topic Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX in Credit Cards

Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

shane82388 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:23:46 GMT

So i booked a room at the Hilton in Anaheim from the 26th to the 30th of december through hilton.com and then saw AMEX was having a 30% off deal and i could get it for quite a bit cheaper so i called to see if i could cancel that reservation and rebook it through AMEX.

The lady i was transferred to said "Sure no problem, lemme cancel it for you, blah blah." Couple minutes later, its all done and i recieved a cancellation confirmation email and everything. Also, on my hilton.com account there is no record of the booking either, only the stay booked through AMEX. I then booked through AMEX for $368 instead of the original $527 which was a pretty great savings and i was super happy.

I then get home and all is well, and just yesterday i get a charge from Hilton on my AMEX card for $522? I called and some lady told me the room was non-refundable and theres nothing she can can do. WHAT?!?!??!!

As as side note, the original hotel reservation was for a differnt price than what is charged on my card to boot!

Charged = $522 / Reservation = $527 How does that work?

So ive kept calling and getting transferred around and all i get is answering machines or the same people...Ive left messages but no responses. The lady I talked to in billing dept. was just locked in to the "You booked it, you gotta pay it. Its non refundable. I dont know what I can do for you, i have no way of doing anything."

My argument was, "Why on earth would I make a second booking if I wasnt ASSURED (with an email confirmation also) that the first booking was cancelled, no problem?!?! Why didnt the lady i originally spoke with, who cancelled the reservation for me, mention that it wasnt cancellable or just refuse to cancel it if its so IRON-CLAD NON-CANCELLABLE?"

Anyway, I started a dispute on the transaction on AMEX.com because I cant get any help from Hilton and I was wondering if anyone else had any experience with soemthing like this and if you had any tips on how to go about doing the dispute and how it all works through AMEX?

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

LS2982 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:28:02 GMT

@shane82388 wrote:
So i booked a room at the Hilton in Anaheim from the 26th to the 30th of december through hilton.com and then saw AMEX was having a 30% off deal and i could get it for quite a bit cheaper so i called to see if i could cancel that reservation and rebook it through AMEX.

The lady i was transferred to said "Sure no problem, lemme cancel it for you, blah blah." Couple minutes later, its all done and i recieved a cancellation confirmation email and everything. Also, on my hilton.com account there is no record of the booking either, only the stay booked through AMEX. I then booked through AMEX for $368 instead of the original $527 which was a pretty great savings and i was super happy.

I then get home and all is well, and just yesterday i get a charge from Hilton on my AMEX card for $522? I called and some lady told me the room was non-refundable and theres nothing she can can do. WHAT?!?!??!!

As as side note, the original hotel reservation was for a differnt price than what is charged on my card to boot!
Charged = $522 / Reservation = $527 How does that work?

So ive kept calling and getting transferred around and all i get is answering machines or the same people...Ive left messages but no responses. The lady I talked to in billing dept. was just locked in to the "You booked it, you gotta pay it. Its non refundable. I dont know what I can do for you, i have no way of doing anything."

My argument was, "Why on earth would I make a second booking if I wasnt ASSURED (with an email confirmation also) that the first booking was cancelled, no problem?!?! Why didnt the lady i originally spoke with, who cancelled the reservation for me, mention that it wasnt cancellable or just refuse to cancel it if its so IRON-CLAD NON-CANCELLABLE?"

Anyway, I started a dispute on the transaction on AMEX.com because I cant get any help from Hilton and I was wondering if anyone else had any experience with soemthing like this and if you had any tips on how to go about doing the dispute and how it all works through AMEX?

I think your going the right route disputing it with AMEX. It also won't hurt going to in person to the hotel with your confirmation paperwork.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

pizzadude — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:28:19 GMT

Call AMEX. They will make it right for you.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

shane82388 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:29:58 GMT

@LS2982 wrote:
@shane82388 wrote:
So i booked a room at the Hilton in Anaheim from the 26th to the 30th of december through hilton.com and then saw AMEX was having a 30% off deal and i could get it for quite a bit cheaper so i called to see if i could cancel that reservation and rebook it through AMEX.

The lady i was transferred to said "Sure no problem, lemme cancel it for you, blah blah." Couple minutes later, its all done and i recieved a cancellation confirmation email and everything. Also, on my hilton.com account there is no record of the booking either, only the stay booked through AMEX. I then booked through AMEX for $368 instead of the original $527 which was a pretty great savings and i was super happy.

