teo1991

escape4

More BS...

Attempted a BRG over the phone because it was a pre-paid rate. The agent asked me where I found the lower rate and I said go to Trivago first and click on the link to Agoda. The agent said he could not find my rate. I asked him what rate he sees on Trivago and then he answered that he went straight to Agoda, unlike what I instructed him to do. I was already aware that going straight to Agoda would not result in the lower rate. Then he goes on Trivago, clicks on Agoda, and he found a lower rate than Hilton.com but slightly higher than what I was seeing so he said he cannot approve the claim because he does not see the same rate as I do. I said it does not matter, the rate he sees is lower so the claim is valid, but he said I should submit online instead, which I refused to do because it is pre-paid. I asked him again what rate he saw on Trivago and he put me on hold for 10 minutes and then he gave me some rubbish rates which did not match mine, and higher than what he saw himself on the final page of Agoda. Then put me on hold once again, without saying why he had to put me on hold. He never came back on the line and the call was dropped. Total length of the call 30 minutes, and three different attempts on his part to deny the claim, all incorrect reasons, until he just hung up because he could not find a good reason.

escape4

I called back to speak to a different agent. At the beginning of the call he asked for my phone number "in case we get disconnected" After I instructed him what hotel, dates, competitor website, etc. he put me on hold. Ten minutes later, call disconnected, and I never got a call back.

Call #3 : this time I was not asked my phone number at the beginning of the call. I gave the agent all the info, put on hold, and after 10 minutes call disconnected.

Call #4 : this time, call not disconnected. The latest excuse is that the lowest rate on hilton.com is "hilton honors sale" which is not the same as "advanced purchase" despite both being pre-paid rates, and according to this agent only "advanced purchase" can be eligible to a price match guarantee and that rate does not show up for my dates. So even though she could confirm the lower rate on the third party website, she could not approve the claim because it's a sale. She then tried to convince me to book at the higher rate on hilton.com by saying that if I book on agoda I would not receive Diamond benefits. I said I do not intend to book a higher rate on hilton.com when I can find cheaper on another website, and indeed I do not like booking on a third party website and not get elite benefits. So in this situation my best choice is to book my second preferred hotel which is in the Marriott hotel chain where I also have elite status. She said she understand and I thanked her for her help.

I am not going to call a 5th time, I think I was already quite persistent (probably too much) and spent over an hour in total... I need to take another break from Hilton BRG and revaluate in a few months if they improve their claim handling, but at the moment it just does not work for me.

buttking

HGI Buckhead Atlanta

3 nights

Hilton - $96
Trip.com - $93

Rejected because of "Currency Conversion"

What? How do you convert USD to USD? Hilton is really pulling rejection reasons out of a hat.

hotturnip

Argue this one. Demand an explanation.

hotturnip

Really awful. You received some of the worst explanations ever. I hadn't heard the "yes, they're both advance purchase rates, but Hilton's is called a sale, so they're not identical" excuse before.

Eventually we'll probably have to file an FTC complaint on these hotel companies.

craigthemif

Luckily Hilton have trashed so many elements of Honors that I don't mind at all remaining on my "Hilton BRG break"

If and when that changes, I might return to firing off a 5-minute flex or semi-flex claim, but spending hours on the phone... no thanks!

escape4

Are you still successful on all your BRGs or have you hit a wall? A while back in this thread you wrote that you had several consecutive ones approved like I used to have.

Correct, that combined with the points devaluation means I have less need or desire to reach 60 nights, anyway I have Diamond via credit card so I think I will book at Hilton in some cities where it makes sense and still enjoy Diamond benefits, but if there are half decent alternatives with Hyatt and Marriott then I think some strong points of Hilton are fading, unfortunately. There were a number of times that I viewed a Hilton or a Marriott pretty equal in one city, and picked Hilton because of BRG and/or more generous points including promos. But if those are gone, then competitors become more attractive relatively speaking.

And I am always a step behind you in your thought process, but I am getting there. No more BRG on the phone for me, I can try quick online flex claim and see where it goes, but phone is finished!

