Madness : If the vibe being put out indicates or suggests Cap is an uncaring person, a hard & cold, heartless bastard, you're right, on a case by case basis.
These people signed a friggin contract. They read the clauses. They understood the consequences should something go amiss.
The hotel reserved the date, time, staff, and everything exclusively to these people.
No one knows how many events they turned away for this date and time.
No one knows how demanding and/or how big a pain in the arse these clients were leading up to this.
Nobody knows how many man hours or man days the hotel may have expended and what commitments they made to other vendors they cannot get out of without breaching their agreements.
Nobody knows how the refund demands were presented to the hotel and my guess is it was in a very one-sided, it's all about me, hostile mode. Without any truthful further information or details on this from both sides, on it's surface, gotta side entirely with hotel's stance.
I guess it's just me. When generosity is demanded or expected that impacts my family (remembering here I'm full-time), my heart turns cold. When it is my choice? Generosity can be an unexpected endearing quality of the Cap experience.
In terms of a contract dispute, when both sides fulfill the agreement, then I'm free to make a personal decision.