ktremor

Here is a new one that I have not experienced yet.

When trying to get my 3rd BRG for the month, I submitted the claim form and 20 hours later I got a rejection email. 20 minutes after the rejection email I got an email of a rate modification to the rate I submitted on the BRG claim form.

I have replied to the rejection email questioning the rejection with subsequent rate modification and now waiting for a response,

scubaccr

And just why would FTers on the Hilton forum be expected to know rules of other hotel chain price guarantee program's? I for example only know that of my chains IHG and HH

What you describe does prevent the odd hotel revenue manager dumping all his rooms during the last week before arrival to an OTA purely to prevent BPG claims, although I see that more with IHG rooms as in effect first night free means a free room on 1night bpg wins with ihg

I have to guess this means for SPG there is no price match just nn dollars off the OTA rate as if unavailable with SPG site price matching is kinda impossible, which is what I think the replyer to your post was suggesting.
And similarly if SPG site has higher rated room one gets nn dollars off OTA rate

I am thinking this means it is risk free as you do not reserve an SPG room and simply file a claim and the SPG bpg team book room for you at nn dollars off the ota rate?

wantan

In my book, Hilton KL is slipping. Had a BRG approved, with new rate updated. However the property refused to refund me the amount (prepaid rate) and instead offered it as hotel credit.

Tried asking once more why this was the case and was told to take it up with BRG which I promptly did. Was only a 7-hour stay and could have done without the extra hassle.

storewanderer

Just had another BRG denied with Hilton that I felt was legitimate. They actually admitted I found a lower rate, but then denied Amoma.com claiming it was a "voucher" site. Okay. I don't know what a "voucher" site is. Wouldn't any third party site be a "voucher" site? What is different about a voucher than a reservation? Is it because I pay the third party site? Wait, if I prepay Priceline.com for a non-refundable stay that is shown in their open search (non opaque) and the rate at Priceline is lower than Hilton.com would they also deny that claim on the grounds of it being a voucher site?

Hilton is downright sleazy and dishonest with these BRGs. Saddest part is their executive management does not care either. Nothing requires them to have a BRG. They should just eliminate it.

Curiously I was on Amoma and found a Marriott property with a lower rate there than Marriott.com. I booked on Marriott.com and promptly filed a BRG with them. They accepted the claim.

mmjaysee

Hi, I've never posted in this forum before but I just read through a ton of posts and found it to be very informative!!

Here is my issue. I found a room on hilton.com for twice the price as Cancelon.com (via TripAdvisor). The room on CancelOn.com is refundable up to 5 days before the stay starts. Hilton.com is refundable until 24 hours before. I submitted the claim and it was denied because the cancellation period is not the same. I guess I understand that.

Now my question... if I book the hilton.com non-refundable rate, will they price-match the 5-day prior refund rate from Cancelon.com? In this case Cancelon.com has a more generous refund policy, so I assume it should work, but it's not exactly the same rate. Any insights would be greatly appreciated!!!

Garina

No. The rate must be exactly same: wi-fi, breakfast, cancelation rules, etc.

mmjaysee

Thanks!! But that is crazy. Why not match a rate that has a more generous refund policy with a rate that had a less generous refund policy?

Is there a way to find a rate on Hilton.com that has a 5 days prior refund policy?

helosc

I filed my first claim yesterday.
I received my answer 24 hours later and at the same time I received a new reservation confirmation reflecting the new price.
So I am very happy today - fast service and 160€ saved on a four night stay.

shirlgirl

Hilton's BRG is a complete joke.

My story:

* Staying at the Doubletree in Guangzhou, China

* 04/03/2015: Two (2) rooms booked & paid for as an advanced purchase (at $1,191 CYN / per room per night)

* 04/04/2015: Found a website (ctrip.com) via Tripadvisor that was offering the same rooms at $918 CYN / per room per night

* 04/04/2015: Filed BRG claim with Hilton and denied because they deemed ctrip.com as an "opaque" website

* 04/15/2015: On Hilton.com the room rate for the same rooms are now $903 CYN / per room per night

* 04/15/2015: Filed BRG claim with Hilton and denied with the following explanation:


Thank you for taking the time to submit Our Best Rates Guarantee claim for your stay at our Doubletree Guangzhou. I have carefully reviewed your reservation and the information about the lower rate on your claim. A previous claim was submitted and processed for this stay.

As per terms and conditions of Our Best Rates Guarantee program:

You may only submit one claim for each stay. A “stay” means the total number of consecutive nights spent at the same hotel by the same guest or guests.

