Originally Posted by JS
If you had booked through the hotel directly, the same would have happened (if their cancellation policy were also 24 hours). While it's possible for a hotel to waive the charge if you had booked through them, that doesn't mean everyone else has to waive the charge.
Actually, the point was that if I'd booked through the hotel, I
wouldn't have been charged. And this has been my experience with hotels... if they have rooms available at the original rate you reserved at, I've never run into a situation where I've been charged a full cancellation fee for shifting the arrival date around by a few days. Even though technically such a shift might fall under a 'cancellation'.
And yes, I agreed to a contract with Expedia and I expected the same flexibility that I usually get with hotels. They weren't flexible, which is their right, and, IMO relative to how I'm usually treated by hotels, Expedia sucks. Lesson learned, I won't book through them again.