Traveller finds an innovative way to avoid hotel cancellation fee for room reservation

The United States will witness a total solar eclipse on the 8th of April this year. This has resulted in many people hastily booking hotels in the area where they can witness the rare natural phenomenon that will take place. Most hotels in areas where the eclipse can be seen have been filled up by now, and the available rooms will be very costly. u/LegoViper had an interesting story to share about how their hotel refused to let them cancel their booking and what they decided to do about it. The post has got 4.4K upvotes and 316 comments on the site.

The individual began the post by sharing how they had booked a hotel a year back that came with a "free stay" perk where they could witness the eclipse. They got it at a decent rate because the booking algorithm probably did not know that the eclipse would happen. The individual wrote: "Fast forward to today, where you can't find a room nearby for less than a king's ransom, and everything is booked to the max." However, their plans changed and they decided that they wanted to cancel the room.

They tried to cancel the policy only to discover that they would be charged a cancellation fee because they were too late. The individual shared, "Called the hotel directly to explain that if they don't charge me the cancellation fee, I'm happy to cancel my reservation and they can certainly make 5X the normal rate for this once-in-a-lifetime event on the room." However, the hotel remained adamant that they would stick to their policy and were not willing to waive the cancellation charge. The individual highlighted, "Fine by me. I’ll keep the free night reservation and won’t cancel after all, but boy, that will be a wasted opportunity for them."

They ended the post by saying, "I like to think that because of my pettiness in not canceling after all, at least the hotel staff won't have one more room to service, and greedy corporate isn't going to be able to fleece someone with my empty room over the eclipse." People on the site who read the story loved the individual's decision to avoid canceling the room and shared their thoughts in the comments section. u/jueidu pointed out, "Make sure you still check in and check out so they can't consider the room/reservation abandoned." u/JenniferMel13 provided a suggestion, saying, "I'd list the room on Airbnb for 5x."

u/LegoViper replied to the post, clarifying, "Oh, I have every intention of checking in digitally. I still might even swing through for the free morning breakfast and eat my weight in bacon too." u/CanadianDNeh shared: "There was a recent news story about a family that booked their Niagara Falls hotel stay a year in advance specifically to watch the eclipse and the hotel canceled their reservation so they could re-sell it at a higher rate. So, I'm surprised the hotel wasn't willing to waive your cancellation fee. As an aside, Niagara Falls, Canada, is expecting up to a million visitors for the eclipse next Monday."

Editor's note: This article was originally published on April 6, 2024. It has since been updated.