Originally Posted by
mgn2000
I have put in a claim. The cancellation date is off By 48 Hours compard to the IHG rate. Bit the flexible rate on the OTA is cheaper than IHG's Advance Purchase rate.
What are the odds it will be approved ??
Also has anyone phoned the Hotel Directly and they match the rate ?? Has anyone experieced this ??
Thanks in Advance
From my experience there's about 99% chance your claim would be refused.
Even if you're talking about a stay which is far in the future.
About contacting a hotel directly,
I can't recall any IHG hotel, but I've done that a few times with hotels from other chains - and the success rate was pretty surprising. If it's a well-known and respectable OTA and if you're simply asking to match the lower rate and get nothing extra - a hotel might go for it.
Example: earlier this month I found a very attractive rate on Booking.com for a Radisson Blu hotel. This rate, with it's specific cancellation policy, was not showing up on the hotel website. So there was not chance of a BRG in this case. And so I placed the reservation on Booking.com (flexible rate) and then contacted the hotel with the request for a match, under the logic that this reservation was already approved and it's in the system - but I rather pay the hotel directly for it (and get the status credit and points). They agreed straight away, and of course gave me the same cancellation policy as I found on the OTA. ^