I filed for Travelocity's best rate guarantee program for a Marriott hotel. The rate on the Marriott site was a full $100 per night less than what I had paid on Travelocity. This was for a 3 night stay.

The room types were identical on Travelocity & Marriott websites: "Marriott Quality Guest Room - 1 king or 2 doubles".

After waiting 8 days for Travelocity to respond my claim, they did so with a denial saying the lower priced room I was seeing on the Marriott site was on a "different level" than the room I purchased at Travelocity. Incidentally, the Marriott site also listed the rate I'd paid with Travelocity. The lower Marriott rate was simply a 'holiday' rate (Memorial Day weekend) that wasn't coming up on Travelocity. Both room rates on the Marriott site identified the room type (Quality guest room - 1 king or 2 doubles) as identical.

After receiving the denial from Travelocity, out of curiosity I called direct to the Marriott hotel and asked if there was any difference in the lower & higher priced rooms. I was told the rooms are identical, basically "run of house" at check in.

Bottom line, I don't think Travelocity wanted to refund me $100 per night difference for three nights and wiggled out of it thinking I'd swallow their story of the rooms being on different levels. To their credit, they allowed me to cancel and waived the $25 fee and rebook directly with Marriott. So in the end a lot of time wasted filing their claim and waiting 8 days for a lame excuse of denial.

I chose not to argue the issue with them, figuring it would take them an additional 8 days (or longer) to reply. Not to mention they leave themselves an "out" in their terms and conditions when they state their decision is final.

To the contrary, I've had excellent success with similar programs with Expedia & Hyatt. They seem to operate legitimate guarantee programs that I've had 100% success with, not to mention much faster response times since everything is done by phone.

Incidentally, Expedia has the edge over Travelocity in that their $50 best rate guarantee coupons are valid for one night stays, whereas Travelocity requires a 2-night minimum.