I certainly agree its tough for PL to police hotels that are skirting the rules. And using your PL rate to get a direct rate is IMO a skirting of the agreed to rules between the hotel and PL. Not really between the customer and PL since we sign no agreement.
And that example my brother ran into is not a skirting. That is just flat out wrong.
Kind of tough to argue that the hotel is doing right or gets a pass by doing this on a thread that was started about guests not doing right by the hotel.
If that hotel is offering the same PL rate plus $10 to everyone that walks in off the street then fine. If they are just doing it to PL customers in an attempt to cut PL out of the loop then not fine.
Follow the agreed to rules and be honest. Seems like such a simple thing.