Agoda — Cancellation of Hotel booking

I had booked Travelodge Harbourfront in Singapore (the hotel) from Jun 22 to Jun 26 through Agoda but due to room availability it was done in two separate bookings, one for Jun 22 to Jun 24 and the other for Jun 24 to Jun 26.

Unfortunately I was tested covid positive on Jun 19 and under the Singaporean covid protocol, I had to be self-isolated. There was no chance for me to move around to check in the hotel on Jun 22. I asked Agoda for cancellation and refund for reason of force majeure, though the bookings are non-refundable.

Agoda promptly approved the one for 24-26 June and refused the one for 22-24 June. I chased again they finally replied, twice on Jun 21 and 22, confirming that

" Please kindly be informed that we have successfully contacted our supplier to contact the hotel directly to confirm free cancellation without having you to provide a medical certificate as we understand that another booking made with the same hotel has been successfully cancelled free of charge."

Based on their reply, I felt assured that the cancellation and refund was duly taken care of. However, on Jun 23 on my numerous chase they replied that

"There is a miscommunication whereby we meant that we succeeded in contacting our partner supplier to relay the message to the hotel that you requested for a free cancellation without a medical certificate as the other booking was canceled free of charge."

My questions:

1. Why is there a different treatment to the two bookings, one was cancelled and refunded the other is not approved?

2. Agoda had replied me twice and based on my understanding to the wordings, I do not need to provide any medical certificate and they will process my refund request. There was no miscommunication on this. Agoda had to keep its words.

3. The hotel confirmed me that even for no show, they would only charge a no-show fee equivalent to the first night charge, Agoda did not confirm this insisting the booking is non-refundable with the intention to forfeit the whole sum.

Despite their earlier agreement of not requiring a medical certificate to process the refund, Agoda continued to insist this a prerequisite in their latter correspondences. So I finally got a doctor’s letter (as I had consulted this doctor during my covid infection period) confirming the dates of my infection and passed it to Agoda on July 2. With this letter, Agoda rejected again on grounds that the letter did not contain details. In fact the letter has contained all details and was accepted by the Hong Kong Government, which imposed very stringent inbound quarantine restrictions, to allow me to return to Hong Kong.