Originally Posted by
supatight80
No offence, but the reason why we have BRG programs are so that hotels would ensure their own portals (e.g. SPG.com, hyatt.com, etc.) offer the lowest rate out there. If there is a lower rate offered by OTAs, then the hotel loyalty program penalizes the property. If guest books at OTAs, OTAs get the commission and not Starwood as an example. So if you were Starwood, would you not want to get the $$$ instead of the OTA getting the commission?
Originally Posted by
megalab
Update: ... Noticed that after my BRG claim they had a "Starwood Exclusive Promotion" (something I haven't seen at any other SPG hotel) ... $10-$20 less than the standard "SPG Member Exclusive" normally seen...
A couple of times now I've filed a BRG claim, only to see the hotel offer a "special" below the OTA price. My claim today was denied because between when I filed and when it was rejected (about 5 hours) the hotel offered a special that was 20% less than the OTA price I quoted. Happy to see a much lower price (though I wanted the points) but I'm starting to wonder if they're coincidences...
I did get this claim (at a different hotel) to go through in only 30 minutes:
Hotel Name: The Westin Copley Place, Boston
Date: 4 nts in mid-February
Room Type: Traditional room
Starwood Brand Web Site Room Rate: $176
Company Room Provider: hotelsquickly.com via hotelscombined.com
Competing rate: $110.52
Actual confirmed rate: $88.42 (20% off)