Oct 5, 2018, 3:54 pm
Last edit by: margarita girl
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:
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
Jan 29, 2019, 3:06 pm
#481
Join Date: May 2003
Location: LCY
Programs: SQ Krisflyer, QR Privilege Club, MB LT Plt (1K+ nights thx MB)
Posts: 1,038
I do a handful of LNF every year with Marriott and every single time the rate is changed right away to reflect the LNF rate if it is approved.
I just did an LNF request today and it came back approved but instead of having the rate changed the email says to "Please present this e-mail upon arrival at the hotel. Here are the approved details our hotel colleagues will update for you prior to check in:" and "if you have any questions regarding your Best Rate Guarantee claim or if you have any issues with the rate charged at check out, please contact us at [email protected] within 15 days of departure. I wish you a pleasant stay at our property."
Is this normal?
I just did an LNF request today and it came back approved but instead of having the rate changed the email says to "Please present this e-mail upon arrival at the hotel. Here are the approved details our hotel colleagues will update for you prior to check in:" and "if you have any questions regarding your Best Rate Guarantee claim or if you have any issues with the rate charged at check out, please contact us at [email protected] within 15 days of departure. I wish you a pleasant stay at our property."
Is this normal?
Jan 29, 2019, 3:17 pm
#482
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,815
I do a handful of LNF every year with Marriott and every single time the rate is changed right away to reflect the LNF rate if it is approved.
I just did an LNF request today and it came back approved but instead of having the rate changed the email says to "Please present this e-mail upon arrival at the hotel. Here are the approved details our hotel colleagues will update for you prior to check in:" and "if you have any questions regarding your Best Rate Guarantee claim or if you have any issues with the rate charged at check out, please contact us at [email protected] within 15 days of departure. I wish you a pleasant stay at our property."
Is this normal?
I just did an LNF request today and it came back approved but instead of having the rate changed the email says to "Please present this e-mail upon arrival at the hotel. Here are the approved details our hotel colleagues will update for you prior to check in:" and "if you have any questions regarding your Best Rate Guarantee claim or if you have any issues with the rate charged at check out, please contact us at [email protected] within 15 days of departure. I wish you a pleasant stay at our property."
Is this normal?
I emailed them them back saying the new rate was not reflected on my reservation and no one responded. I ended up calling LNF and they assured me that the hotel does have the new rates.
My husband filed a claim a few days ago and that the LNF rate shows correctly on his reservation.
Jan 30, 2019, 7:58 am
#483
Join Date: Jun 2011
Programs: DL, Amex MR
Posts: 287
Interesting! I replied to the email asking why the rate was not changed and said that usually it is changed to reflect the LNF one. Someone responded a few hours later and made the change.
Jan 30, 2019, 2:16 pm
#484
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somewhere in Florida
Posts: 2,622
Hotel Name: Sheraton Tampa Riverwalk Hotel
Arrival Date: 29 Jan 2019
Departure Date: 30 Jan 2019
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 1
Room Type: King
Marriott Brand Website Rate: $273 (+ tax)/night
Competing Rate: $266 (+ tax)/night
Actual Approved Rate: $176 (+ tax)/night -- rep found $235/night and gave me the discount based off that. Nooo complaints here about that!
Arrival Date: 29 Jan 2019
Departure Date: 30 Jan 2019
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 1
Room Type: King
Marriott Brand Website Rate: $273 (+ tax)/night
Competing Rate: $266 (+ tax)/night
Actual Approved Rate: $176 (+ tax)/night -- rep found $235/night and gave me the discount based off that. Nooo complaints here about that!
Jan 30, 2019, 11:05 pm
#485
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: India
Programs: Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, IHG Plat, HH Gold, Trident Plat, DL Diamond, AI Maharajah
Posts: 29,678
Hotel Name: sheraton boston hotel....
Arrival Date: 2 nights in april....
Number of Rooms: 1....
Number of Guests: 1....
Room Type: traditional king....
Marriott Brand Website Rate: $244 plus taxes per night....
Competing Rate: $211 plus taxes per night....
Competing Web Site: via hotelscombined....
Actual Approved Rate: $158.75 plus taxes per night....
LNF Award: 25% discount....
