Can I receive a refund after booking the wrong hotel dates online?

Dear,

Last September 26, I made a reservation for a ski trip for my family to a Sheraton Vacation Club ownership at Steamboat Springs, Colo, for December – or so I thought. As soon as I saw the confirmation e -mail, I realized that I had booked for the same night, September 26th. I guess the dates are somewhat reset as I navigated to the site. I canceled the reservation just two minutes after the purchase and went for my business, rescuing water from my basement, as Hurricane Helene approached our home in Asheville, NC, area. Soon we lost power for days and in early October, when I returned to the internet, I found $ 560 on my credit card for canceled reservation. Twice I called the Customer Service Number mentioned in the email, but I could never get to anyone, so I questioned the bill through my credit card, but lost. I have almost abandoned. Can you help? Allison, Candler, NC

Dear Allison,

Federal rules require airlines to return any reservations that were canceled within 24 hours of booking. Is there a similar law for hotel rooms and holiday rentals?

No. But if he did, he wouldn’t help you anyway because of the nature of your error. The 24 -hour cancellation rule for the airline ticket only applies if you book for a flight seven or more days in the future. You closed a room for just hours before your (wrong) trip dates.

This was a very specific type of slip-and an easy to do in detention locations where the date of arrival of default to date instead of a week later or (very helpful) a blank field. For those who mistaken in other ways, such as taking the month wrong or confusing Monterey, California, Monterrey, Mexico, most properties offer cancellation without penalties up to two, seven or 30 days before check-in, the terms that are usually quite clear on the websites. I noticed that the booking email you received from the Sheraton Steamboat Resort Villas on Steamboat Springs on September 26, said you were free to cancel until September 23, which would be perfect if you had a time machine.

But should they be punished for such a mistake, especially one that you caught, as your documentation shows, literally two minutes?

It turns out that you will probably have received a refund if you had called instead of clicking on cancellation at the booking email, said Kate Sandossi, a spokesman for the Marriott Holiday Associations, who holds the Sheraton Vacation Club (and, by the way, is separated by the Hotel Conglomerate Marriott International). However, he said, your company has given you a refund.

“While there are some exceptions based on individual locations and special events, visitors can cancel a reservation without penalty within 24 hours of booking,” he wrote in an email. Suggested customers to “call that resort directly” if they are unable to resolve an issue by calling customer service.

Other major hosting players, including BWH hotels (owners of Best Western) and Expedia Group (whose trademarks include hotels.com and travelocity) said they followed similar, although unwritten policies.

Where did things go here except your original error? You thought, not unjustifiably, that by clicking on a cancellation button would automatically restore your money. But in these cases, travelers should never assume that the logic of human logic and corporate maintenance is the same. Even me, a Customer Service skeptic, you bet that if you had called immediately instead of clicking, you would have returned or at least you could change the dates to match the December plans.

When he finally called, about 11 days later, I think you still had a good shot at the error reversal, but here comes your biggest mistake: you don’t wait enough for a long time. According to the phone files she sent me, I waited 14 minutes the first time you called and then 20 minutes in the second and last year. It hurts to say that in 2025, this is not enough. You should have given them at least 45 minutes or even an hour, during which you could probably do jobs, take a walk or, a worse case scenario, be trapped in past columns.

Or you could try again at a different time. When we tried the same number twice at different times of the day, I got once immediately, and once after six minutes on waiting. You could also call the resort immediately, as Ms Sandossi suggested after the event. This number, which appears on the page where you reserved, also took me to someone quickly.

Instead, you went to the credit card return route. Regular readers know how I feel about it, and here because: I read at least twelve emails a month from the inbox inbox this end with some variant of “Even if I was a loyal card holder since 2003, the bank fell with the company! I should know [insert well-known financial institution] and [insert major travel industry player] He was in Cahoots! ”

But the real reason is that the research powers of credit card publishers are limited. Reversing inverter work best for very specific and simple conditions, such as unauthorized transactions, shelters for non -preparation of goods and services (especially useful when a company goes bankrupt) and double charges. Anything more complicated is a distant shooting unless a company does not violate its terms and conditions (and report this clause) or you are lucky and the company does not respond to the card issuer. Don’t think you’ve won when you first get a refund. This is part of the standard process and are very often short -lived.

Let’s end with some good news, at least for readers in Brazil. Unlike the United States and the European Union, domestic travelers in Brazil have a week of booking online to cancel without penalty. The application not only for hotels but for Airbnbs and most other goods and services purchased online.