Hyatt Gold Passport - BRG: booking.com vs. Hyatt

Hi!

I just found a good offer for the Hyatt Place Miami (by the airport). $70+$9 taxes for a fully flexible double or king room including breakfast and WiFi (i.e. 12/18, 12/19, 12/20).
As it is a flexible rate I simply booked it, read the best rate guarantee rules and called the hotline.

It turns out booking.com is not eligable because it does not show the room price but a package price (for which the BRG does not apply as per T&C).
It shows $70 for the room plus taxes. Problem is that when searching for a two night stay it shows a package for the nights plus taxes and not a nightly price.

I put in three one-night stays and not one three-night stay because I might be somewhere else on the 19th (and simply cancel that stay). He claimed that I knew the 'package' issue and tried to work around it.

Is there any chance to get the 20% off? I usually play by the rules but the Hyatt BRG T&Cs seem to have too many loopholes so just on basic principle I should follow up on this ;)

Hyatt BRG has denied such rates even though Booking.com explicitly states that its price is for the room only -- which is exactly what Hyatt requires. Moreover, when one moves your cursor over terms and conditions and limitations of the rate on Booking.com, it further notes that tax is not included -- therefore, their rates are not package rates -- Hyatt's decision to disallow is unprincipled.

I recently had three BRG agents deny a similar claim of mine.

First, they stated that it was a package rate because tax was included -- lie #1.

Another agent then allowed that although tax was not included in the rate as first displayed, the amount of tax was not calculated -- it was only listed as a percentage of the room rate -- and therefore, unlike Hyatt's website, which displays the $ amount of the tax, booking.com does not -- therefore, the BRG claim was disallowed. I countered by noting that one could very easily figure out the tax and that in any event, that tax would be displayed at the end of the transaction if you were to purchase the room.

I then spoke to the supervisor on duty and I asked him to read to me verbatim what the BRG stated. He reluctantly did so and given the terms and conditions of the BRG the claim should have been upheld -- instead, it was denied because the final amount one would have to pay was not displayed in the same manner that Hyatt does, and therefore, the claim was denied.

I advised that this was an unprincipled argument and well beneath the standards set by the hotel chain and its usually customer focused Consumer Affairs Department.

I advised that I would expect a phone call from the head of the BRG department on Monday when he and I will be in the office. If they persist in a denial I will go to the press.

We are on very very solid ground on this one.

Those who remember the names/organizations that have responded to traveler complaints please e-mail me.

I have advised Hyatt that it would be a shame that their org will be tarnished by this, but if they should adopt this ridiculous denial of booking.com quotes, I have little choice.

They have had a couple of days to mull this over.

Those who remember the names/organizations that have responded to traveler complaints please e-mail me.

If you can’t solve your issue (please mind Hyatt's Consumer Affairs Department assists us at 1-800-323-7249) here are some other resources:

Sound Off

Contact Consumer Traveler ( http://www.consumertraveler.com/contact/) (my pick: Christopher Elliott)
Consumer Tools (http://www.my3cents.com/consumerTools.cgi) (My3cents.com is a leading source of consumer advice)
Post a complaint for public vier (http://www.complaints.com/)
Conumer Comment Form (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/php/a_report.php) (please mind: If you file a complaint it becomes property of “Consumer Affairs” and they are not obliged to remove it if you solve the issue)


Conde Nast's Traveler's "Ombudsman" column features a traveler's complaint column. Send in your complaint to Ombudsman, Conde Nast Traveler, 4 Times Square, New York, NY 10036.

Legal Options

File a complaint at you state's attorney general's office
Small Claims Court (http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/small-claims-court/index.html) (link provides also a helping hand on how to resolve problem without going to small claims court)
Federal Trade Commission ( https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/) (The FTC does not resolve individual consumer complaints.)

... Hyatt BRG T&Cs seem to have too many loopholes ...
Hyatt guarantees to provide the lowest on-line bookable rate for room reservations at Hyatt Hotels available to the general public on the Internet and their T&C (https://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/customer-service/tandc-specials.jsp) are quite specific: The rate you found on booking.com was a “Competitive Rate” in their terms and Hyatt’s Best Rate Guarantee Representative was wrong.

