Originally Posted by
juliana16
A quick thank you to all that have provided details on their experiences, it has really been helpful as I look to understand the BRG process better.
Unfortunately, I had an awful experience with Hilton two days ago with a total of 6 phone calls made over almost a three hour period to their BRG team. Mysteriously, I kept being placed on hold when the agent went to "verify" or "investigate" the competitor rate further and each time, the line cut out. After about the third phone call, I noted to the agents that my calls were being cut out and should this happen, I would appreciate if the agent called me back on my nominated number. This never happened.
...
To be honest, I know that the team is trained to reject claims, but this is beyond ridiculous. Over email, they continue to reject the claim and somehow make out that my booking.com reservation is a price that is NOT consistent with my booking.com reservation. I tweeted Hilton, no response and have just received a response via Messenger from Hilton so hopefully this will assist.
This was my experience too:
Call 1 - was just trying to add my HHonors number to an existing reservation; was told I couldn’t, but that I could rebook direct using Hilton’s Price Match Guarantee. OK, sure, sounds great - let’s go ahead and match the price, then. After 20-25 minutes of struggling mightily to verify all the details, the agent put me on hold and then hung up on me.
Call 2 - Agent rejected the price match because the OTA I was using (trip.com) was charging a different amount of deposit at booking. (This is picky, but an actual difference in terms, so fine.)
Call 3 - Found another rate with identical terms at Priceline.com, so tried again. Agent 1 transferred me to Agent 2, who transferred me to the hotel front desk, who was very confused and transferred me to his manager, who had never heard of the Price Match Guarantee at all. After explaining it to him, we exchanged information and he redirected me back to the call center, but offered to help if I couldn’t get the national agents to help.
Call 4 - Agent collects info, starts researching, puts me on hold and hangs up on me.
Call 5 - denies my claim because the lowest rate from the hotel is a promotional rate, even though it is higher than the OTA’s regular rate (?!) She claims that promotional rates from Hilton are not eligible to be matched, but can’t point me at the language in their policy stating that is true - instead, she started shouting at me. Decided to HUCA rather than escalating. (I’m by no means a confrontational person on the phone, mind you!)
Call 6 - started researching, on hold, hung up.
Call 7 - started researching, on hold, hung up.
Call 8 - started researching. I interrupted before she placed me on hold and asked to exchange contact information in case I got disconnected. “Sure! Wait, sorry, my computer just froze, I can’t do anything until I restart, sorry, call back later and speak with another agent.” “Can you transfer me to another agent with a working system?” “No.” “Can I wait on hold while you restart your system?” “No, there’s is nothing I can do.” “OK, can I call back then?” ... and she gives me the hotel’s front desk number. Gee, thanks. We’ve been down that path before...
Call 9 - I immediately demanded to speak with a supervisor. I explained I keep getting hung up on, and she said “there aren’t any technical issues in our call center right now”. “Uh, then what about the agent whose computer supposedly froze?” The supervisor kinda sighed, and then proceeded with processing the claim with minimal incident. She also denied the “promotional” rate, so I ended up matching a semi flex rate instead. Cost an extra $20 a night over what I had planned to book in the end, but it was still a dollar or two less per day than the original refundable OTA rate I’d booked. I still think the other rate should have been eligible, but by this point I was tired of fighting.
Net time invested - three hours on the phone to save a total of $20 and get free breakfast benefits. This better be the best dang continental breakfast I’ve ever had.
Long story short, Hilton has no intention of honoring this guarantee, and the way the reservations call center is operated is unprofessional and an embarrassment to the brand (and to the many conscientious hotel operators out there). Hanging up on a customer should never be allowed at all - but in this case it seems to be standard procedure. I have to believe some bogus metric is driving this, like a bonus they receive each time they deny a claim, a penalty for long call times, or a penalty for approving a claim.
If any HHonors reps are lurking here, I’d encourage you to fix this situation before it frustrates anyone else the way it has in my case. I’d be happy to provide names and call times via PM if necessary for you to research what went on here.
We’re usually Marriott folks, but ended up at this particular property for a work conference, and decided we’d extend the stay for a few days of relaxation on our own nickel without moving hotels and to give Hilton a try. All we wanted to do was add our loyalty number from our comped Amex status and dabble with a new chain for a while, and instead it turned into this colossal fiasco - just for trying to use a guarantee the agents suggested to us in the first place!