Cancellation fee question

Hi,
I have noticed that hotels have varying rules considering the cancellation of room reservation.

Most come with a cancellation fee if cancelling too close to the check in date.

I am a bit curious on how the cancellation fee is calculated however.

It says for instance, if cancelling 3 days before it is 20 % cancellation fee, 1 day before 50 % fee and on the same day, 100 % fee.

But, 100 % of what? The entire stay or just for one night?

Like, if I would shorten the stay on the other end, like checking out a day earlier and my check in would be tomorrow, would I have to pay a 50 % fee or would that only be if I moved the check in day forward?

This is completely determined by the individual hotel chain or booking company. There is no nationwide policy for things like this.

That's right, but I hope that they make the cancellation fees a lot bigger and to apply a lot earlier. It seems that there are a number of people booking several rooms for the same nights 6 months out then cancelling most of them a few days before departure. What a filthy, disgraceful practise that is, I really couldnt believe that people could be so selfish and ignorant. It just ruins it for everyone else, and the hotel operators.

That's my rant for the day, but I was just gobsmacked when I saw someone on this site posting quite proudly that they had done it.

@Pious
Wow. Well I can understand your frustration regarding that. I noticed Toyoko inn changed their policy from 22:00 to 16:00 when you get a full cancellation fee. I suppose they had too many cancelling in the last minute.

I guess it attracts many people like the one you mentioned.

But how to determine what the cancellation fee is made of?

I don't cancel for no reason. In case say my flight is delayed or cancelled as I would have to take the next day flight I have no other option than to cancel.

I don't do it for the art of evilish demands..

Since some global online booking agencies started advertising "no cancellation fee until (two days in advance)" or something like that, dropping reservations at the last minute/short notice has become quite usual, though not quite suitable for a market like Japan where some hotels/inns do not ask for credit card information in advance (in some cases).

I would say it is counted against each night. So if you book for 4 nights for example, and inform upon check-in that you are checking out a day earlier (only staying 3 nights), that would be OK. But if on the day when you originally planned to stay another night, so after 3 nights, you let them know that you are checking out that day, meaning a day earlier, they might charge you a 100% fee for the originally-booked 4th night, or waive you half if you let them know early enough on the day (so that the hotel can clean up the room and be ready to take in another guest early enough). But that is up to each hotel.

I once made a reservation for a hotel by phone, and a few days later I had to cancel the reservation (due to the business trip getting cancelled), and I called immediately, it was 3 days in advance, and they waived me the fee, though they told me going by the rule they'd have to charge me a certain percentage. I would never cancel unless I have a good reason. And even if I do cancel for a valid reason, if their rule says I need to pay cancellation fee, that's what I will do.

It just ruins it for everyone else, and the hotel operators.

Speak for yourself. Maybe it ruins it for you, but the hotel owners are often happy to get additional rooms that they can sell to last-minute guests who will pay good money.

The hotels know very well what they are doing in setting their policies.

Actually it hasnt been an issue for me as I have always got the rooms I want, but this forum is littered with posts from people looking for more mid-range accomodation 2 to 3 months out, no doubt finding it hard to get because other people have multiple bookings for the same dates and take their sweet time to pick and choose.

I couldnt believe that people would do that and be pleased with themselves, it is just so obnoxious. It is like lying across 5 seats in a cinema to stop other people sitting in them because you dont know which one you will decide to sit in when the movie starts.

Most times I make a trip to Japan, I sometimes do multiple booking, probably 2-3 different hotels, this is usually because I have a change in Itinerary, but all changes made are like 1-3 day during the reservations of the hotels, but all my hotel reservations are made at least 6-12 Months before arrival date, never at the last minute, I'm sure this doesn't affect anyone. And I think it's pretty normal as to how the market are going, as mention, change in Itinerary, cheaper price between hotels and booking site, there is a great competition for hotel to do business.

As for the op's questions, the % is off the price you pay, say 10% off 10000yen, they charge you 1000 yen, 20% off 10000yen, they charge you 2000yen and so on, 100% is the full cost, some will charge you for the first day, whiles some will charge you the full booking.

