Filed 2 claims for a JW in Asia, it's almost 24 hours and no reply. I suspect they are waiting for the flash sale to be over and then turn down my claim.

Received a denial for the following reason: "Comparison Rates applicable to only a portion of your entire scheduled stay will not be honored" I am not surprised, but I find Marriott's LNF to be very misleading.

Booked 1 reservation for 2 nights through Marriott. Night 1 $209, Night 2 $329.
Booked 2 more reservations for 1 night each through Marriott. Night 1 $209, Night 2 $229.

Really Marriott, if I want to stay 2 nights on 1 reservation it is $100 more than booking each night separately? You are a fraud! The LNF is misleading, and guarantees nothing more than your monopoly control on pricing.

Now the really interesting thing is that I can book the 2 night reservation at every other website for $229 per night. But since 1 night is $209 and the next night is the only night of the two that is cheaper, would this be approved? $458 vs. $538 in total, but both nights are not cheaper than the Marriott rate. Would they only give 25% off the one night that is cheaper, or the whole stay? If the latter, great, but if the former, I'd only be saving $57 on the second night but paying $20 more for the first night. If they gave 25% off both nights that would be great.... Could someone help me understand the technical interpretations for this scenario? Seems like Marriott LNF approval terms are shifting sand under our feet....

Edit: I could see them saying that they will deny because the first night is more expensive, despite the total stay being cheaper... "nor will they be valid for a multi-day stay if the total room cost of the stay is the same or greater than the total room cost through a Marriott channel"

Book a 2-night stay and compare to OTA showing the 2nd night cheaper. They will lower the 2nd night -25%. Just don't book it separately ... that is not going to fly and IMO it makes sense.

Hotel: London Kensington Marriott
Arrival Date: 04 April 2016
Reservation Confirmation Number: *********

We have reviewed your claim and have made the following modification to your reservation:

Rate: 130.65 British Pounds for four nights
The last night will remain at the original rate.
Reservation Confirmation Number: **********

The room rate listed above reflects your nightly room rate, before tax, and an additional 25% discount for submitting a successful claim according to the terms of Marriott's Look No Further(SM) Best Rate Guarantee.

Thank you for choosing Marriott.

Regards,
Rachelle King
Marriott Customer Care

Room rate was 980 GBP now 660 GBP what a huge difference , thay take 24-48 hours to reply

The website was danatatravel.com

Question

I just had a successful claim.

However, the site with the better rate not only had a better rate but also offered a daily $25 resort credit for stays of five days or longer which mine will be. Should Marriott have also given me the $25 daily credit?

Thanks

No! And be thankful they didn't notice it! If they had noticed that, they might denied your LNF for that very reason!

I made 4 LNF claims at an Anaheim area hotel that offered free parking and a $25 Disneyland credit attached at the third-party site rate. The first two LNF got approved so I submitted 2 more LNF claims for other dates. (The rate was fantastic, giving me $55ish/night for the LNF rate!) Those both got processed by other people who denied them on the basis of it being a package rate at the third-party site and that being invalid for an LNF claim (if there's wasn't a comparable package rate on the Marriott site that I was comparing it to).

Thank you!

One more LNF question. If I already have a successful claim (as I do), but it is a few months away. If I see an even better deal, do I need to cancel my current reservation before making a new one to file a new LNF claim?

No.

I keep on checking for better deals right up till the day I am able to cancel without penalties.

Received a declined claim for the following:

The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal
Check in: 9 September 2016
Check out: 17 September 2016
(8 nights)

Bed and Breakfast.

Currently £215/night on Marriott's website. I found it for £101-£103/night from comparison sites but Marriott have declined the LNF rate as "reservations are not confirmed to guests at the time of the initial transaction" for the matching site. Essentially the website takes a few hours to send the confirmation which I guess voids Marriott's LNF terms.

Still looking so will report if I am successful in finding something.

Opaque website under express deals now has occasional "unlocked hotels", where they reveal the actual hotel name as in Marriott property and then give 20 minutes to book. Price has been significantly less than Marriott online price. Any way to price match these?

Managed to get a claim accepted for a website (from comparison site) offering £103/night. Only thing is that with the taxes and service charge, the LNF price they've given me works out to be about £95.13/night, when I was expecting something between £75-80/night. This is as the comparison site claimed all taxes and fees were included in the £103/night (I know this may not be true as this is charged at the hotel).

I've emailed the team to let them know this and enquire anyway. Either way, I've still got a great deal here. Anyone had something similar with local taxes and service charge?

If the LNF team was using a rate exclusive of taxes, I will call the OTA site to verify that their rates were inclusive of taxes. That way I know there is no confusion when I email back asking them to recalculate the rates.

Happens a lot with some European sites as they include taxes in their rates.

Is is correct that I have to file my brg claim within 24 hours of my original booking time? If it has been longer I need to cancel my reservation and than rebook the room to submit the claim?

Turns out the OTA site hides away the local taxes clause in their terms. All domestic taxes are included but not the local hotel taxes!

Increased my LNF rate by 16%, but still a slightly better deal - from £103/night to £95/night. Can't seem to fins anything better at the moment.