Skift Take
Forty-eight hours isn't too bad, but things might be tougher for everyone, corporate and leisure travelers alike, if the policy stretches to 72 hours down the line.
Despite initial concerns from the corporate travel community regarding Marriott's new 48-hour cancellation policy, one corporate travel services provider says these new booking policies won't hurt corporate travelers and their companies much.
TripBAM, a platform that tracks hotel rates and rebooks them at a lower rate for its corporate clients, mostly mid- to large-size companies, said the financial impact of these new cancellation policies from Marriott and, soon, Hilton, to companies isn't nearly as bad as you may think.
TripBAM examined its more than 10 million annual hotel reservations within the last year and found that of those bookings, only 4.9 percent of travelers, on average, canceled or changed their hotel reservations within 48 hours of check-in. If each of those changes were to result in a cancellation penalty, TripBAM estimated the cost would be $179 per occurrence.
"If you have 100 bookings, approximately five corporate travelers will cancel within that new booking window," TripBAM CEO Steve Reynolds explained. "It's not that big a deal. It's not going to impact you that much. But it'll really impact you [companies] if you have a prefe
