Hotel Reservation review: Unclear cancellation policy

July 18, 2022 I booked a room at Embassy Suites in Denver, only to find that I already had a reservation. So, within 10 minutes, I cancelled the reservation. I received a message stating that my reservation had been cancelled. I was then charged for the room. When I called to find out why, they stated that I selected the non refundable option. I do not recall "selecting" anything of the sort. I went back to review the cancellation policy. It reads as follows:

CANCELLATION POLICY

Each room in this reservation is subject to the hotel's cancellation policy which is: This reservation is non-refundable. There is no refund for no-shows or early checkouts.

I didn't originally think much about it, because I was not a "no-show" nor "early checkout." Additionally, I thought that I was dealing with the hotel directly, I didn't realize it was a scam company.