In addition, the lower rate was found on our site. Our rate fluctuates based on demand of inventory at the time, the rate is structured to vary based on number of cancellations, arrival date, length of stay, total number of bookings made etc. While in normal circumstances the rates go up, there are cases when the rate goes down if the demand drops. Given the booking you confirmed is pre-paid and non-refundable, I am unable to make any amendments to your rate or booking.

I regret to inform you that we are unable to approve this claim due the above policy. Should you require further assistance please reply to this e-mail. Please note that we attempt to answer all e-mails within 72 business hours. We realize that every guest has a choice when traveling and we thank you for making Hilton portfolio of hotels your choice. We look forward to the opportunity to serve your future travel needs.

Best Regards,
Shay Scott


Hilton should be ashamed of themselves. Why bother offering a BRG when your system automatically denies such a high rate of claims. And why is there no telephone number which customers can contact the BRG dept.

GatorKen

Talk about find a technicality for denying a claim, this one may take the cake:

* booked a room for 8/6/15 to 8/7/15 at Double Tree By Hilton Tampa Airport-Westshore using their Park-Stay-Go rate. Standard room for 4 people was $214.

* found the same room, same dates, same number of guests and also a park-stay-go on http://tampa.parksleepfly.com/ for $135.

* file a claim and was denied. I asked for an explanation. Here's the reply:

Thank you for your reply. All the accommodations for the stay have to be the same, every detail including the parking. The difference in days of parking is why I will not be able to approve the claim. I do apologize for the inconvenience. Best Regards, Arriayana Ware

Here's the "difference" in parking: parksleepfly.com offered me 14 days parking where hilton.com offered 7. I could get MORE days parking from the third party site and that's the reason the claim was denied?! That is so lame!

shirlgirl

After seeing my April 16, 2015 post here on Flyertalk, Mr. James Rider (Supervisor, Hilton Guest Assistance) contacted me via email and will be honoring my claim.

Thank you Mr. Rider for honoring my claim.

flyoff

I put a BRG claim in for a booking which was twice the price compared to another website. As I had compared to Amex Travel UK, who require payment with an Amex card for all bookings, it has been denied sinced it is nnot open to the general public.

I am surprised, while I can see their point, I would be mad to not cancel and book with Amex Travel. Interestingly the hotel have been in touch separately and have offered a lower rate, which is slightly more expensive than with Amex but a good compromise. I therefore assume therefore there is a rift between the BRG teams and the hotels.

scubaccr

Similarly you can't bpg with eg British Airways hotel rate offered when on the BA website buying your flight

UpgradeMe

When the Hilton BRG is good, it is very good. And when it's bad, it's really, really bad.

For at least the third time this year, I had to cancel a reservation prior to the cancellation deadline where Hilton improperly processed a BRG claim, and then failed to respond to my follow-up emails pointing out the error.

In the most recent incident, on Monday evening I booked the Embassy Suites in Bloomington, MN for this Friday night at $119.00 and immediately submitted a BRG claim citing multiple websites with rates of $95.20 and identical cancellation deadlines. 23 hours later I received an email denying my BRG claim, allegedly because "online prices are not available. Please see screenshot below." But a quick look at the screenshot showed that the BRG representative had searched the wrong date.

Less than one hour after receiving the denial, I replied to both the BRG Department and to Hilton Guest Assistance pointing out the error and attaching multiple .pdfs that showed that the lower rate had been available at the time of my BRG claim, and that the lower rate remained available 24 hours later.

Having received no response to those emails, I followed-up with a phone call to Guest Assistance on Wednesday morning. The GA representative was sympathetic, but insisted that she could do nothing to resolve my issue, and that I should simply wait for a response to my emails.

I am still waiting for that promised response.

The deadline to cancel that reservation is 4 pm CDT today, and I had no choice but to cancel the reservation, because I was unwilling to pay $119 to stay at this property. I am now booked at a better property at rate significantly lower than $119, but higher than the rate that I should be paying at the Embassy Suites. ($95.20 + taxes - $50 Amex gift card.)

If Hilton wants to end its BRG offer, it is free to do so. But so long as Hilton offers a BRG, it has an obligation to process BRG claims in a timely and accurate manner, and to handle email responses to the denials of BRG claims in the same manner.

UpgradeMe

Still no response to my Tuesday evening emails. But strangely, 10,000 customer service points posted to my account late yesterday.

The points are nice. But I really wish that Hilton would fix its BRG problems.