I then get home and all is well, and just yesterday i get a charge from Hilton on my AMEX card for $522? I called and some lady told me the room was non-refundable and theres nothing she can can do. WHAT?!?!??!!

As as side note, the original hotel reservation was for a differnt price than what is charged on my card to boot!
Charged = $522 / Reservation = $527 How does that work?

So ive kept calling and getting transferred around and all i get is answering machines or the same people...Ive left messages but no responses. The lady I talked to in billing dept. was just locked in to the "You booked it, you gotta pay it. Its non refundable. I dont know what I can do for you, i have no way of doing anything."

My argument was, "Why on earth would I make a second booking if I wasnt ASSURED (with an email confirmation also) that the first booking was cancelled, no problem?!?! Why didnt the lady i originally spoke with, who cancelled the reservation for me, mention that it wasnt cancellable or just refuse to cancel it if its so IRON-CLAD NON-CANCELLABLE?"

Anyway, I started a dispute on the transaction on AMEX.com because I cant get any help from Hilton and I was wondering if anyone else had any experience with soemthing like this and if you had any tips on how to go about doing the dispute and how it all works through AMEX?
I think your going the right route disputing it with AMEX. It also won't hurt going to in person to the hotel with your confirmation paperwork.

Wish i could but its about 8 hour drive away lol. Im in San Francisco area...its in Anaheim in southern california next to Disneyland (where we were on vacation).

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:33:50 GMT

That sucks and I really feel your pain. Despite the fact that you were able to easily cancel the original reservation, the cancellation policy could have stated that the reservation was non-refundable. Did you review the cancellation policy prior to booking or cancelling the reservation? Please let us know how this turns out. I'm interested in seeing how AmEx handles this situation. Good luck to you.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

IOBA — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:36:05 GMT

I had a slightly different experience. A hotel was booked for xx dates. Had my Marriott confirmation email, etc. The reservation was made online.

Travel dates changed. Went online and clicked on the reservation. I had two choices - change or cancel. I clicked on "change" and put in the new dates, got a new conformation number, new email.

The old reservation was completely gone becuase I had "changed" it.

The first date rolls around and I was charged for the hotel stay! The Marriott said, well you didn't CANCEL the reservation, therefor you have to pay. Um, you are right - I didn't cancel it - I changed it. Marriott Corp said deal with local hotel since they put the charge through. Local hotel said tough pooties. I finally told the Office Manager and the District Manager to either make it right or I would do a charge back. I filed an official complaint with Corp.

I received a voicemail message stating that they would refund the money.

Days go by. Weeks go by. A month goes by. No credit. I called several times to follow up with the powers to be at the hotel. Left voicemails. Nada. I showed up for my new reservation, tried to talk to the GM, Office Manager, and Accounting person. Nope. I left a message with the front desk people and said I was doing a charge back. I had waited more than a month for my refund. Nada.

I called Amex, explained to them what happened, and they did a "dispute" which amounted to a charge back. Amex was GREAT about the whole thing!

The charge back hit the hotel bank account while I was there. FINALLY got a call! The hotel was going to dispute my charge back. I told her not to bother. I then called Corp and filed another complaint.

Amex has pretty much come through for me every time. And if you told them what you told us - you had a cancellation number and a confirmation email, they will give you the money back. It will be up to the hotel to prove that they notified you that it was non refundable. They didnt' - and you have the email to back it up.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

IOBA — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:38:01 GMT

I must be typing slowly! There were no responses when I started my reply! I post and a bunch of people got in before me.

I was going to add - this happened to me in CA. Since I had to fly to CA and used my Amex card almost daily, they knew darn well that I was NOT anywhere close to CA at the time the charge was put through on the card. I also forgot to mention that the hotel never responded to Amex's request for infomation. Amex will take care of you.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

steve23111 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:38:33 GMT

@pizzadude wrote:

Call AMEX. They will make it right for you.

