Originally Posted by jpenfo

I've gotten thousands of dollars of free nights in the last year from PCR (CTC, Sweet Dilemma, Vacation Pay (got my card in the mail today), Point Breaks, and Points+Cash) so I figured that if I have to eat this one, it's worth a shot.

So I book the room. The competing website only offered a standard room so that's what I booked with IHG just to be sure (even though I wanted a double). The only difference was that the competing website was offering a refundable rate, vs. IHG which was nonrefundable. But not much of a concern since the competing website was offering better than IHG. As soon as I book, I call the BRG to make my claim. I was worried that the email form might take too long to get processed. I am on hold for 10 or 15 minutes and talk with the CS rep who puts me on hold quite a bit to look up my claim, and ends up confirming it. Before I hang up I get a case/reference number for my claim and am told to expect an email. The email comes about a week later and around the same time my reservation on my PRC account is updated to "modified, call hotel".

Good enough for me. I show up at the hotel about a week later and my portfolio at check in reflects all of the proper adjustments. Also get switched to a double room. Great deal! I would definitely rate this as the best rate guarantee I have seen. The night should hit my PCR in a day or two. I am hoping the second night will be a qualifying rate, but I'm not holding my breath.