asia15

I checked out and it was fine.
At check in they told me a refund was not possible and I had to buy something to eat/drink at the restaurant or use the minibar or buy some souvenirs at the (expensive) shop. I checked in at 9PM and checked out at 12AM. Anyway I told them I would contact Hilton and contests my charge to my credit card company. They also provided me a receipt with my original rate before BRG! When I checked out they told me I will receive a refund.
By the way, the BRG rate was a normal standard rate for that hotel, since the price go up really fast due a congress and I booked an extremely high rate.
I didn't like this way anyway. If you cannot check in and you need to cancel, I think you don't get the refund of your BRG (So you loose the entire price of original rate). I can't understand why they work like this, since Marriott/SPG give you a immediately refund.

gpb_croppers63

Hi All,

Looking for some advice on the Hilton BRG, as I'm considering cancelling my Marriott stay in London due to being demoted from Plat to Gold in the recent merger. I've found a great rate on roomdi.com for the Hilton Metropole that works out over Ł500 cheaper for 2 rooms for 4 nights than Hilton's own website. As it's such a huge price difference, I'm rather wary of booking the AP rate on the Hilton website and being denied the BRG for some "technicality" (such as roomdi offering a "room" rather than a twin or a double or some such other nonsense). Does anyone have any experience of doing a BRG with roomdi.com? It seems that Hilton are not quite as straightforward with their BRG as their website claims based on this thread. I'm tempted to just book the roomdi rate to be safe price-wise but I'm assuming I won't get my HH Gold benefits in the hotel then, as I didn't book direct. Is that correct?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

asia15

Hi, Roomdi is not valid (of course..)
Anyway Hilton's BRG is not like Marriott's and they are pretty strictly. The name of the room as to be the same. I don't know even if for them "double deluxe room" is equal to "king deluxe".

gpb_croppers63

Urgh, that does not sound hopeful! Thanks for the confirmation though. Do you know if I would get the free breakfast benefit as a Gold if I booked through Roomdi (or one of the other much cheaper providers)? Thanks again!

escape4

I had a claim first denied because they could not find the standard room type - only superior or suites. This was not correct so I replied with a screen shot. Then they denied again because they said my flexible reservation at Hilton does not require a deposit, unlike the third party website which does (but also fully flexible). Is this a valid reason to deny a BRG claim?

flockavelliFT

Successful BRG for Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah
Standard room, no breakfast (non-refundable booking ) for 2 nights in October, price including all taxes and fees
Hilton Rate: AED $2428.75 (~USD $661.22)
Trip.com (only German version somehow!): AED $1882.96 (~USD $512.63)
After 25% Discount: AED $1506.37 (~USD $410.10)

I am coming from SPG/Marriott where I had so-and-so experience with BRG, especially after they applied the new rules.
Hilton BRG claim sent to German help desk (as rate was somehow only available on German trip.com site) was approved after 37 min, couldn't believe it!

escape4

If there is one thing at which Hilton BRG is good at, it's speed. They might be very draconian in their interpretation of the rules and deny claims that they should probably accept, but we should give credit where it is due: you will most likely not lose a BRG because the rate on the 3rd party website has changed after you submitted their claim. Unlike Marriott/Starwood.

flockavelliFT

I was expecting a fast rejection since others had commented that trip.com was not accepted and I could only find the rate on the German version of trip.com and no other websites.
Already had mentally prepared myself for back and forth before this would get accepted (although valid).
Personally, I never experienced the SPG/Marriott BRG team as very helpful or "willing to make it work". So had low expectations from the get go.
Happily surprised so far with my switch to Hilton. Not even talking about the various excellent, stackable promos that are currently available. Also not expecting any promo from Marriott despite the chaos they caused. They just don't care.

escape4

After this denial, I subsequently took a leap of faith and submitted a BRG claim on the pre-paid rate. To my surprise, it was approved right away.

bergamini

Pretty bad experience two weeks ago at Doubletree Suites Blue Ash (Cincy). Was on Priceline for $73 and at hilton.com for $125. I booked through Hilton and submitted the claim, which was denied because the room type wording was different. They were the same room. Most importantly, I had booked the base/smallest room at the hotel so it's not like the Priceline room could have been any worse. I was denied, repeatedly. I then asked them to cancel because of denial so I could book lower rate and they refused, repeatedly. I finally called the hotel and they agreed to cancel my reservation without penalty. I then booked the $73 rate, got the same room I had booked through Hilton and was given full Diamond benefits (mainly breakfast).

I had been deciding between staying at Hilton properties the rest of the year so I could maintain Diamond, since I've already hit Plat Premier with Marriott, or make a push for the new Ambassador with Marriott. Hilton made this choice very easy for me by how poorly they handled this claim. My SPG and Marriott rate guarantee claims have been handled much better. I wasn't trying to beat the system. I saw the same room advertised elsewhere and because one description said 1K/SOFA and another said 1K SUITE, they denied. It's an all suite hotel. They are the same room type, the cheapest/most basic one at the property!

escape4

Sorry about your bad BRG experience. I see on hilton.com that they have two different room types with the same price:
- One King Two Room Suite with Sofa
- One King Standard Guest Room

Based on those labels, one would think the first is more valuable because it sounds like a suite while the second is not. However sampling many dates, the price of those two rooms is the same. So once again the BRG team decided to interpret the rules in the most drastic way possible to deny a claim, when common sense would argue that both rooms are interchangeable since the price is the same, so the BRG claim should be valid.

Fortunately the property itself bailed you out - good gesture on their part.

theblake7

My claim got rejected within mins of submitting

For Ref: Hilton Garden Inn Irvine / Orange County Airport, Check-in: Sat, 22 Sep after 3pm, Check-out: Sun, 23 Sep before 12pm,1 x Double king size bed room only, no cancellations.
HotelQuickly.com: $106.11
Hilton: 109.04

they said.
No, its the same room, and is the cheapest room on the day
HotelQuickly descrives it as: 1 x Double king size bed room only (no idea why they called it double king, but its definitely not a Twin bed (2 beds)
Hilton describes it as: 1 KING BED

No, there is no other room type on the third party website with that price. However all rooms on that website are cheaper than all rooms Hilton offer relatively for each one (by about $5)

I replied back with screen shots straight away asking them to recheck as they must have misunderstood something, but in 12 hours no reply. Do they normally reply or is it just first decision is final and they ignore further correspondance?

escape4

Disappointing denial about the room type, once again.

For me they always reply when I ask them to reconsider with screen shots (they do not just ignore me). I suspect it's because they ask for supervisor approval first and this is what takes longer. Please let us know how it turns out.

theblake7

Thanks Escape4, i will wait a day or two before I go postal

bergamini

I asked at front desk and they only have suites, so any room you book is a 2-room suite.