I agree. A straightforward dispute that should require little more than a printed copy of the cancellation confirmation. Problem solved.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

Watchmann — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:42:31 GMT

If it was indeed a non-refundable booking (are you sure it wasn't?) then you may be stuck. It is not up to AMEX to fix it as the charge is legit from the hotel under the terms of your original reservatlion (do you have a copy of it? If so, what does it say about cancellation charges?). Just because you cancelled it does not mean you got out from under the non-cancellation clause. The hotel might be persuaded to waive it but the reason they have those fees on a room during high season is to prevent loss of revenue if people just decide not to come and the hotel is left high and dry with an empty room. I'd be working with the hotel and not AMEX.....

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

shane82388 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:42:34 GMT

@IOBA wrote:
I must be typing slowly! There were no responses when I started my reply! I post and a bunch of people got in before me.

I was going to add - this happened to me in CA. Since I had to fly to CA and used my Amex card almost daily, they knew darn well that I was NOT anywhere close to CA at the time the charge was put through on the card. I also forgot to mention that the hotel never responded to Amex's request for infomation. Amex will take care of you.

That all makes me feel a lot better....im still slightly sweating bullets but we shall see tomorrow when i call AMEX.

Cancellable or non-cancellable, there should be no way to cancel it if its really NON-CANCELLABLE. Thats really the bottom line. I have proof stating it was cancelled so its really on them i would think, for going against their OWN POLICY and cancelling a non-cancellable reservation.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

shane82388 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:45:58 GMT

@Watchmann wrote:
If it was indeed a non-refundable booking (are you sure it wasn't?) then you may be stuck. It is not up to AMEX to fix it as the charge is legit from the hotel under the terms of your original reservatlion (do you have a copy of it? If so, what does it say about cancellation charges?). Just because you cancelled it does not mean you got out from under the non-cancellation clause. The hotel might be persuaded to waive it but the reason they have those fees on a room during high season is to prevent loss of revenue if people just decide not to come and the hotel is left high and dry with an empty room. I'd be working with the hotel and not AMEX.....

Ive been on the phone with them last night and all day today. No one knows anything and the "billing dept" just says that arent authorized to do much of anything at all really.

The thing is, I did end up staying at the hotel, for the same dates, same everything, just at a lower rate. So thats kind of a moot point i would think because its not like i just wanted to get out of the reservation completely and leave them high and dry, when they could of booked someone else in that room but i bailed or something.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

steve23111 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:56:21 GMT

The way I see it, you authorized the initial charge from the first reservation. AMEX does not need to concern itself with whether the booking is refundable or not. That's between you and the merchant. The merchant decided, for whatever reason, to make an exception for you and they refunded the charges. You then authorized the charges for a new booking in the lower dollar amount. However, you did not authorize the re-billing of the original dollar amount.

The merchant put in writing (via the e-mail notification) that the first reservation was cancelled. They cannot turn around and re-bill you for that amount just for the heck of it. It is an unauthorized charge, and you are not obligated to pay it.

Spell it out like that when you file your dispute and I'm sure you'll be fine.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

shane82388 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:11:12 GMT

@steve23111 wrote:
The way I see it, you authorized the initial charge from the first reservation. AMEX does not need to concern itself with whether the booking is refundable or not. That's between you and the merchant. The merchant decided, for whatever reason, to make an exception for you and they refunded the charges. You then authorized the charges for a new booking in the lower dollar amount. However, you did not authorize the re-billing of the original dollar amount.

The merchant put in writing (via the e-mail notification) that the first reservation was cancelled. They cannot turn around and re-bill you for that amount just for the heck of it. It is an unauthorized charge, and you are not obligated to pay it.

Spell it out like that when you file your dispute and I'm sure you'll be fine.

Yeah i agree.

Actually, they never even did an pre-authorization on my AMEX...i check for those kind of things for some reason lol.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

GB44 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:13:43 GMT

Amex will take care of the issue and it will be hassle free.

You could also call the hotel and ask to speak to the manager on duty who should be able to resolve the issue. If Hilton sent you a cancellation email, then that would be their agreement to cancel the reservation and there should be no charge. Make sure you save the cancellation email just incase you need to forward it to AMEX or Hilton.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

shane82388 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:15:16 GMT

Got it as a .PDF on my desktop. Trying to upload it to amex dispute but the uploader isnt cooperating....will try again later.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

Walt_K — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:18:26 GMT

This whole thing sounds odd, and I have to disagree with those that say the issue of whether it was a refundable reservation is not important. That is the real issue. You can cancel any hotel reservation, and having a cancelation confirmation does not address what the penalties for cancelation are, which would be addressed based on the hotel's cancelation policy and the type of reservation.

