As mentioned in my post above, I've received mine.

I received mine! I also noted that the rate I found that was lower at hotels.com for the hotel in question has now vanished.

Hilton Best Rate Guarantee: The Definitive Thread
 

On Thursday I reserved a room for the following Monday at the AAA rate of $62.96. At the same time, I had found a rate of 59.88 for the same room at Travelocity.com. I filed a claim form and did not hear back from Hilton. I called the Diamond desk and was told that "the AAA rate is not eligible for the guarantee". Despite my best efforts, I was unable to convince the Guest Services Rep or her Supervisor that the exclusion for AAA rates was intended for those rates at other sites. Finally, the supervisor told me that I should book a new reservation at the $69.95 Best Available rate and they would process my guaratee claim.

It would appear that Hilton (or at least the 2-3 employees I talked to today) does not understand the spirit of a "best rate". I finally found someone who admitted that booking the AAA rate on Hilton.com does not exlude you from the promotion, but that was only after 45 minutes on the phone, including being transferred to a voice mail and having to call back.

My claim is being reviewed now and I should find out soon if I get the lower rate and the gift checque. Not sure it's worth it with all of this hassle!

I'm not disputing HH's "ridiculousness", but would ask you, in retrospect, if your stubborness in not booking the $69.95 rate is equally ridiculous.

I say book the higher rate, submit your claim, and be done with it.

Update - Shortly after ending my second long phone call with Hilton, I did receive an email confirming the guarantee against my AAA reservation and lowering the price to the Travelocity rate. Just another example of how an uninformed CSR can deny a person an opportunity to which they are entitled unless you are willing to push for it. Here's hoping Hilton better trains their people on this promotion.

It was not stubbornness per se. I originally called to inquire as to why my original claim hadn't been reviewed. While I found it ridiculous, I did make the new reservation, which now proves to have been unnecessary and I will go back and cancel. I don't consider arguing with an obviously mis-informed employee to be stubborn. Once that silly option was offered, I immediately made the new reservation. The question in my mind is, how many people would simply have said "Oh, OK" and hung up, walking away from $50 to which they were entitled by the promotion? That is the moral to the story. And in the general scheme, I would not normally book the higher rate in fear that Hilton would find some silly reason no to approve my claim and I'd be stuck paying too much.

IMHO the first HH agent was correct. My understanding of the promotion is that the Hilton.com rate and the rate you say is lower somewhere else both must be generally available to anyone. AAA and AARP rates are only supposed to be available to AAA members. This means AAA and AARP rates do not qualify.

With all due respect xyzzy, you are making the same error that the agents made. IF I had found an AAA rate or other restricted access rate at a NON Hilton web site, THEN that rate would be ineligible for the promotion. However, since it is a BEST RATE promotion, the premise is that I will NEVER find a lower rate that is GENERALLY AVAILABLE on a NON HIlton site. What does it matter what kind of rate I book on the Hilton web site? They are saying that they will always offer the BEST rate. In theory, my chances of finding a rate lower than the AAA rate are HARDER since it is a lower rate to begin with. The fact that in this case, Travelocity was offering a rate that was lower than the "Best Available" AND lower than the AAA rate(on hilton.com) means that I should get the BEST rate and since the BEST rate wasn't on the Hilton web site, I also get the gift cheque.

IS there a thread which lists recent successful Best Rate Guarantee cases? I am looking for such hotels in the NY/NJ/PA area and don't want to pay more if a lower rate is out there....

Just a note, I filled out the form on line and just over 24 hours later I had a reply:

"Thank you for submitting a claim regarding Our Best Rates Guaranteed.
We have reviewed your reservation for the Hilton ------ ------ in
------ AZ as well as, the rate available on Orbitz.com We were able to confirm that a lower rate was being offered on Expedia.com and have lowered the rate on your reservation to match the $99.00 rate.

In addition, upon check out, an American Express Gift Cheque will be
sent via FedEx to:"

so it worked for me, so far

it seems that whenever I have submitted a claim, most if not all of the competing rates at that hotel at third-party sites miraculously increase to rates above the hilton.com rates. I'm not sure a thread of successful claims will be helpful to others if this is happening with everyone else. That said, I didn't look for any in your area, so I'm sorry I can't help.

For my last 2 claims, I received e-mail confirmations but the rates have not been adjusted on the reservation page. Did this happen to anyone else, and were you eventually charged the correct amount?

Also, I also want point out the importance of saving/printing the competitor's price. These last 2 claims of mine were adjusted over a week after submitting the original claims, long after the lower competitor's prices had disappeared.

Best Rate Guarantee - Useless and annoying (at least to me)
 

Altho others have had success this has led me to become so annoyed with Hilton I probably will use my pts and leave

Why:

Requested rate guar.- per rules can file form or call - called advised NO I had to file form. Filed form(s) -12/24 - two days later got response one was denied (okay my mistake on date of other offer). No response to valid request(s). Called multiple times - many excuses. Called Diamond desk- no help, asked for customer relations - 12/29 - put on hold while they checked - "they're backed up because of the holidays probably get to it tonight" - 1/1 still no response. Fully expect by the time they "get to it" offer on other site will no longer be there.

Offered many excuses- holidays, etc. I must submit w/in 24 hrs - they promise answer in same. Okay it's been over 7 days, multiple excuses, multiple phone calls, no action except to make angry.

Clearly they can respond quickly when denying ( but the valid request for same hotel was filed BEFORE the invalid one) - but delay so long that I am being driven to just stay somewhere else. Another request filed and still not answered is soon and I am leaving country - Diamond desk assured me I would have answer quickly (that was days ago).

If this is the way they execute their promises - well...time to see how other programs treat me http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

UPDATE

So, as I half expected, when I arrived at the property for my stay, I was greeted with the original rate I had posted, not the reduced rate. So, I pulled out my email from Hilton stating that my rate would be reduced to match the best available rate. The clerk was nice enough to honor the rate. However, I'm now Stay +11 days and no sign of the promised "fed ex" with my gift check. I have sent a reply to the Hilton person who apparently approved the guarantee, but no response so far.

My check-out was Dec 29 so would have expected the FedEx by Friday. No Fedex yet and as I sense this will take a while to sort out I am turning up the heat first thing monday am.