terms say 'pay at the property', not on arrival, and it say the hotel 'reserves the right to temporarily hold an amount prior to arrival', not that it will charge the stay on your provided card.
The parts you highlighted refer to the online booking, and are correct - no charge to your card happened at the time of booking, you were charged by the hotel on arrival - as is custom on every hotel check in, online booking or not.
On top of that, anyone taking a large payment via CC will usually require payment on the same card used for the authorization hold. Accepting another card is risky as funds can be easily made unavailable before the transaction settles.
You just had wrong expectations - on cc charges, that booking would be a “neutral escrow” or be able/willing to help. I’ve been in a similar situation where they held the entire reservation amount, in the thousands, while having already taken payment, and it’s 100% up to the hotel. They just don’t give a shit.
This is yet another reason why CCs are a terrible idea. Having the funds in a checking account and not being able to use them because of credit limit shenanigans is infuriating.
> you were charged by the hotel on arrival - as is custom on every hotel check in, online booking or not
again, you're over generalizing your personal experience. booking on arrival happened to me exactly once. but you're not listening and keep repeating points that don't really apply to the situation at hand.