At first I was thinking OP might have paid for a prepaid reservation, but then OP would have already had the charge at the time of booking, instead of seeing the charge appear after the trip. When was the change made? Perhaps you made the change too close to the time of reservation, such that you still get charged. If you explained to the agent what you were doing, then the agent should have explained any fees involved. And for that reason, I think you should really continue to take this up with the hotel. Which isn't to say Amex might not take your side, so I would explore that. But if it was a non-refundable room, or even a refundable room where you called too close to the reservation to make your change such that penalties were involved, I don't see how Amex can rewrite the hotel's cancelation policy and give you a refund. They might, but it really seems more like an issue with the hotel.

I'd be interested in how far out the reservation was when you made the change. Most hotel bookings are 24 hours, but I've booked rooms where you have to give 72 hours or a week's notice.

Again, I think the agent should have mentioned this to you, and I think the hotel should fix it. I'd be surprised if they didn't if you talked to the right person. You stayed at the hotel. There's a point to be made on their side of it that when you book a room that has a cancelation policy, especially if it's a discounted rate, you're getting a discount in exchange for locking in a certain price. You can't get out of that because the price lowers. Alternatively, if the issue was that it was refundable, but with a 72 hour cancellation, and you made the change inside of 72 hours, they might argue that they were reducing rates to sell rooms that they wouldn't otherwise sell. That's one of the reasons they have those policies. In addition to their being a price for holding the room for you, they also need to be able to try to unload inventory without giving discounts to everyone who already has a room. But it sounds like you made an honest mistake and weren't trying to game the system. I think the hotel would work with you. It's really stupid not to. It doesn't take too many times of you staying elsewhere before they start losing money because they wante to stick it to you this time around.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

steve23111 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:31:17 GMT

@Walt_K wrote:

This whole thing sounds odd, and I have to disagree with those that say the issue of whether it was a refundable reservation is not important. That is the real issue. You can cancel any hotel reservation, and having a cancelation confirmation does not address what the penalties for cancelation are, which would be addressed based on the hotel's cancelation policy and the type of reservation.

At first I was thinking OP might have paid for a prepaid reservation, but then OP would have already had the charge at the time of booking, instead of seeing the charge appear after the trip. When was the change made? Perhaps you made the change too close to the time of reservation, such that you still get charged. If you explained to the agent what you were doing, then the agent should have explained any fees involved. And for that reason, I think you should really continue to take this up with the hotel. Which isn't to say Amex might not take your side, so I would explore that. But if it was a non-refundable room, or even a refundable room where you called too close to the reservation to make your change such that penalties were involved, I don't see how Amex can rewrite the hotel's cancelation policy and give you a refund. They might, but it really seems more like an issue with the hotel.

I understand what you're saying, but consider this: we wouldn't be having this discussion if the hotel had not issued a refund and then gone back and charged the card again without authorization to do so. If the hotel sends an e-mail confirming that they are canceling the reservation and a refund for such cancellation appears on the customer's credit card statement, then that should be the end of it.

I work in retail, in the business of selling wireless phones. Our return policy allows for the return of an item, subject to various stipulations, within 14 days of the date of purchase. Let's say a customer comes in on day 15 and pleads a case for a refund. I decide to bend the rules, take back the merchandise, and refund his card. That afternoon, the boss notices and determines the refund was against the rules. Okay, too bad. We can't run the customer's card back through the system and bill them for the cost of the phone again. I can pretty much guarantee you, even if we somehow managed to get the merchandise back into the customer's hands, American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, any credit card company would side with the customer in that the subsequent re-billing for the merchandise would be an unauthorized charge.

The fact that we're dealing in a purchase of an intangible product in no way changes this.

The hotel agreed to refund the customer, and did so.

They can refuse to book the trip at the lower rate. They can refuse to do any further business with the customer. They can take internal measures to ensure their employees enforce established cancellation policies. That's all fine and dandy. They cannot, however, go all willy nilly submitting unauthorized charges onto customers' credit cards to undo their mistakes.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

Walt_K — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:39:05 GMT

@steve23111 wrote:
@Walt_K wrote:

This whole thing sounds odd, and I have to disagree with those that say the issue of whether it was a refundable reservation is not important. That is the real issue. You can cancel any hotel reservation, and having a cancelation confirmation does not address what the penalties for cancelation are, which would be addressed based on the hotel's cancelation policy and the type of reservation.

