Originally Posted by
UKtravelbear
I think you were very lucky. You could have easily ended up paying for two rooms.
What was the cancellation limit on the original booking?
From what you wrote I'd surmise that it was something like 4pm on the day of booking.
Not all hotels have that policy. I've just checked my spreadhseet and out of 6 points bookings only one has an on-the-day cancellation term. 4 have the day before and one has 2 days before.
Does the change-then-cancel method not work? Namely change the booking to a farther-out date, then cancel for a refund.
Anyway, I agree that was a very lucky outcome with the checked-in rebook!