It is a scam !! Don't book with this hotel !!
I acknowledge that when I made the booking, I overlook the fine print of check in time until 10pm. ETA of my flight however was also 10pm which means that I would definitely miss the check in deadline. Upon receiving the booking confirmation and seeing that the check in is until 10pm, I immediately sent an hotels.com in-app message to the hotel asking for late check in. No response after a day, then, I sent a direct email, again no response. Then, I asked hotels.com to help and they made phone calls to the hotel. No one picked up the call either.
So, after 4 days of no response from the hotel and on my side, worry and frustration, just hours before my flight, I decided to book another accommodation to ensure I have some place to stay and of course, my payment to them got forfeited.
I have never come across such a ridiculous situation. Had they replied and said they would not accommodate late check in. I would have been fine. They simply ignore the messages, emails and phone calls which is totally unacceptable.
Traveling always involves some unexpected situation and booking with hotels like this, the guests will be in deep trouble if there are exceptional circumstances.