At first I was thinking OP might have paid for a prepaid reservation, but then OP would have already had the charge at the time of booking, instead of seeing the charge appear after the trip. When was the change made? Perhaps you made the change too close to the time of reservation, such that you still get charged. If you explained to the agent what you were doing, then the agent should have explained any fees involved. And for that reason, I think you should really continue to take this up with the hotel. Which isn't to say Amex might not take your side, so I would explore that. But if it was a non-refundable room, or even a refundable room where you called too close to the reservation to make your change such that penalties were involved, I don't see how Amex can rewrite the hotel's cancelation policy and give you a refund. They might, but it really seems more like an issue with the hotel.

I understand what you're saying, but consider this: we wouldn't be having this discussion if the hotel had not issued a refund and then gone back and charged the card again without authorization to do so. If the hotel sends an e-mail confirming that they are canceling the reservation and a refund for such cancellation appears on the customer's credit card statement, then that should be the end of it.

I work in retail, in the business of selling wireless phones. Our return policy allows for the return of an item, subject to various stipulations, within 14 days of the date of purchase. Let's say a customer comes in on day 15 and pleads a case for a refund. I decide to bend the rules, take back the merchandise, and refund his card. That afternoon, the boss notices and determines the refund was against the rules. Okay, too bad. We can't run the customer's card back through the system and bill them for the cost of the phone again. I can pretty much guarantee you, even if we somehow managed to get the merchandise back into the customer's hands, American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, any credit card company would side with the customer in that the subsequent re-billing for the merchandise would be an unauthorized charge.

The fact that we're dealing in a purchase of an intangible product in no way changes this.

The hotel agreed to refund the customer, and did so.

They can refuse to book the trip at the lower rate. They can refuse to do any further business with the customer. They can take internal measures to ensure their employees enforce established cancellation policies. That's all fine and dandy. They cannot, however, go all willy nilly submitting unauthorized charges onto customers' credit cards to undo their mistakes.

I don't know where you're getting that from. I don't read anywhere that the OP said the charges were refunded and reapplied. The OP says a charge appeared after the trip, which is consistent with my experience in receiving charges for business trips that had to be canceled last minute. My apologies if I missed something.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

shane82388 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:46:04 GMT

@Walt_K wrote:

This whole thing sounds odd, and I have to disagree with those that say the issue of whether it was a refundable reservation is not important. That is the real issue. You can cancel any hotel reservation, and having a cancelation confirmation does not address what the penalties for cancelation are, which would be addressed based on the hotel's cancelation policy and the type of reservation.

At first I was thinking OP might have paid for a prepaid reservation, but then OP would have already had the charge at the time of booking, instead of seeing the charge appear after the trip. When was the change made? Perhaps you made the change too close to the time of reservation, such that you still get charged. If you explained to the agent what you were doing, then the agent should have explained any fees involved. And for that reason, I think you should really continue to take this up with the hotel. Which isn't to say Amex might not take your side, so I would explore that. But if it was a non-refundable room, or even a refundable room where you called too close to the reservation to make your change such that penalties were involved, I don't see how Amex can rewrite the hotel's cancelation policy and give you a refund. They might, but it really seems more like an issue with the hotel.

I'd be interested in how far out the reservation was when you made the change. Most hotel bookings are 24 hours, but I've booked rooms where you have to give 72 hours or a week's notice.

Again, I think the agent should have mentioned this to you, and I think the hotel should fix it. I'd be surprised if they didn't if you talked to the right person. You stayed at the hotel. There's a point to be made on their side of it that when you book a room that has a cancelation policy, especially if it's a discounted rate, you're getting a discount in exchange for locking in a certain price. You can't get out of that because the price lowers. Alternatively, if the issue was that it was refundable, but with a 72 hour cancellation, and you made the change inside of 72 hours, they might argue that they were reducing rates to sell rooms that they wouldn't otherwise sell. That's one of the reasons they have those policies. In addition to their being a price for holding the room for you, they also need to be able to try to unload inventory without giving discounts to everyone who already has a room. But it sounds like you made an honest mistake and weren't trying to game the system. I think the hotel would work with you. It's really stupid not to. It doesn't take too many times of you staying elsewhere before they start losing money because they wante to stick it to you this time around.

