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I've been making reservations recently and I think there is a huge imbalance in power. All bookings in popular places or on popular dates are NON REFUNDABLE. A

by jwr 11mo ago

I've been making reservations recently and I think there is a huge imbalance in power. All bookings in popular places or on popular dates are NON REFUNDABLE. As in "click and you will never see any of this money again" non-refundable. Very non-refundable. If I have to cancel, I lose all my money. At the same time, hotels can cancel for little or no cost. They do not lose money. I don't know what the right solution is, but I have a feeling this should be regulated at least a little bit (EU, take notice): I'd say totally non-refundable bookings should not exist. You should always be able to get at least some of your money back before the date the service starts. And if the other side cancels, they should pay a penalty, at least the same as the penalty I have to incur, possibly more to prevent schemes like the one described above.

r0fl 11mo ago
This is simply not true. Most hotels have refundable rates if you pay a bit more. Show me 3 hotels that have non refundable dates.
- LeFantome 11mo ago
  This is true in general. That said, in some cities at least, the difference in rate is more than a little material.
  - r0fl 11mo ago
    False. Show me 3 hotels that ONLY have non refundable rooms.
Zigurd 11mo ago
We had the beginnings of a solution: The [Edit]CFPB. Oh well. If it makes you feel better we're building the libertarian paradise.
- averysmallbird 11mo ago
  think you mean the FTC.
  - Zigurd 11mo ago
    I meant CFPB. Thank you for alerting me to the error.
  - danans 11mo ago
    It does make you wonder, given how much investment fraud targets regular people, whether there is considerable overlap between the target surface area of the FTC and what was the CFPB.
    - averysmallbird 11mo ago
      CFPB was created in part because of the failure of the FTC during the financial crisis. I’d suspect this specific issue would still be more under the remit of FTC, but no need for pedantry on the overall point. Sad to see enforcement agencies decimated — expect more of this.
- mothballed 11mo ago
  Ah yes, the libertarian paradise where the hotel industry curb-stomps competition through government sponsored regulatory capture by pretending to be "concerned long-term renters and locals" and lobbies for all sorts of licensing and regulation of airbnb and homeowner rentals. They don't want anyone stomping on their fiefdom and forcing them to offer competitive benefits like cancellation.
  - bigbadfeline 11mo ago
    You described the later-day libertarian paradise quite well. The core libertarian believes lead exactly there.
- SilverElfin 11mo ago
  CFTC is something else. But leaving that aside, Bookings is a European company and does lots of business outside of America. So it would take regulations across many countries to stop abuse.
j45 11mo ago
Since this is a story from Canada, it might be worth learning from the consumer protection laws from Canada and the U.S. in the context of the comments in this thread.
dec0dedab0de 11mo ago
You're not wrong, but if it was a common issue then hotels would start offering those things to differentiate themselves. I know a few currently do that as a way to get you into their loyalty program.
- soco 11mo ago
  As a rule, I always check the hotel's price directly on their site. Often there's quite a difference both in prices and in terms. And you can also call the hotel for some goodies. Sometimes, of course, but totally worth trying. Yes, I have no remorse short-circuiting Booking when they overdo it.
Freedom2 11mo ago
> All bookings in popular places or on popular dates are NON REFUNDABLE. I'll be sure to let the places I booked in popular places (Nice, Paris, London and just recently Times Square) that had refundable rooms they should be not offering those rooms. After I refund my booking for Times Square, that is.
wdr1 11mo ago
> All bookings in popular places or on popular dates are NON REFUNDABLE. As in "click and you will never see any of this money again" non-refundable. Very non-refundable. If I have to cancel, I lose all my money. The Atlantic recently wrote on how hotel policies have changed, with many no longer allowing free cancellations. Why Hotel-Room Cancellations Disappeared https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/11/hotel-room-cancellation-policy/684917/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/11/hotel-room-ca... TL;DR: Hotel aggregators (e.g. Booking.com, Expedia) adopted a "cancel-rebook" strategy, where the aggregators would monitor hotel prices & rebook if the price dropped.
- jwr 11mo ago
  I think the "cancel-rebook" explanation is a red herring. Yes, it might have been a factor, but that's easily fixed by having a cancellation fee. Reservations being totally non-refundable at any date or time are an entirely different matter and it's a power grab. Also, I tried booking directly with the hotel networks several times recently, in most cases non-refundable was all they offered, or the option of refundable was so much more expensive that it bordered on ridiculous.
nickpp 11mo ago
> this should be regulated at least a little bit Don’t you think hotels aren’t already regulated? Just try opening a new one in a popular place and let us know how open the market is. Repeat after me: regulations (no matter how good or well intended) favor the incumbents and hinder startups. Fewer startups means less competition. Less competition means fewer, crappier and more expensive products and services. Trying to use more regulation to fix a market f’ed up by regulation will only deepen this spiral of doom.

by jwr 11mo ago

r0fl 11mo ago

This is simply not true. Most hotels have refundable rates if you pay a bit more. Show me 3 hotels that have non refundable dates.

