Hotel and private residence rental reservations: cancellation: refunds.

Existing law requires 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. Existing law requires the hotel, third-party booking service, hosting platform, or short-term rental, if a consumer cancels a reservation pursuant to that provision, 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. Existing law authorizes the Attorney General and certain other public attorneys, to bring an action to enforce these provisions and requires a court to impose a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation. This bill would expand these provisions, beginning on July 1, 2026, to also apply to a reservation made in California for a hotel accommodation or short-term rental that is advertised in California.