Jay when I guarantee a reservation I have to give a cc number and if I do not cancel I get charged at least one day. I know of no hotel to have a different policy.
So how are guests let off the hook if they do not show on a guaranteed reservation?
Why are hoteliers overbooking when they have a guarantee and are getting paid regardless if the person shows up? That sounds a little like fraud to me.
(Great - I had an enormously long and complex answer to your questions composed. Then I made the mistake of using this site's "spell check". It said it had to download an "add-on" to make it work, and -- poof -- my response was deleted. GOD, I hate crappy software!)
Most hotels charge for no-shows; many even encourage them. These hotels bolster their bottom line in this way. By over-booking by 20% (or more), and counting on the unreliability of the general public, they can make a pretty penny. And yes, they are entitled to this money, even if the rooms are eventually re-rented to someone else.
I have no trouble with charging for no-shows -- a guaranteed reservation works both ways -- but actually hoping for, even encouraging no-shows by over-booking and allowing cancellations as late as 6 PM (fully 3 hours AFTER check-in time!) is unconscionable, in my opinion.
Back to your question. In an increasingly competitive (in some areas, desperate) market, some hotels do NOT charge for no-shows, if pressed. This practice, done through the fear of losing future sales, simply encourages future no-shows throughout the industry by rewarding bad behavior, renders the concept of a "guaranteed" reservation meaningless, and makes it difficult for those of us who believe that a guaranteed reservation is a contract to NOT overbook, in self-defense. In short, if hotels are unable to charge for no-shows, the only alternative is over-booking.
The bottom line question is this: Would you rather see no-shows charged, or would your rather be the poor guy who -- after being unexpectedly stuck in traffic for five hours -- shows up late and gets "walked"? As a guest AND as a hotelier, I'd rather see the ne'er-do-well no-shows get stuck, wouldn't you?
This is a mess in the making that could be easily fixed by the hotels making -- and honoring -- guaranteed reservations, and not over-booking. We follow this simple procedure, everyone understands it, and we don't deviate. It's a simple process that some parts of the lodging industry have botched, at least partially in response to the fear of bogus on-line faux "reviews" from angry no-shows...