I guess I answered my own question. I went ahead and booked the room as described above. It was after midnight, so the reservation actually stated I could have until June 3 11:59 to cancel it without penalty. You could also change the dates on it, but it would change the rate. The Expedia rate just said non-cancellable, non-refundable. Nothing else.
Hotel name: Fairfield Inn Montreal Downtown
Date of stay: 12-15 July 2025
Nights: 3
Room type: Guest room, one king
Marriott brand website rate: USD $707 all in
Competing rate: USD $658 all in
Approved rate: USD $495 all in
I'm surprised they didn't come back and say the cancellation policies didn't match.
Oh, and since the prepayment still had not been processed, they just changed the rate on the existing reservation.
ETA: Yet another interesting thing. The T&C seem to have changed for the corrected reservation. It now reads that it is a "Best Rate Guarantee Rate" and immediately after is the following: "You may cancel your reservation for no charge before 11:59 PM local hotel time on July 10, 2025 (2 day[s] before arrival)." I suspect they won't actually process the prepayment until after that.
Win!
Last edited by hotturnip; Jun 2, 2025 at 9:20 am