Originally Posted by
IAN-UK
If the benefits were generous, some stress might be bearable. IHG's fully comped night was worth jumping through a few hoops for, but sadly that too disintegrated into marketing slickness.
Indeed.
I can't be bothered any more, but there's no harm in double-checking against Google Hotels for any hotel stay you're about to book. It's rarer and rarer, but sometimes hotels.com is running a sale that they shouldn't and you have a clear cut BRG case.
But looking at obscure OTAs and hoping to find something that a major hotel chain will accept as a claim is a waste of time and effort. Some people enjoy the chase... fine... but just accept that you're trying to beat the system, instead of complaining that the hotel chain sides with their real customers (hotel owners) instead of you.