PDXbased1K

Was looking at rates on the Fairmont site today and came across this.....Pretty weak in my opinion but glad there is finally an official program in place!

https://www.fairmont.com/best-rate-guarantee/

OUR BEST RATE. GUARANTEED.
Find a lower qualifying rate online and we’ll match it and give you a 10% discount when you book through Fairmont Hotel and Resorts Global Reservation Center, subject to the following terms and conditions.

To submit a claim, call our Global Reservation Center at 1 888 540 7077 (International: 1 506 388 6949) and provide them with the online address of the lower competing rate.

The lower competing rate must be verifiable by Fairmont Hotel and Resorts and immediately bookable by the general public. The lower competing rate must be for the same hotel, room type, number of guests and reservation dates. The same cancellation and advance purchase policies associated with the lower competing rate will also apply to the reservation made through Fairmont Hotel and Resorts. If the lower competing rate is booked through a non Fairmont Hotel and Resorts channel, Fairmont Hotel and Resorts is not responsible for any fees or other costs to cancel the reservation. If the lower competing rate is booked through a Fairmont Hotel and Resorts channel, Fairmont Hotel and Resorts will waive any cancellation costs.

Rate comparisons will be made net of any taxes, gratuities, resort fees or any other fees or charges associated with the room rate. The guarantee is not applicable to taxes, gratuities, resort fees, food and beverage charges or other incidental charges. Rate disparities solely attributable to fluctuations and/or differences in currency exchange rates are excluded from the guarantee. Fairmont Hotel and Resorts may deny claims where the difference between the lower competing rate and the rate on the Fairmont Hotel and Resorts reservation channel is less than $5.

Lower competing rates applicable to only a portion of your entire scheduled stay will not be honored. Nor will lower competing rates be honored for a multi-day stay if the total room cost of the stay using the lower competing rates is the same or greater than the total room cost available through a Fairmont Hotel and Resorts reservation channel.

The guarantee does not apply to the following rate types:

Negotiated discount rates, such as corporate, incentive, group or wholesale rates that Fairmont Hotel and Resorts has not made available for booking to the general public.
Qualified discount rates, including but not limited to, government rates, military rates, senior rates and rates made available exclusively to members of loyalty programs maintained by Fairmont Hotel and Resorts and/or its hotels.
Discount rates that require membership in a club, organization or other group or that are otherwise approved by Fairmont Hotel and Resorts, such as CAA or AAA.
Package rates that include room and other components such as travel, car rental, entertainment and/or non-breakfast meals.
Package or group add-on rates that extend the length of a stay.
Rates negotiated for stays extending beyond 30 nights.
Rates available on auction websites, such as www.onlybidding.com and www.skyauction.com.
Rates available on websites and services that do not disclose the hotel brand and/or particular hotel until the reservation is completed, such as Priceline and Hotwire.
Rates associated with Fairmont Hotel and Resorts affiliated residences.
Pre-paid rates that require a voucher or other form of pre-paid certificate (including electronic vouchers and certificates) for a hotel stay outside the United States and Canada.
Void where prohibited by law. Fairmont Hotel and Resorts reserves the right to modify or cancel the guarantee at any time without prior notice.

CanuckFlyHigh

The positive change in here, is that it now says the same cancellation policies will be honored. So if you find a good cancel-able rate, they will match that. Previously, they would match the price, but require it to be pre-paid and non-refundable.

curl

I tested policy today. First, your call rolls to VM. Not a great first impression. Left a message but later called reservation line because no one had called me back. Rate was rejected because it was an "appetite for luxury" AI package. (I know, rules say those don't count but I tried anyway) So Expedia got my $.

mahasamatman

And the 10% discount is also nice.

painintheuk

I saw this today and am planning to call first thing tomorrow! I actually signed on tonight specifically to look this up. It turns out I didn't need to do a search at all.

I have 2 stays already planned and think that this will let me stay at a Fairmont instead of another hotel. As I have said in other threads I think that the prices on Fairmont.com in the last year or so have increased significantly and definitely past what can be found elsewhere - even on fully flexible bookings and on non-basic rooms. Unfortunately, as much as I like to think that I'm a target market, they are getting out of my (personal) price range!


Dr. PITUK

mahasamatman

The way I read it, if you book on fairmont.com and they lower the rate, you can still file a claim and get the 10% off. Does anyone read it differently?

flo_147

Does anybody know, which currency exchange site are they using to convert different currencies?

orbitmic

I tried to use the policy for the first time today and found Fairmont utterly dishonest. Rate publically available, cancellable, and room indicated as Fairmont room. However, the BRG "specialist" explained to me that she could not offer the BRG because it did not say if it was a Fairmont King or a Fairmont two doubles, even though both are the same price on the Fairmont website and I frankly do not care!

If they do not want to guarantee the best rate, they should really not commit to it rather than try to use any lousy excuse to walk out of their self-imposed obligations.

mahasamatman

Yes, the rooms have to match word for word, letter for letter. It's the worst travesty of the entire Fairmont program.

Dlougach

In my opinion this best rate guarantee programme is one of the most powerful out there, because you can make reservation using confirmed BRG rate on phone (not sure if any other chains allow this any more). This gives you the opportunity not to risk being rejected after booking non-refundable rate via official channel.

For example, today I successfully booked a stay in Swissotel in Moscow by matching the rate from ostrovok.ru (which according to SPG BRG thread would likely not work). The only concern that the reservation agent had was that it was not completely obvious if the rate on competing website included tax, but after going further towards payment step she got convinced that the rate does actually include tax.

PointWeasel

Another great BRG experience with Fairmont.

I called at 7 am Atlantic Time and actually reached a BRG-trained agent immediately who processed everything and honoured the 10 percent off the matched rate within 12 mins. Fairmont service is 10 times better than Accor. ^

Fairmont Nile City, Cairo
Best Fairmont rate: $127 USD
Booking.com rate: $110 USD
Final rate: $99 USD

I was able to apply a remaining suite upgrade as well.

JCFans

I have to say I have utilized the BRG program 3-4 times throughout 2016. No hassle. Called FPC to book. Mentioned a lower rate and they transfer me to a BRG specialist. They asked me where I found the lower rate. They took 1-2 min to go online to verify said rate. Then offer me a rate 10% lower off of the lowest rate I found.

No hassle. What a valuable program. And yes, I've applied all sorts of certs on top of it: free nights, 3rd night free, room upgrade, suite upgrade, you name it.

Travel4Love

I am planning to submit a BRG claim for a 6-night stay and apply two 3rd night free certificates to the stay. In your experience is this feasible and how would you go about it? Try to get the claim approved for a 6-night stay and then call again and apply the certificates? Or try to get it all done at the same time?

Jasper2009

Probably get the BRG approved first and have the booking made and then apply the free night certs, though I have no 1st hand experience with BRGs.

Travel4Love

Thanks @Jasper2009. I did just that and had no problems whatsoever. I really like that one can get the BRG approved over the phone.