Measured, September 25 to October 3, 2026
Is free cancellation worth paying for?
We priced 6,239 hotels in 358 cities on every booking site Google Hotels lists, in 15 snapshots (September 25 to October 3, 2026), each for a two-night stay 35 days out. Free cancellation usually costs a little more. Quite often, it costs nothing extra if you look on another site.
Check your hotel. See every site's price for your dates and the lowest one that comes with free cancellation.
The same stay, with and without free cancellation
At 4,270 of the 6,239 hotels, some sites listed the stay with free cancellation and others without. The cheapest free-cancellation listing cost a median 9% more than the cheapest non-refundable one; a quarter of hotels were at 0.4% or less and a quarter at 21.3% or more. At 1,647 of those hotels the extra was 5% or less, and at 1,190 hotels overall the cheapest listing of all already had free cancellation.
The bigger surprise is how often the site you are already on is the expensive way to get flexibility. On 2,040 of 6,239 hotels, one of the big booking sites showed its lowest rate without free cancellation while another site listed the stay with free cancellation for the same price or less (within 2%):
Prices for a traveler in the US only: the two October 1 snapshots recorded which country each answer was priced for. Of their 834 hotels, 530 were priced for a visitor in the US, 279 for a visitor in another country and 25 named no country. At 141 of the 530 (27%), one of the big booking sites showed its lowest rate without free cancellation while another site listed free cancellation for the same price or less (within 2%); on Booking.com, 97 of 485 (20%). On the same two snapshots the figure for all answers was 217 of 834 (26%), so the October 1 snapshots were lower than the 15-snapshot average, and prices for visitors elsewhere were not what made the difference. The earlier snapshots did not record the country, so they cannot be split this way.
| If you are on | hotels listed | free cancellation elsewhere, same price or less |
|---|---|---|
| Agoda | 3,679 | 988 (27%) |
| Booking.com | 5,630 | 1,495 (27%) |
| Expedia | 5,076 | 1,133 (22%) |
| Hotels.com | 4,906 | 1,072 (22%) |
"Same price or less" counts another site's free-cancellation listing at up to 2% above your site's lowest rate. 1,755 of the 4,688 were at about the same price, the rest were cheaper as well.
When free cancellation is worth it
- When it costs little or nothing extra. Check the other sites before you pay for flexibility on the one you are on.
- When prices might drop. A cancellable booking lets you rebook if the price falls before your stay. See what to do when the price drops after you book, and how far a price has to fall before the rebook beats the non-refundable rate.
- When you are not sure about the room. A cheaper listing often does not say which room it is. With free cancellation you can book it, read the room on the confirmation, and cancel before the deadline if it is wrong. More on same room, different price.
- When your plans are fixed and the premium is large, a non-refundable rate can be the better deal.
Read the terms, not just the label
"Free cancellation" here is the label Google Hotels shows for a site's listed rate. It usually means free until a deadline, often a day or several days before arrival, and some rates are pay-now with a refund while others are pay-at-the-hotel. "Non-refundable" on this page means a listing without that label: most are, but some may still allow a partial refund or show their terms only on the site. Before you book, read the deadline and terms on the site itself.
Method: 15 snapshots taken September 25 to October 3, 2026, each of the first 20 hotel-type properties Google Hotels returns in each city; a city priced again in a weekly snapshot keeps the hotels of its previous snapshot (358 cities in all), a two-night stay 35 days out (stays between 2026-10-30 and 2026-11-09), 2 adults, searched as a traveler in the US, in USD (in the two snapshots that recorded it, about a third of answers came back priced for a visitor in another country; see the caveat), all-in prices where sites publish them. A hotel priced in two snapshots counts twice (257 did). Part of the hotel price dispersion study; per-hotel data: the CSVs on that page (CC BY 4.0).
Questions
How much more does free cancellation cost on a hotel?
In our 15 snapshots of 6,239 hotels (September 25 to October 3, 2026), at the 4,270 hotels that had both kinds of listing, the cheapest listing with free cancellation cost a median 9% more than the cheapest non-refundable one. At 1,647 of them (39%) the difference was 5% or less.
Can I get free cancellation for the same price on another site?
Often. At 2,040 of 6,239 hotels (33%), the lowest listed rate on at least one of Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com or Agoda had no free cancellation while another site listed free cancellation for the same price or less (within 2%).
Is free cancellation worth it?
When it costs little or nothing extra, usually yes: you keep the option to rebook if the price drops, to change plans, or to cancel if the room on the confirmation is not the one you wanted. When the premium is large and your dates are fixed, a non-refundable rate can be the better deal. Always read the cancellation deadline.
Flexibility, without paying extra for it.
Underbook checks the other booking sites while you look at a hotel, and tells you when another site offers free cancellation for the same price or less. Free, and you book where you choose.
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