Reading NJ Up in the Air’s experiences, I don’t know if he gave me a chance to close the deal, but I had act differently. Here is why:

If I like to stay at a Hyatt property on a weekend in December to earn FFN and choose Miami as my place to be, I would stay at HR Peer 66, HR Miami and HR Bonaventure. Your $ 70 Rate at HP MIA was a great catch (Hyatt Daily Rate: $ 149) I had missed (there is still one room available at the time of writing this entry). I had booked one Friday and one Sunday night at Hyatt.com and had asked Hyatt’s Best Rate Guarantee Representative to make appropriate adjustments to my rate (= $ 56). If s/he had refused to honour my claim, I had asked him/her about he name and made it clear, that one of HP brand ( http://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/about/our-brands/hyatt-place.jsp ) feature is to offer daily complimentary continental breakfast. If I was still unsuccessful, I had asked to transfer me to a supervisor. If necessary, Consumer Affairs came into play.

I always like to solve issues and not create difficulties: To book three different reservations for a three night stay I never intend to use under this given circumstances and to ask to book (three separate reservations??) one stay with reference to three reservations I made (please remember: The Hyatt Best Rate Guarantee Representative will go to the web site where the lower rate was found and ensure it is for the same terms and conditions as the Hyattsummerfieldsuites.com, HyattPlace.com or Hyatt.com rate and for the same length of stay. If the claim qualifies, they will apply the 20% discount.) might spin the wheel to an off topic spot.

Why don’t make it plain & simple?

Hyatt guarantees to provide the lowest on-line bookable rate for room reservations at Hyatt Hotels available to the general public on the Internet and their T&C (https://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/customer-service/tandc-specials.jsp) are quite specific: The rate you found on booking.com was a “Competitive Rate” in their terms and Hyatt’s Best Rate Guarantee Representative was wrong.

Reading NJ Up in the Air’s experiences, I don’t know if he gave me a chance to close the deal, but I had act differently. Here is why:

If I like to stay at a Hyatt property on a weekend in December to earn FFN and choose Miami as my place to be, I would stay at HR Peer 66, HR Miami and HR Bonaventure. Your $ 70 Rate at HP MIA was a great catch (Hyatt Daily Rate: $ 149) I had missed (there is still one room available at the time of writing this entry). I had booked one Friday and one Sunday night at Hyatt.com and had asked Hyatt’s Best Rate Guarantee Representative to make appropriate adjustments to my rate (= $ 56). If s/he had refused to honour my claim, I had asked him/her about he name and made it clear, that one of HP brand ( http://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/about/our-brands/hyatt-place.jsp ) feature is to offer daily complimentary continental breakfast. If I was still unsuccessful, I had asked to transfer me to a supervisor. If necessary, Consumer Affairs came into play.

I always like to solve issues and not create difficulties: To book three different reservations for a three night stay I never intend to use under this given circumstances and to ask to book (three separate reservations??) one stay with reference to three reservations I made (please remember: The Hyatt Best Rate Guarantee Representative will go to the web site where the lower rate was found and ensure it is for the same terms and conditions as the Hyattsummerfieldsuites.com, HyattPlace.com or Hyatt.com rate and for the same length of stay. If the claim qualifies, they will apply the 20% discount.) might spin the wheel to an off topic spot.

Why don’t make it plain & simple?

Did all. Supervisor was of no help -- essentially reading a script. What it came down to essentially was Hyatt stating that the way the ultimate rate one has to pay is displayed differently -- therefore, Hyatt does not need to accept the claim.

The above position is ludicrous. Booking.com states it is only a room rate, nothing else, although it does note free cont'l breakfast -- a standard feature of all HPs -- so that is not a deal killer either.

The website makes clear that tax is not included in the rate, so not a package rate.

Essentially, they claim that Hyatt calculates the tax, whereas Booking.com does not -- it only states that the tax is not included and what the applicable tax rate will be -- so they said not acceptable -- even though if you were to purchase, the tax is calculated at the end point.

As I have stated above, it essentially boils down to Hyatt claiming that how the rate and tax is displayed is different from the way Hyatt displays it, and therefore they have no obligation to accept the claim. This penultimate statement on behalf of a supervisor at the BRG desk is, at best, ludicrous.

That is why I have requested that the head of the BRG department contact me on Monday and failing resolution I intend to contact those who SS has identified -- many thanks.

