Originally Posted by BEAV

Spent close to an hour on the phone this morning on a BRG claim that was ultimately successful, despite earlier denials at several steps along the winding, twisted road. This is for a stay next week, where advance purchase rate no longer displayed, so I booked best flex rate.

1. First denial came because 3rd party website, although refundable, required immediate purchase. Luckily, I had as backup another 3rd party site with no immediate purchase required and same cancel policy.

2. Second denial was for rooms not matching. The IHG site listed 3 different types of 1-bedroom suites, each at 3 different price points. The 3rd party also listed 3 1-bedroom suites at different price points, however all were generic in terms of descriptions. I reserved the lowest price suite on IHG website, and used the corresponding lowest priced suite on the 3rd party site for comparison. The BRG rep said the room on the 3rd party site wasn't the same as I had reserved. So I asked for a room description on the 3rd party site, which he couldn't answer. How can you claim room types don't match when you don't know to begin with the description of those on the 3rd party site! At that point he placed me on hold to call the 3rd party website and get the description of the 3 different suites. To no surprise, the lowest price suite on the 3rd party site was a match with the lowest on IHG website.

3. Now that we got past the room type match issue, the next denial came because I had booked two rooms on the same reservation (one for me, the other for friends traveling with us). Because my name was on both rooms, he could comp the first room and price match the 2nd. I explained I was only staying in one room with friends in the other, however the IHG website isn't configured to allow entering two different names for each room! Lucikly, he remained on the phone while I modified my original reservation down to one room, and booked our friends separately on a new reservation.
Finally, successful BRG for both rooms, both reservations with separate emails following about 30 minutes later.

Despite three different hurdles and denials before ultimate success, the BRG rep was patient and seemed genuinely willing to investigate each issue I brought up. If you believe you've got a valid claim, you have to stand your ground. His denial for the room types not matching was completely bogus. You have to know the room types offered on the 3rd party site to begin with if you're going to claim they don't match those on the IHG site.