Hotel cancellation policy - calculating the 5 days

[catlover41]

Hi - Today, 10/7, I tried to cancel a reservation starting 10/12, thinking that I was in the 5-day window. When I made the reservation, I am almost positive it stated that I could cancel "by October 7", though my confirmation does not have a specific date in it. But when I tried to cancel online, it told me I would forfeit my deposit. I then contacted guest services agent who confirmed that I missed the 5 days deadline because I'm now within the 5 days. This makes no sense to me and in fact is not consistent with the fact that I pretended to book a reservation for 10/13/21 just now and was told I could cancel "by October 8" (the same number of days as between October 12 and 7).

Am I losing my mind here? If they're calculating it in an odd way, they need to be VERY clear about the specific date.

 

[Marthasor]

You aren’t losing your mind. Based on the wording in the cancellation policy, you should have been able to cancel without penalty on 10/7. So you don’t lose your deposi, I would recommend modifying the reservation to a future date.