Originally Posted by
MePlatPremier
Wow… how do they go about checking that? Do they actually complete reservations on OTAs when processing BRG claims?… I find that really hard to believe. I always thought they went all the way until the final step in the process where CC details have to be entered and stopped there.
Most OTAs don’t book directly with Marriott’s CRS but rather through third-party intermediaries and wholesalers. I wonder if Marriott is actually able to see the original website where a reservation originated from when it is coming to them from some obscure wholesaler.
This makes it abundantly clear that the BRG program is nothing more than a way to prevent rate leakage and a tool to enforce its rate parity policy across its distribution network.
I think somebody at Marriott recently checked all OTAs on how they are operating and now many are excluded from the BRG.
I have had BRGs from three different websites (some of which I had been using successfully four weeks ago!) denied last week with the claim from above
“…sites that do not pass reservations to the Marriott Central Reservation System (CRS) for confirmation are not eligible…”.
3/3 times by the time the BRG was denied the competing rate by the OTA was gone...