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Get paid for non-refundable hotel reservations you can’t use

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Theo Thimou |
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Ever lost money on a non-refundable hotel reservation? Now there’s a way you may be able to get some of your money back!

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These sites will help you recoup your losses

Picture this: You book a non-refundable hotel room and then you get sick, or your plans change or something else comes up that prevents you from using your reservation.

In the past, you would lose the money you paid for that room. (Priceline and Hotwire do sell you a cheap insurance policy for about $5 a night to deal with accident and illness.)

But losing all your money may no longer be the problem it once was. That’s because there’s a secondary marketplace for the resale of non-refundable hotel rooms. RoomerTravel and Cancelon are two of the big players in this field.

For a buyer, these services are completely FREE to use. You get to buy an existing reservation that somebody else can’t use at a discount of up to 45% off.

If you’re a seller, RoomerTravel charges a 15% fee, while Cancelon charges 10%. Both services will interface with the hotel to ensure that the name on the reservation and the credit card info get changed. (In addition, most payment transfer options like PayPal will result in another small fee to the seller.)

Unlike booking on a mystery site such as Priceline, you know exactly where you’re staying upfront with sites like RoomerTravel and Cancelon.

Meanwhile, sites like Tingo and tripBAM offer another option to save money on a hotel room. Both sites will book a hotel room for you and then continually re-shop your rate. If a better deal pops up on your same room, they’ll automatically re-book you at the new lower rate and refund the difference to your credit card.

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