read the terms of your reservation . . .?
Seems very simple and logical, but obviously it wasn't to you.

DebitNM

I don't think the OP paid a deposit up front. I think they took his CC # and then when he cancelled 10 days out, they charged him for the room.

This is the "rate details" showing for dates during Balloon Fiesta:

https://secure3.hilton.com/en_US/gi/...execution=e1s2

DebitNM

Hilton's Advance Rate details for this location show the full amount is paid upfront and there are NO refunds at all, blah blah blah.

So, since the OP stated "our deposit" was our deposit of $217 was forfeit" I do not think it was an advance payment.

This is really a case of, Opp's, I didn't read carefully and lost my friends deposit. Always remember "The devil is in the details." And don't bad mouth the hotel which is following its stated procedures/policies.

BigRuss

Hmm. Most popular tourist event in ABQ has extended advance cancellation policy so hotels don't lose money from lost business. Quite horrific.

In other news, 2+2=4.