SB 644: Hotel and private residence rental reservations: cancellation: refunds.

The Unfair Competition Law (UCL) makes various unfair competition practices unlawful, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice.

Existing law regulates consumer refunds specific to certain industries under specified circumstances.

This bill would require a hotel, third-party booking service, hosting platform, or short-term rental, as defined, to allow a reservation for a hotel accommodation or a short-term rental located in California to be canceled without penalty for at least 24 hours after the reservation is confirmed if the reservation is made 72 hours or more before the time of check-in. This bill would require, if a consumer cancels a reservation pursuant to that provision, the hotel, third-party booking service, hosting platform, or short-term rental to issue a refund to a consumer for all amounts paid to the hosting platform, hotel, third-party booking service, or short-term rental to the original form of payment within 30 days of the cancellation of the reservation.

This bill would authorize certain public attorneys, including the Attorney General, to bring an enforcement action, as provided. The bill would require a court to impose a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation pursuant to consideration of specified factors. The bill would exempt certain types of reservations from its provisions, including a reservation made for a negotiated rate that was not advertised, or otherwise made available, for booking by the general public.