I agree with Lazy Pious.
generally speaking, Japanese will not do that (double booking), because it is impolite to hotels.
probably, such foreigners are not so many. but, if many foreigners do that, they will change the policy.

I must admit I have made double bookings for some places but that is because I have had bad experience with some hotels like smoking in non smoking rooms (I get terribly sick by smoke) as I need a backup plan just in case as hotels tend to book out faster than it did years ago.

I have seen Toyoko inn rooms suddenly become available in the last minute and for people looking for rooms in the last minute this would be a saver.

I see many hotels with same day cancellation policy and then some with 7-14 or more days cancellation policy.

Like many other say, I don't think people cancel without a good reason.

But then again. The world is full of selfish people. It better to be planning ahead with hotel reservations than complain that some people reserve 2-3 places at the same time.

You could always hope these people forget to cancel in the right time and get some kind of fee for that hmm?

Is there any Japanese word for this that could help determine which is covering the fee?

If it covers one night or all the nights?

Say I have a 5 night stay and cancel one night past the cancellation fee day.

Would be good to know if I pay 5000 or 500 for the cancellation.

It will depend on hotel, but the most usual policy will be that if you booked say 7 nights, and there was a penalty if you didn't give say 4 nights notice, then if you turned up on day 1, saying you wanted to check out on day 2, the penalty wouldn't apply for days 5,6 & 7.

Re the double-booking thing...I think it's really inconsiderate. The long-term effect will be that fewer hotels will take unsecured bookings, which is one of the amazing things about Japan and it would be sad to see that go just because of some selfish disorganised people.

I guess I am a selfish and disorganized person, since I too tend to double book. I also tend to use Booking.com so I do have to give credit card information to book a room and I am warned with each booking that I might have a credit hold put on my card to make sure it is valid.

I usually double book because I've not quite made up my mind with my itinerary plans. My upcoming trip is a good example. Originally, I had hoped to visit Kyushu after Kyoto and then see Tokyo. However, I realized I was a little anxious about lots of driving as well as feeling like I didn't have enough time to really see what I wanted to see in Kyushu, so re-arranged my trip to do Chubu instead.

I tend to cancel a good 2 months (or more) out anywhere I am double booked, which I don't think is particularly short notice.

Personally, I've noticed most of the people who have problems in this forum finding hotels are going to Japan extremely popular times of year (like during what is usually sakura season) and are trying to book hotels 1 month or less out (which to me seems a bit disorganized as well.) Heck, I've seen people who haven't booked hotels 2 weeks out from their trip!

Places like Kyoto have really started expanding when their booking windows open and it's not so hard to book most places 4 months out. I made my original Kyoto booking more than 6 months out and added a day about 3 months out. Since I'm going a relatively "off" time, there were still many many many options in Kyoto via Booking in many price ranges.

I suppose that my ire was generated by a recent thread (now deleted, I think) where the poster had booked over 5 (from memory) places in Tokyo for the same nights 6 months ago, then 3 weeks from departure is asking which one is best so he or she could cancel the rest before there was a fee. My head nearly exploded, and then my wife told me that on Tripadvisor it seems that plenty of people do similar, albeit probably not to the same extravagance.

Ultimately if people are double or triple booking 6 months out then not cancelling until the last few weeks, it means that the hotels are showing less vacancy which means other travellers have to take second or third choice accomodation. That's a pretty simple premise. Then it also means people are having to jump in and book as soon as they can so as not to lose places, sometimes before their itinerary is finalised, so then they feel that they have to book in different towns - per the example above. But if it wasnt for people double booking in the first place creating the artificial shortage, the pressure from the FOMO (I love that acronym) wouldnt be on. So it is a vicious circle.

But aside from the fact that I think it is repugnant to base a trip to probably the most polite country in the word by engaging in some of the most selfish and unthinking conduct I've heard of, it doesnt affect me if I use a travel agent to book rather than doing it myself, though that takes some of the fun out of planning.