>I think that the reason that they were so willing to accomodate me was because they were anxious to stay on good terms with the credit card company. I told the woman from La Quinta that there was no need to debit my card 10 months in advance. They have a one week cancellation policy. Since they already have my credit card number, they can debit it if I don't show up or cancel with the specified one week. This really is a no-brainer.

From what has been mentioned in this thread and from what I discussed with someone on the phone this morning, there seems to be more and more hotels adopting this policy.