We had chosen the pay at hotel on arrival, the hotel cancelled our booking at 11am on the morning of our arrival, citing wrong cc details (old cc that expired end of June) that they emailed and called us and as we didn’t respond - we where flying, then did the most obvious thing of just cancelling our room.
When we arrived at the hotel to check in was the first time we were made aware of the issue. What was more galling, when we were being told it’s hotel policy by the manager over the phone, a hotel guest came down to reception, to pay for his room.
Only positive was the reception staff securing us a room in another property- £120 more than we should have paid.