Hotel Reservation Policies

A lot of early bookings give a discounted rate but come with a no-cancellation policy. If that was what you reserved under, you are committed. The no-cancellation is pretty ironclad.

If it was a standard reservation, then you should easily be able to cancel and can get your credit card company to assist.

Check the policy terms to determine which one you fall under. If it's the former, either stay there or chalk it up to lesson learned.

In my experience there is no practical difference between "booking" and "reserving".

A lesson to always check cancellation policies before submitting credit card details. Reservations are a two-way street. The hotel agrees to hold a room and you agree to show up. From time to time there are always people posting about not being able to cancel without penalty. I always wonder how they would feel if they arrived at the hotel to check-in and the hotel had given away the room to someone else.

I am still confused. How do you book by accident? If you reserve a room and they ask for a credit card, isn't that the same as booking a room? Has you credit card been charged? If not, one approach would be to cancel the card and walk away. What is the hotel's web site.

If not, one approach would be to cancel the card and walk away.

That doesn't work. You are still responsible for any charges on the card prior to cancelling it. Pre-booked, discount reservations with a no-cancellation policy are generally charged at time of booking.

The OP might have been confused when reserving because entering a credit card is standard for placing a "hold" on the room. That may have been what they thought they were doing. But it seems maybe they later realized it was an actual, pre-paid booking (and likely with a no-cancellation policy).

Michele, was this the place you reserved near Lucca that you were trying to replace with a one with a lower price in a previous post?

You are still responsible for any charges on the card prior to
cancelling it.

Of course you are. No one said anything different.

Doug, it would have been nice if you had read my entire posting prior to criticizing it. I said, "Has you credit card been charged? If not, one approach would be to cancel the card and walk away." That is still a valid recommendation.

If their card wasn't charged, then it's easy to cancel the reservation or get your credit card to go to bat for you if the hotel didn't honor your cancelation and charged you later anyway. The OP hasn't come back to explain, but what seems to have happened is they thought they were just "reserving" the room with the credit card as a hold. But later found out it was fully booked with an early discount and their card was charged the entire rate.

No offense, but it seems pretty poor advice to tell someone to cancel a credit card (with all its auto-payments) just because a reservation wasn't charged to the card but might be later. The OP was just checking to see how to better communicate their intention of canceling (if it is even possible).

You're still liable for a charge to a card even if you cancel it after the charge was incurred.

Ed is correct. You are still liable for the charge even if it is not processed until after the card was canceled. You agreed to the terms before the card was canceled.

I know you feel like a sucker if you don't book the cheapest rate offered, but the small savings is not necessarily a good trade for non-refundability. I had the experience earlier this year of booking too hastily for a cheap rate through hotels.com. No advance payment or deposit was charged to my card, but the booking did say "nonrefundable." Calling the hotel to cancel didn't work. Later, a no-show fee equal to one night's payment was charged, which was fair.

Laura, altho I am sorry it happened to you, it's good to know that happens to experienced folks in the travel industry as well.