Wasn't sure if this would go on the wall of shame or here for a bit!
Bf and I made a hotel reservation in Vegas to drive over after Thanksgiving. He caught a bad cold this week so we decided not to waste our money on a bad experience. Unfortunately, I misinterpreted the "48 hour" cancellation policy (stupidly thought it was before check-in...it's actually 48 hrs before the DAY) and signed in just TWO MINUTES late to do it, so they wanted to charge me for the first night. But after 3 phone calls over an hour, I've been told my refund was approved! NOT out $140 in highest-purity stupid tax!
Thanks to this forum for bringing me around to the "ask, be persistent, and escalate if necessary" mentality. (I'm still nice, though.)