Originally Posted by
Keyser
Hotel Name: sheraton jfk airport hotel....
Dates: 1 night in june....
Number of Rooms: 1....
Number of Guests: 2....
Room Type: traditional room....
Starwood Web Site Rate: $209.00 + taxes per night....
Competing Website: ....
Competing rate: $174.68 + taxes per night....
BRG Reward: 20% off....
Actual confirmed rate: $139.74 + taxes per night....
Comments: wait times are still pretty long....even this claim took about 48 hours....
How long does it actually take on average to put in a claim, deal with the BRG team and deal with any mistakes/issues that might get made? I am skeptical of the value of doing BRG -- suppose I just booked the US$174.68 or something like it at another property, I might not get the elite benefits (I am liftetime platinum) but correcting for the time on the phone, the rejection rate (I don't think I ever had a BRG request approved and the cases I remember were quite unfair), the time to get a claim approved, etc., I just don't think it's worth it. I also find the practice of helping Starwood drive competitors who offer good prices out of business quite distasteful. And I don't like Starwood's attitude when I do call them and tell them there is a better rate elsewhere like I did recently in Taiwan (I ended up staying somewhere else).