As many know on this and other boards, I have been among many of you who counsel to live within the rules, i.e., no phantom stays, no two hotels on one night, etc.

Although we have an obligation to live within the parameters set forth by GP for promotions and earning points, etc., they have an equal and like obligation to be validly guided by those very same rules -- not to make up new rules or to torture existing rules into oblivion. Unfortunately, I am all too familiar with organizations doing the latter.

This they have done with respect to Booking.com rate quotes and this must not be permitted to stand.

The only positive aspect I see on these desperate issues you had is this: As Hyatt’s T&C (https://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/customer-service/tandc-specials.jsp) are specific:


A "Competing Rate" is a publicly available and immediately online bookable room-only rate for a Hyatt Hotel that is lower than the room rate available for the same reservation on www.hyatt.com (i.e., same hotel, same type of room, same number of guests, same dates of stay and same length of stay). There are two notable exceptions*):


Opaque Travel Inventory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opaque_travel_inventory)
Any HVC or any residential or extended stay apartment property does not participate.



To qualify for a 20% discount on “Competing Rate” (and to receive stay credit within GP) we have to call either prior to or within 24 hours of booking the reservation on http://www.hyatt.com.


If an associate excludes booking.com (http://www.booking.com/general.en.html?sid=fa95ec591589885392059dba06ddfa 7b;tmpl=docs/about) - Europe’s leading online hotel reservations agency by room nights sold, is available in 24 languages and offers over 73K hotels in 71 countries (parent company: Priceline) – because the rate is displayed differently s/he is out of touch. Booking.com is very specific what is and is not included in the room rate and lists this immediately below the room type. While it’s habitual that taxes are included in Europe, the contrary is true for North America.

I hope Hyatt’s Consumer Affair’s department will investigate.

*) Package Holidays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Package_holiday) & packaged Rates are not Room Only Rates. Qualified Discount Rates & Unpublished, Negotiated Rates are not publicly available.

On every major third party booking site I found a $ 119 room rate (72h cancelation policy), while hyatt.com quotes an APR for $ 118.15 (Hyatt Daily Rate: $ 139). A very friendly Hyatt associate denied my claim because BRG works by comparing prices (it is non an subject, if one rate has to be prepaid and the other can be cancelled). He suggested if I prefer cancellable rates, I should book elsewhere (what I don’t because I booked AAA rate).

I am happy to report that at least with respect to my matter -- where the price of a room without any added extras not offered by the hotel, and where the tax was not included in the rate (and was advertised on the competing website as such) -- that Booking.com rates are to be accepted for the BRG from Hyatt.

The Hyatt agents that I had spoken with had been misinterpreting the Hyatt BRG policy with respect to the above situation and I have been advised that this error is in the process of being rectified.

So, you all should feel comfortable submitting Booking.com rate quotes to the Hyatt BRG department if they are circumscribed within the above parameters.

This is yet another example of Hyatt being extremely responsive to its members' needs and this sort of customer service ought to be applauded. ^^

Many thanks also to SS who identified the next step I needed to take this in order to obtain a just resolution short of publcizing this to a wider audience. ^@:-)

There are ways for them to get out of the BRG.

I consistently can find cheaper rates on a Japanese website (jtb.jp) for Hyatt hotels in Japan. It satisfies all the stipulations that the T&C of BRG has. But they failed to honor it because the website is in Japanese and none of them can read it.:eek:

But it is not in the T&C that the booking website has to be in English.:confused:

I gave up!

Well done, NJUPINTHEAIR, hopefully on all our behalf! And thank you, Smart Shopper. I think that the BRG, LRG, LFG are a slimy game by many of the travel industry companies.

BTW, FWIW, I recently got some very nice rates on booking.com. For the first time - as I was going to be away from Hyatt- and Hilton-country in Italy and France - I shopped in TripAdvisor. They seem, on the surface, to search like Kayak, and pop up several booking portals with their prices for several hotels in a city. Booking.com consistently came up cheapest for the same hotel(s). Then, when one hotel's portal dropped below the booking.com rate, I contacted booking.com re their BRG. Return email said it had been changed. It was $5 difference, but the point here is that they honored it for that amount.

(I know... sorry for going outside the church, but I had to. :o)

For rate shopping, I use Tripadvisor.com; Kayak.com and occasionally hotelscombined.com