Comments: quick turnaround in under 2 hours....
Arrival Date: 2 nights in april....
Number of Rooms: 1....
Number of Guests: 1....
Room Type: traditional king....
Marriott Brand Website Rate: $244 plus taxes per night....
Competing Rate: $211 plus taxes per night....
Competing Web Site: via hotelscombined....
Actual Approved Rate: $158.75 plus taxes per night....
LNF Award: 25% discount....
Comments: quick turnaround in under 2 hours....
Jan 31, 2019, 8:00 pm
#486
Join Date: Mar 2014
Programs: SPG Platinum, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 236
Just to clarify, if I had done a LNF for 2 rooms, it should be 5000pt for each room?
previously under SPG , I would have gotten 2k SPG points per room. However for one of my recent claim, I only saw points given for one of the 2 rooms.
previously under SPG , I would have gotten 2k SPG points per room. However for one of my recent claim, I only saw points given for one of the 2 rooms.
Feb 2, 2019, 4:39 am
#487
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: Some
Posts: 5,252
I find Marriott responds far more quickly than SPG's BRG ever did (SPG seldom came back within 24 hours whereas Marriott almost always does). However, in addition to the issues discussed above I'm finding it basically impossible to predict when a claim will be successful or not with Marriott. It's not as bad as, say, IHG who basically just try to come up with any possible reason to deny the claim, but it still seems very random as to how the rules are applied each time.
Case in point - just did an LNF for the W Doha. Found a much cheaper rate than direct on Amoma but given that Amoma doesn't properly specify the room type I was worried Marriott would be pedantic and deny the claim even though I was booking the cheapest room type, as this happened to me last time I tried to make a LNF claim. I therefore also submitted a second claim for a slightly more expensive rate including breakfast that I found on Booking.com against a second booking including breakfast, which I was fairly sure would get approved instead as a back-up. What happened was, of course, the cheaper Amoma claim was approved almost straight away (so why was my last Amoma claim denied for that issue?), whereas the Booking.com claim was denied (because there was a cheaper rate available on the property's website which was only available to holders of Qatari ID). Yeah, sure.
Case in point - just did an LNF for the W Doha. Found a much cheaper rate than direct on Amoma but given that Amoma doesn't properly specify the room type I was worried Marriott would be pedantic and deny the claim even though I was booking the cheapest room type, as this happened to me last time I tried to make a LNF claim. I therefore also submitted a second claim for a slightly more expensive rate including breakfast that I found on Booking.com against a second booking including breakfast, which I was fairly sure would get approved instead as a back-up. What happened was, of course, the cheaper Amoma claim was approved almost straight away (so why was my last Amoma claim denied for that issue?), whereas the Booking.com claim was denied (because there was a cheaper rate available on the property's website which was only available to holders of Qatari ID). Yeah, sure.
Feb 2, 2019, 5:01 am
#488
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,815
I find Marriott responds far more quickly than SPG's BRG ever did (SPG seldom came back within 24 hours whereas Marriott almost always does). However, in addition to the issues discussed above I'm finding it basically impossible to predict when a claim will be successful or not with Marriott. It's not as bad as, say, IHG who basically just try to come up with any possible reason to deny the claim, but it still seems very random as to how the rules are applied each time.
Case in point - just did an LNF for the W Doha. Found a much cheaper rate than direct on Amoma but given that Amoma doesn't properly specify the room type I was worried Marriott would be pedantic and deny the claim even though I was booking the cheapest room type, as this happened to me last time I tried to make a LNF claim. I therefore also submitted a second claim for a slightly more expensive rate including breakfast that I found on Booking.com against a second booking including breakfast, which I was fairly sure would get approved instead as a back-up. What happened was, of course, the cheaper Amoma claim was approved almost straight away (so why was my last Amoma claim denied for that issue?), whereas the Booking.com claim was denied (because there was a cheaper rate available on the property's website which was only available to holders of Qatari ID). Yeah, sure.
