Originally Posted by
CanadaDH
Your special deal may not strictly be through the BRG program, but if I understand you correctly, it's not a published deal on their website available to anyone, but a special deal the hotel still made for you, to be close to the OTA? If so, I would still consider that like a BRG claim, and I can totally see the hotel withholding benefits, just as they would had you booked through the OTA.
Or am I misunderstanding, and this special deal is just something available for anyone to book?
That's correct. It's not a published deal on their website available to anyone. It's a special deal from hotel to be similar to my OTA booking. I was really transparent towards the hotel. I shared the offer with the hotel before to book. It's the hotel asking me to book through OTA to check the validity of the offer.