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Athens Hotel charging 7 days before check-in

Posted by (Vancouver, BC) on

Hi everyone!

A girlfriend and I are going on vacation in the fall (in October). It will be our first trip overseas. We will spend two weeks in Turkey and then another two weeks in Greece. We've booked all the flights and hotels. The hotel in Athens is perfect - great location, reviews, etc. But there is one thing that gives me pause - it is free cancellation until 7 days prior to check-in. Once we are 7 days away from check-in, they charge our cards for the full amount of the reservation (NOT the first 24 hours, but the whole amount). How common is this? Any thoughts about whether it's a bad thing? Of course, it's not very likely for something to happen within 7 days, but still . . . (our trip cancellation insurance does not cover this - because we didn't pay for the hotel at the time of the reservation, we didn't think it necessary to include the reservation value in our insurance).

We would be grateful for your thoughts.

Posted by
3254 posts

It is not “common “ but I have seen that in popular tourist destinations. They find it prudent to protect themselves from speculative booking and people who double book ( booking 2 alternative plz es snd deciding between them later).

People who book tours like Rick Steves Tours have to deal with—- the whole thing becomes non-refundable well ahead of the date.

You can amend your trip insurance to add the additional non-refundable amount. We have done that.

Posted by
1280 posts

This is quite usual. You don’t say where you made the booking, but if using a platform like booking.com there are usually various rates depending on the cancellation conditions. You pay more to be able to cancel the day before with no penalty.

Posted by
5 posts

Thank you for your replies!

Yes, the hotel reservation was made through booking.com, and yes, we chose the lower rate :)

Posted by
7557 posts

Yes, the hotel reservation was made through booking.com, and yes, we chose the lower rate :)

That's why, then. I choose to do that when the cost difference is considerable. I just pre-paid for a 9 night stay next year in London because of the savings. However, my credit card I used has travel insurance for hotel stays, so I would be covered if something happened.

Sometimes there are several offers:

  • Lowest price: Prepay now and it is non-refundable
  • Next lowest: Prepay now but reserve the right to cancel beforehand up to a certain point (anywhere from 7 to 30 days usually)
  • Most expensive: Booking is completely refundable and you don't pay until you arrive. This will be the most expensive.
Posted by
429 posts

I booked directly with a hotel in Falmouth, England (in Cornwall, which is popular with tourists) for 5 nights in May 2024. A week before my reservation, I was charged on my credit card for the full stay. This was fine, because I had no plans to cancel the reservation. It's likely that I would have known about the advance charge if I'd carefully read the hotel's website. My point is that this can happen when a reservation is made directly with a hotel.... it's not only pertinent to reservations made via hotels.com

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