Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania

The hotel was entitled to charge a cancellation fee. You can write to the manager of the particular hotel and see what he or she says. You can also try disputing this with your credit card company.

Can you work a deal perhaps? Will you be traveling to that area in the future? Will they give you a discount for future room use? See what can be worked out. If something came up like a family illness, then use this excuse and see if they will remit some of the charges.

Cancellation fees are nothing new. All hotels/motels have them. You have to call and cancel so that the hotel knows it can re-rent your room. How else would they know? The problem is not so much of an issue when there is nothing going on in town, but when a conventiion is in town and you book a room, the hotel takes it off the market. If youi do not call to cancel, the hotel cannot rent the room to someone else and they are out the rental fee. The cancellation charges compensate for loss of room rental to you.