It seems that there has been a influx of hotel promotional discounts on the internet.
There in lies the fine print. The best thing to do is to print out your reservation made including wording used or get a confirmation letter from the motel with the details of your reservation in case you need to prove to the motel that is was not pre-paid. Most of the time, people do not read closely about the non-cancellation policy when they make the reservation and when it come time to cancel, they cannot do so. I would go to the motel directly next time and ask them nicely to refund the money to you maybe they would be willing to reschedule the reservation for a future date if it is that far in advance. Just be advised, that almost every motel chain is offereing advance reservations discounts that are pre-paid and non-cancellable from Days inn, Super 8, Quality Inn, etc.