LeFantome 11mo ago
This is true in general. That said, in some cities at least, the difference in rate is more than a little material.
- r0fl 11mo ago
  False. Show me 3 hotels that ONLY have non refundable rooms.

Zigurd 11mo ago

We had the beginnings of a solution: The [Edit]CFPB. Oh well. If it makes you feel better we're building the libertarian paradise.

averysmallbird 11mo ago
think you mean the FTC.
- Zigurd 11mo ago
  I meant CFPB. Thank you for alerting me to the error.
- danans 11mo ago
  It does make you wonder, given how much investment fraud targets regular people, whether there is considerable overlap between the target surface area of the FTC and what was the CFPB.
  - averysmallbird 11mo ago
    CFPB was created in part because of the failure of the FTC during the financial crisis. I’d suspect this specific issue would still be more under the remit of FTC, but no need for pedantry on the overall point. Sad to see enforcement agencies decimated — expect more of this.
mothballed 11mo ago
Ah yes, the libertarian paradise where the hotel industry curb-stomps competition through government sponsored regulatory capture by pretending to be "concerned long-term renters and locals" and lobbies for all sorts of licensing and regulation of airbnb and homeowner rentals. They don't want anyone stomping on their fiefdom and forcing them to offer competitive benefits like cancellation.
- bigbadfeline 11mo ago
  You described the later-day libertarian paradise quite well. The core libertarian believes lead exactly there.
SilverElfin 11mo ago
CFTC is something else. But leaving that aside, Bookings is a European company and does lots of business outside of America. So it would take regulations across many countries to stop abuse.

j45 11mo ago

Since this is a story from Canada, it might be worth learning from the consumer protection laws from Canada and the U.S. in the context of the comments in this thread.

dec0dedab0de 11mo ago

You're not wrong, but if it was a common issue then hotels would start offering those things to differentiate themselves. I know a few currently do that as a way to get you into their loyalty program.

soco 11mo ago
As a rule, I always check the hotel's price directly on their site. Often there's quite a difference both in prices and in terms. And you can also call the hotel for some goodies. Sometimes, of course, but totally worth trying. Yes, I have no remorse short-circuiting Booking when they overdo it.

Freedom2 11mo ago

> All bookings in popular places or on popular dates are NON REFUNDABLE. I'll be sure to let the places I booked in popular places (Nice, Paris, London and just recently Times Square) that had refundable rooms they should be not offering those rooms. After I refund my booking for Times Square, that is.

wdr1 11mo ago

> All bookings in popular places or on popular dates are NON REFUNDABLE. As in "click and you will never see any of this money again" non-refundable. Very non-refundable. If I have to cancel, I lose all my money. The Atlantic recently wrote on how hotel policies have changed, with many no longer allowing free cancellations. Why Hotel-Room Cancellations Disappeared https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/11/hotel-room-cancellation-policy/684917/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/11/hotel-room-ca... TL;DR: Hotel aggregators (e.g. Booking.com, Expedia) adopted a "cancel-rebook" strategy, where the aggregators would monitor hotel prices & rebook if the price dropped.

jwr 11mo ago
I think the "cancel-rebook" explanation is a red herring. Yes, it might have been a factor, but that's easily fixed by having a cancellation fee. Reservations being totally non-refundable at any date or time are an entirely different matter and it's a power grab. Also, I tried booking directly with the hotel networks several times recently, in most cases non-refundable was all they offered, or the option of refundable was so much more expensive that it bordered on ridiculous.

nickpp 11mo ago

> this should be regulated at least a little bit Don’t you think hotels aren’t already regulated? Just try opening a new one in a popular place and let us know how open the market is. Repeat after me: regulations (no matter how good or well intended) favor the incumbents and hinder startups. Fewer startups means less competition. Less competition means fewer, crappier and more expensive products and services. Trying to use more regulation to fix a market f’ed up by regulation will only deepen this spiral of doom.