Oct 5, 2018, 3:54 pm

FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides

Marriott's Best Rate Guarantee Discussion Thread

This thread is about Marriott's BRG. If you don't know what BRG is - here's the Marriott BRG and here's the claim form.
If you're not satisfied with the outcome of your claim and wish for a second review you may reply back by email or call Marriott's BRG hotline 1-800-771-5665. A human is available at this number beginning at 9 am EST.

If you are new to this, and would like to ask fellow FTers questions regarding BRGs, then this thread is the place to start.

Hotel Name:
Date of stay:
Number of Guests:
Room Type:
Marriott Brand Website Rate:
Competing Rate:
Actual Approved Rate:

Marriott BRG Best Rate Guarantee (formerly LNF) Success, failure & discussion thread

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Oct 17, 2018, 12:21 am

#166

ChocolateFactory

Join Date: Aug 2015

Location: DXB

Programs: Marriott Titanium Elite, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, BA Silver, A3 Gold, Sixt Diamond

Posts: 2,809

I’m not sure about Marriott, but SPG’s BRG has always required you to compare the rate to their lowest rate, which included rates visible only to SPG members.

Oct 17, 2018, 1:35 am

#167

yorkboy24

Join Date: Mar 2011

Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium

Posts: 1,173

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChocolateFactory

I’m not sure about Marriott, but SPG’s BRG has always required you to compare the rate to their lowest rate, which included rates visible only to SPG members.

Compare Marriott lowest non refundable Vs Competing site lowest non refundable

OR

Compare Marriott lowest flexible Vs Competing site lowest flexible

OR Any of the above with breakfast (and perhaps other amenities?).

I think that if membership is public, free non restrictive then you could use other sites to compare but this must be always compared with the lowest rate when logged into Marriott, otherwise if you’re trying to circumvent thé freely available members’ rates then what’s the point in the Best Rate Guarantee?

My observations are also based mostly on SPG’s way so please correct me if Marriott is different.

Oct 17, 2018, 4:06 am

#168

YoungBubbie

Join Date: Feb 2013

Posts: 1,815

Quote:

Originally Posted by fumje

I assume you all submitted just using the form, right? I sent one that I think should be straightforward, but it's going on 2 days now and all I got was the auto reply, received an hour after submitting.

Are you sure you didn’t accidentally erase their email?
Give them a call. I’m not sure of number, but someone else posted 800-771-5665
Good luck and keep us posted to any updates.

Oct 17, 2018, 5:42 am

#169

tangel

Join Date: Feb 2013

Location: FLL

Programs: US CP, AA Plat, DL Silver, EY Gold, Kimpton IC, SPG Plat

Posts: 409

Hotel Name: Renaissance New Orleans
Arrival date: October XX 2018
Length of the stay: 4 nights
Marriott.com rate: 240 EUR per night
Competing rate: 185 EUR per night
Outcome: Initially denied, price dropped again next day, replied to email and was surprised to see approval to change first two nights

Oct 17, 2018, 7:59 am

#170

yorkboy24

Join Date: Mar 2011

Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium

Posts: 1,173

Quote:

Originally Posted by canael

Given they have now succesfully "aligned" most of the SPG and Marriott policies (most of them for worse for former SPG members), does anyone know if they are going to introduce the 24 hours cancellation on prepaid rates that Marriot has?

It’s interesting you’ve mentioned this. I haven’t noticed any major change but I have come across one Four Points offering 24hrs cancellation on non refundable rates.

I don’t know if anyone is of the same mindset but almost all my bookings since the merger have been with non-SPG legacy hotels due to them having the 24-hr cancellation policy as I can get BRGs. Until they follow Marriott they are probably losing some business.

Oct 17, 2018, 8:54 am

#171

yorkboy24

Join Date: Mar 2011

Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium

Posts: 1,173

I just got an LNF approved in 48 minutes. That’s a personal record. Amazing!

Oct 17, 2018, 9:32 am

#172

azmojo

Join Date: Oct 2003

Location: Phoenix, AZ USA

Programs: AA Life Gold, Marriott Platinum Elite

Posts: 472

I'm aware of the policy against naming sites, but since it was categorically denied I'm hoping it's OK to discuss the details.

I submitted an LNF claim and as others have reported, I was very suprised with responses within just an hour or two.

I used the site ZenHotels.com. A quick Google shows that a few people have had problems with flaky reservations, mostly in 2016 and 2017, but many have reported a solid experience.

First denial:
I am denying your claim because Marriott has determined that a valid Marriott reservation cannot be completed using the comparison source provided.
You can review our terms and conditions here: http://www.marriott.com/hotel-rates/travel.mi

I asked for clarification and got this:
Thank you for your additional message regarding Marriott's Look No Further(SM) Best Rate Guarantee.

