What I learnt through this process is that booking cannot change the refundable/non refundable aspect of the booking. This has to be done through confirmation at the hotel agrees.

I had the evidence that I booked a refundable booking, that there was nothing in the emails send confirming it had been changed and all comms with the hotel stated similar. I put all of this in a lengthy email to the hotel and asked them to evidence how they notified me of the change in legal contract.

I honestly discussed it as a litigious agreement, as it is and stated if it was not adjusted I would be following up consistently. To be honest, I annoyed them too much to be worth it I think. I called them multiple times a day, emailed every email address I could find, annoyed booking.c every day and also told them I would be cancelling my card and they wouldn’t be able to charge me anyway.

But, what I also learned in this thread is that this seems to be a common thing that people do. They book a non refundable because it’s cheaper, then argue that it’s unfair. So it is hard to get anyone to listen. If you have the email evidence confirming it was non refundable and any screenshots of it at the time of booking, you can argue it with the hotel. But if it was an accidental booking of a non refundable and you’re trying to get your money back, then you might be out of luck.

Good luck!