My BRG claim for the past few days have been denied with the following reason: The "no option approval" concept does not align with Marriott's Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) Terms and Conditions as it does not allow us to independently verify the availability. In accordance with BRG T&Cs, we compare the same hotel, dates, occupancy, room type, and rate. As the room/rate/cancellation policy was not available on one of the channels at the time of validation, the claim has been denied.
So now if official channel does not offer non-refundable rate, then any competing rate with non-refundable policy will not be allowed. Previously this was allowed as the basis for BRG as long as the rate is lower than the lowest offered on official channel.
Free cancellation vs free cancellation, or non-refundable vs non-refundable is strictly enforced now.
Anyone with the similar experience?