Yep. Totally agree. Just for the record of this thread, the reservation for the hotel was made on December 12th for full room price rate and cancelled less than 24 hours later on December 13th. Thats 13 days, or just about two weeks notice of cancellation...shouldnt really be a factor i would imagine, under normal circumstance of cancelling a reservation...obviously assuming its a cancellable room...but still, the person who cancelled it for me didnt seem to mind one bit. Not a peep about the fact i would still be expected to pay for that booking even though i wasnt going to use it. I mean even if its on her and she messed up, what the heck was going through her mind as she was cancelling it?

"Oh, he wants to cancel this room that he will still get charged for even if i cancel it for him so he can then make a SECOND BOOKING just to have the priveledge to pay twice. Ok, ill just go ahead and cancel it. Have fun with your TWO hotel rooms for the same exact trip!"

I mean come on now...that obviously doesnt make sense, whatsoever. She should of just said she couldnt cancel it, end of story.

Two weeks ahead of time AND still stayed the same amount of time in their hotel through the AMEX booking. Plus paid an annoying $15 a day to just park in the hotel parking lot of the hotel im paying to stay in...c'mon Hilton...throw me bone...jeez.

I've stayed there in the past as well so im a returning customer and plan to stay there again if this is all sorted out.

Re: Hotel Double Charge - AMEX

shane82388 — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:49:40 GMT

@Walt_K wrote:
@steve23111 wrote:
@Walt_K wrote:

This whole thing sounds odd, and I have to disagree with those that say the issue of whether it was a refundable reservation is not important. That is the real issue. You can cancel any hotel reservation, and having a cancelation confirmation does not address what the penalties for cancelation are, which would be addressed based on the hotel's cancelation policy and the type of reservation.

At first I was thinking OP might have paid for a prepaid reservation, but then OP would have already had the charge at the time of booking, instead of seeing the charge appear after the trip. When was the change made? Perhaps you made the change too close to the time of reservation, such that you still get charged. If you explained to the agent what you were doing, then the agent should have explained any fees involved. And for that reason, I think you should really continue to take this up with the hotel. Which isn't to say Amex might not take your side, so I would explore that. But if it was a non-refundable room, or even a refundable room where you called too close to the reservation to make your change such that penalties were involved, I don't see how Amex can rewrite the hotel's cancelation policy and give you a refund. They might, but it really seems more like an issue with the hotel.

I understand what you're saying, but consider this: we wouldn't be having this discussion if the hotel had not issued a refund and then gone back and charged the card again without authorization to do so. If the hotel sends an e-mail confirming that they are canceling the reservation and a refund for such cancellation appears on the customer's credit card statement, then that should be the end of it.

I work in retail, in the business of selling wireless phones. Our return policy allows for the return of an item, subject to various stipulations, within 14 days of the date of purchase. Let's say a customer comes in on day 15 and pleads a case for a refund. I decide to bend the rules, take back the merchandise, and refund his card. That afternoon, the boss notices and determines the refund was against the rules. Okay, too bad. We can't run the customer's card back through the system and bill them for the cost of the phone again. I can pretty much guarantee you, even if we somehow managed to get the merchandise back into the customer's hands, American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, any credit card company would side with the customer in that the subsequent re-billing for the merchandise would be an unauthorized charge.

The fact that we're dealing in a purchase of an intangible product in no way changes this.

The hotel agreed to refund the customer, and did so.

They can refuse to book the trip at the lower rate. They can refuse to do any further business with the customer. They can take internal measures to ensure their employees enforce established cancellation policies. That's all fine and dandy. They cannot, however, go all willy nilly submitting unauthorized charges onto customers' credit cards to undo their mistakes.
I don't know where you're getting that from. I don't read anywhere that the OP said the charges were refunded and reapplied. The OP says a charge appeared after the trip, which is consistent with my experience in receiving charges for business trips that had to be canceled last minute. My apologies if I missed something.

Yeah well when i booked it i had to put in my AMEX card info obviously, but they never actually charged the card by the time i cancelled it. So really, its the same thing i guess...The bottom line i think we are agreeing on is that after cancellation confirmation, no charges can/should be made, even if they never charged the card in the first place.