travers recounter scamed a hotel reservation  Washington

I made a "cancellable" reservation directly with a hotel (I thought).  When i went to cancel it, more than a month before the reservation, I was informed by DoubleTree that I could not cancel it directly, but had to do it through Expedia.  Expedia had no record of the reservation and there was no itinerary number to facilitate things. Access to a human at Expedia was nigh impossible without an itinerary # which I did not have.

  Recent charges on my Amex card showed one from Travers Recounter for $275, nearly $70 more than the $109/night reservation I thought I made.  AMEX is handling the issue and will see that the bill and reservation are cancelled.   The DoubleTree people were very helpful and patient (when I began to lose it after 2 hours), Expedia was marginal, even though it seems that this fly-by-night operation is somehow affiliated with Expedia?   Beware when no reservation # is sent - check immediately....especially if this organization is involved.