Hotel Name: Hotel 850 SVB, a Member of Design Hotels
Date of stay: a weekend in February 2026
Nights: 2
Room Type: Carriage, Guest room, 1 Double, City view
Marriott Brand Website Rate: $742 USD for both nights
Competing Rate: $570.77 USD for both nights
Actual Approved Rate: $456.62 USD for both nights
Comparison source: Tablethotels.com

I'm also sending this email to my ambassador, I encourage everyone to send a similar email to their ambassadors and/or the general Marriott Mailbox for BRGs:Hi (Ambassador Name),

I hope you’re doing well. I wanted to share some feedback on the Best Rate Guarantee program and ask if you could please pass this along to your management team.

Over the weekend I learned that, as of October 31, Best Rate Guarantee support has moved to email-only and phone support has been discontinued. At the same time, the team has also stopped sending denial emails, so the only way to know the status of a claim is to periodically log in and check the website.

As someone who books a lot of stays with Marriott and uses Best Rate Guarantee frequently, these changes have made the process noticeably harder and more opaque:

• Many of my claims require multiple back-and-forths to get to the right outcome. Previously, a short phone call was often enough to resolve discrepancies in real time.
  
• Without denial emails, there’s no clear signal that a claim was rejected or even reviewed. I only find out by repeatedly checking the site, which isn’t realistic for most guests and creates a real risk of missing a window to follow up while the competing rate is still live.
  
• I’ve also seen instances where the initial decision was incorrect and only fixed after I chased it, which reinforces how important clear, timely communication is.
  

From my perspective as an Ambassador Elite who consciously books direct because of the value Marriott promises, Best Rate Guarantee is an important part of that value proposition. When the process becomes slower, less responsive, and harder to track, it undercuts the incentive to book direct instead of using OTAs.

I completely understand that Marriott is trying to streamline operations and support channels, but I’d really appreciate if you could share this specific feedback with your leadership and with whoever owns the Best Rate Guarantee program. Concretely, the things that would make a big difference are:

1. Reinstating clear approval/denial emails for all claims.
   
2. Providing some form of real-time support (phone or chat) for complex or time-sensitive claims.
   
3. Tightening QA so that obviously valid claims aren’t denied on the first pass and only fixed if the guest insists.
   

I remain a big supporter of the Bonvoy program, and I want to keep booking my stays with Marriott. I just don’t want the Best Rate Guarantee process to become so cumbersome that it stops being practical to use, especially for frequent travelers who are trying to do the right thing by booking direct.

Thanks as always for your help and for anything you can do to advocate for this. I’d be grateful for any insight you can share on whether these changes are permanent or if the team is open to adjusting the approach based on member feedback.

Best,
(donotblink)