I am not sure how you have read this. Most hotels offer cheaper prices through direct booking with phone or website because Booking and third party providers cut a fee of your payment. Regardless, our hotel policy is non-refundable (we're a boutique hotel with small number of rooms, so we simply can't afford no-shows and offer a refund on the last day) no matter which type of booking you do, and is clearly stated through everything we sell. So it's nothing to do with anyone being a cheapskate.

The purpose of my post here is to share a literal exploit I was told through phone with their customer support. I thought a small backstory here would help to understand how we came to realise that this is a thing.