Marriott's Corporate Office has identified Zenhotels.com as one of several sites that although you may be able to confirm a reservation through them, it does not produce an actual reservation at the property level. Because this list is fluid, we do not list the specific "excluded sites" in our Terms and Conditions.

Thank you for choosing Marriott.

I'm not sure this is a valid denial, not sure there's anything that can be done. Except for the really popular travel sites, Marriott could just start claiming this for any claim based on a "lesser known" site.

Oct 17, 2018, 9:47 am

#173

ChocolateFactory

Join Date: Aug 2015

Location: DXB

Programs: Marriott Titanium Elite, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, BA Silver, A3 Gold, Sixt Diamond

Posts: 2,809

The old SPG BRG thread had a wiki of “blacklisted” (i.e. not accepted) websites. ZenHotels has been on that list for 1-2 years.

TerryK and PointWeasel like this.

Oct 19, 2018, 12:18 pm

#174

fumje

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2015

Posts: 11,451

Quote:

Originally Posted by YoungBubbie

Are you sure you didn’t accidentally erase their email?
Give them a call. I’m not sure of number, but someone else posted 800-771-5665
Good luck and keep us posted to any updates.

Thanks, nothing in my spam, and I don't delete emails. The rate has now changed, and I was not so keen on the location I'd submitted for anyway, so I will chalk that up to gremlins somewhere

. Found a rate to match for a better location, so I have submitted that now.

edit: karma (or something??) has smiled on me — I now have an email response to the new request; time from auto-reply to approval email was 3.5 hours.

Last edited by fumje; Oct 19, 2018 at 12:30 pm

Oct 19, 2018, 1:11 pm

#175

makin'miles

Original Poster

Join Date: Feb 2001

Location: somewhere north of stateside...

Posts: 4,143

Hotel Name: St. Regis Florence
Arrival Date: 2019-02-22
Departure Date: 2019-02-25
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 2
Room Type: Deluxe King with Breakfast
Marriott Brand Website Rate: EUR 603.25
Competing Rate: 416.66
Competing Web Site:
Actual Approved Rate: EUR 312.50
LNF Award: 25% discount
Comments: Booked and LNF'd a flex rate - quick turn-around from the LNF team.

Oct 20, 2018, 5:54 pm

#176

PointWeasel

Join Date: Nov 1999

Location: MEX/YVR/YYF

Programs: AS MVP/AC75K/AM Gold/UA*S/SPG-Marriott Lifetime Titanium/Accor-FPC Gold/HHDiamond/Hyatt Exp

Posts: 5,035

Hotel Name: The Adelaide Hotel, Toronto
Arrival Date: October XX 2018
Departure Date: October XX 2018
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 2
Room Type: Standard
Marriott Brand Website Rate: 583 CAD plus taxes/fees
Competing Rate: 333 CAD plus taxes/fees
Actual Approved Rate: 267 CAD plus taxes/fees
LNF Award: 25%

Why stay at a dumpy nearby Courtyard for $250 CAD when you can stay at the soon-to-be St Regis for $267 CAD.

YoungBubbie likes this.

Oct 20, 2018, 6:02 pm

#177

PointWeasel

Join Date: Nov 1999

Location: MEX/YVR/YYF

Programs: AS MVP/AC75K/AM Gold/UA*S/SPG-Marriott Lifetime Titanium/Accor-FPC Gold/HHDiamond/Hyatt Exp

Posts: 5,035

Another datapoint.

Finally received my missing BRG points for August stays.

In true crappy Marriott IT style, no reference of the property these apply which is an issue when trying to reconcile.

Oct 21, 2018, 5:39 pm

#178

PointWeasel

Join Date: Nov 1999

Location: MEX/YVR/YYF

Programs: AS MVP/AC75K/AM Gold/UA*S/SPG-Marriott Lifetime Titanium/Accor-FPC Gold/HHDiamond/Hyatt Exp

Posts: 5,035

Hotel Name: Renaissance Santiago
Arrival Date: October XX 2018
Departure Date: November XX 2018
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 2
Room Type: Standard
Marriott Brand Website Rate: 195 USD plus taxes/fees
Competing Rate: 112 USD plus taxes/fees
Actual Approved Rate: 114 USD plus taxes/fees
LNF Award: 5K Points
Response time roughly 7 hours. ^

Oct 22, 2018, 6:42 am

#179

craigthemif

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Aug 2011

Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane

Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond

Posts: 13,032

Quote:

Originally Posted by PointWeasel

That hotel is really easy to LNF in my experience.

Even though you xxx'd out the dates, presumably you are staying one night because of the choice of 5K points. Just sayin'...

Oct 22, 2018, 10:56 am

#180

TerryK

FlyerTalk Evangelist

Join Date: Sep 1999

Location: New York, NY, USA

Posts: 12,475

Second LNF for Same Reservation

If my LNF claim is denied, can I use the same reservation number to file a new LNF claim against a different website if it is still within 24 hours of original booking?