Hotels will be allowed to set non-refundable rates for bookings

In this case, hotel accommodation will be cheaper

The Russian Ministry of Economic Development plans to provide hotels with the opportunity to set refundable and non-refundable rates for their services, and for consumers to choose between them. The ministry has developed law Projectthe adoption of which should increase the availability of hotel stays due to the possibility of booking at lower prices.

It is assumed that potential guests will be able to choose under what conditions they will be accommodated. By paying a little more, they will have the opportunity to cancel the reservation at any time and receive the full amount paid to the hotel (this is the so-called refundable rate). But it will be possible to save money and conclude an agreement at a non-refundable rate — in this case, if you refuse to check-in, the hotel will retain part of the money paid for the reservation. An exception is the documented illness of the guest or the death of his relative. In this case, the money will have to be returned, even if the room was booked at a non-refundable rate.

Modern legislation provides only a mechanism for charging for actual downtime of the number. At the same time, the authors of the document note, it is possible to compensate only the hotel’s costs for the first day of stay: if you are late by more than a day, the contract for the provision of hotel services is automatically terminated. But this is only if the consumer has not submitted an application to refuse check-in to the hotel in advance. And since the law does not provide for the concept of a “reasonable notice period,” the consumer can notify the hotel about the refusal of services up to the time of arrival and withdraw the money. In this case, you get the same simple number for at least a day.

With the introduction of differentiated tariffs, hotels, on the one hand, will be able to protect themselves from such losses, and on the other, provide consumers with a choice.