Oh and by the way, yesterday after the 4th call the lady offered me to listen to a Hilton Grand Vacations Club sales pitch, I told her politely that given the nature of our call (and the three calls prior to that) she did not pick the best day for me to have the mood to listen to this from Hilton

flyme2

I decided to give the Hilton BRG a go after spotting a significantly less expensive rate for the Hilton Brussels Grand Place on Trip.com. The rate I was seeing using Chrome on my Mac, and cloaked to the US from my Canadian location, was €154 vs. €170, after taxes and fees. I called the Diamond desk, and a pleasant agent tried in vain to replicate the €154 rate I was seeing. She logged in and out of her system a number of times to refresh results and clear cookies. The rate she was seeing on Trip.com was higher than the Hilton rate. When she asked me if I was using an app on my phone to get the lower price, it dawned on me to log into my Windows based desktop, and see what rate it would show. Both the Hilton rep and I were using Chrome. Sure enough, the same higher rate she was quoting from Trip.com appeared on my Windows based platform. She apologized, saying that she would have to be able to take a screenshot of the competitor's lower rate from her computer to successfully process the BRG claim. Trip.com had numerous rates for exactly the same room types that Hilton displayed. Unfortunately, their cancellation policies were not the same, so I had to concentrate on non-refundable rates only. I thanked her, and decided to do further research using my Windows desktop.

Fast forward a day, and I was able to match exact room types on a non-refundable rate of €169 on Trip.com vs. Hilton's €194 by tweaking my dates. The agent I spoke with on my second attempt wasn't as well versed in the BRG program, but after consulting with her supervisor and verifying the validity of the rate, she was able to successfully process the BRG with a rate of €126.75.

Moral of the story is that there are some factors of which we are not aware that may result in a rejection. I wouldn't have thought using my Mac would yield different results, especially as we were all using Chrome. Of course, this doesn't mitigate the fact that there have been rejections for superfluous reasons, but I was satisfied with how both Diamond desk agents handled my claim.

BTW, a number of Expedia and its subsidiary OTA's showed lower rates as well, but did not specify a single room type, lumping 1 King or 2 twins into the same room listings. From what I have read, it requires persistence to get all details to match, the most difficult being the cancellation policy.

craigthemif

The odd thing is that the urban legend says that Macs are supposed to give higher prices, based on the assumption that paying more for tech gadgets is a sign of higher spending power.

hotturnip

I haven't had an opportunity to do one since I booked that Hampton Inn in Chicago for around $63. I've had a couple of unsuccessful ones with Hyatt and Marriott, though. The Marriott one failed because Marriott is so slow; the Priceline rate was good for only a few hours. I didn't expect that one to work. Hyatt was, "Sorry, if we can't find it ourselves, you can forget it." This, despite the fact that they ask you for a screenshot with the form. I was unable to wear them down. It looks like this is the way Hilton is going. These are really becoming false advertising, which is why I'm thinking it may take an FTC complaint to get them to live up to their obligations.

teo1991

craigthemif

Hardest is competely relative. It's fairer to say that each has its quirks.

Hyatt is a 100% guaranteed slam dunk if you follow their rules exactly and know what will and won't be approved. The other two chains have such incompetent agents that perfectly valid claims will often be rejected (or your phone call will magically disconnect). I also see far more manipulation of cancellation policies, etc. with Hilton.

About the only thing really to be said definitively about BRG policies is RIP SPG...

escape4

escape4

My "Hilton BRG break" did not last as long as expected. There is one specific Hilton I wanted to book and my dates are fixed and not far in the future, so I did not mind booking pre-paid particularly given the large price difference between flexible and pre-paid. I found a third party website which was 3% cheaper. If the third party had been 15%+ cheaper I would probably not risk a pre-paid Hilton BRG and be stuck with the higher rate when they decline for bogus reasons, but for only 3% higher I did not mind since I get the Diamond benefits when avoiding the third party website. I suspected that my BRG would be declined but in any event this is the hotel I wanted to book and the price was acceptable to me, plus attempting the BRG online would only take 5 minutes of my time. Well to my great surprise, the BRG was approved! This breaks my long string of Hilton BRG failures. ^