This thread is about non-refundable rates - some hotels do not charge you immediately upon booking, so it gives you a bit more time to decide. I hope you see why this is unethical though.

I always book prepaid non-refundable rates unless using points, or there are no prepaid rates available, or flexible rates are inexplicably cheaper. Only once in hundreds of hotel bookings have I ever not shown up, which was due to my wife being unexpectedly pregnant and not wanting to travel to a Zika virus area. A handful of times the rate has gone down later, but overall the money saved compared to booking flexible rates covers these "losses" many times over.