1st question
what does this mean? in the brg terms regarding japan hotels
6. d. Japan. In Japan and on the ANAIHG website, the room price does include extra person fees. ANA hotels are not eligible for Best Price Guarantee rooms, but all other IHG hotels, including ANAIHG hotels, on the ANAIHG website are eligible.
This means that you can't claim any "ANA only" Hotel, as they are not eligible for a BRG. However you could claim any IC ANA; CP ANA or whatever on the IHG homepage (or on
www.anaihghotels.co.jp).
Before someone tries to argue: I claimed successfully an IC ANA in Japan 4 days ago, so it is definitely possible.
Also I haven't such problems with the brg desk and finding sites (for central europe). Maybe it strongly depends on the region where you search. Are these problems more or less only with US stays or can anyone confirm this for europe also?