I was planning to visit Oktoberfest, but about 10 days before the trip, my father was admitted to the ICU. I contacted the hotel to request a cancellation, but they denied it as the request was made past the cancellation deadline. Unable to attend, I had to change the guest name for the stay.
However, two days before the check-in date, the hotel sent a message demanding immediate payment, stating that if payment wasn't made, they would cancel the reservation. At that point, we had no choice but to pay, as the airfare had already been purchased.
There are two issues with how this was handled. First, when I originally booked the hotel, the agreement was that payment would be made on-site. Second, it seems unfair that while the guest is unable to cancel past a certain deadline, the hotel can still cancel at any time. The way the hotel responded to this situation was far from graceful.