Case in point - just did an LNF for the W Doha. Found a much cheaper rate than direct on Amoma but given that Amoma doesn't properly specify the room type I was worried Marriott would be pedantic and deny the claim even though I was booking the cheapest room type, as this happened to me last time I tried to make a LNF claim. I therefore also submitted a second claim for a slightly more expensive rate including breakfast that I found on Booking.com against a second booking including breakfast, which I was fairly sure would get approved instead as a back-up. What happened was, of course, the cheaper Amoma claim was approved almost straight away (so why was my last Amoma claim denied for that issue?), whereas the Booking.com claim was denied (because there was a cheaper rate available on the property's website which was only available to holders of Qatari ID). Yeah, sure.
Feb 2, 2019, 10:00 pm
#489
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: perth
Programs: SPG(LTG), QANTAS gold, Korean, Accor Plat
Posts: 1,500
It was normal with SPG. The rate that is approved is is on their email to you and you can use that. I had booked a breakfast included rate at a Courtyard. When I checked in they said it wasnt included until I showed them the email and it was no problem.
Feb 3, 2019, 1:48 pm
#490
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,048
Anyway, w/ a BF included LNF/BRG rate it pays to always have a print-out or screen-shot which shows the BF.
Feb 8, 2019, 7:40 pm
#491
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: TX, USA
Programs: Bonvoy Plat, Hilton Diamond, IHG SA
Posts: 140
Hotel Name: Sheraton Old San Juan Hotel
Arrival Date: 1 nights in March-2019
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 2
Room Type: Traditional King, No View
Marriott Brand Website Rate: $239 + tax & fee per night
Competing Rate: $179 + tax & fee per night
Actual Approved Rate: $134 + tax & fee per night
Arrival Date: 1 nights in March-2019
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 2
Room Type: Traditional King, No View
Marriott Brand Website Rate: $239 + tax & fee per night
Competing Rate: $179 + tax & fee per night
Actual Approved Rate: $134 + tax & fee per night
Feb 11, 2019, 4:38 am
#492
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CPH
Programs: UAMP S, TK M&S E (*G), Marriott LTP, IHG P, SK EBG
Posts: 11,095
I tried to file a claim for my last 2 nights of a stay (first 7 nights using TP) - BRG department denied me and treated my stay as 1 cash stay. It makes no sense - is it true?
The shot down the site and then denied my claim - then BRG readjusted my reservation to member's rate (which is not a fair comparison anyway).
The shot down the site and then denied my claim - then BRG readjusted my reservation to member's rate (which is not a fair comparison anyway).
Feb 11, 2019, 4:44 am
#493
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS/EAP
Programs: UA 1K, MR LTT, HH Dia, Amex Plat
Posts: 32,048
I tried to file a claim for my last 2 nights of a stay (first 7 nights using TP) - BRG department denied me and treated my stay as 1 cash stay. It makes no sense - is it true?
The shot down the site and then denied my claim - then BRG readjusted my reservation to member's rate (which is not a fair comparison anyway).
The shot down the site and then denied my claim - then BRG readjusted my reservation to member's rate (which is not a fair comparison anyway).
The member rate thing has been for a while now and while I agree it is not fair, it is what they are comparing with these days.
Feb 11, 2019, 5:09 am
#494
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: CPH
Programs: UAMP S, TK M&S E (*G), Marriott LTP, IHG P, SK EBG
Posts: 11,095
Also, I discovered that your true arrival date at this hotel is February xx under confirmation number xxxxxxx. I did process your claim for the dates of February xx through
February xx. On both sites, Marriott.com and the comparison sites were not offering any rooms or rates for the dates of your entire stay.
February xx. On both sites, Marriott.com and the comparison sites were not offering any rooms or rates for the dates of your entire stay.
To make things worse: the agent changed my rate without my consent/notifying me.
Last edited by nacho; Feb 11, 2019 at 5:18 am
Feb 11, 2019, 5:44 am
#495
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Toronto
Programs: UA 1K, AC MM E75, Marriott LT Ti, IHG Dia Amb, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 15,521
I tried to file a claim for my last 2 nights of a stay (first 7 nights using TP) - BRG department denied me and treated my stay as 1 cash stay. It makes no sense - is it true?
The shot down the site and then denied my claim - then BRG readjusted my reservation to member's rate (which is not a fair comparison anyway).
The shot down the site and then denied my claim - then BRG readjusted my reservation to member's rate (which is not a fair comparison anyway).
You can get around this by:
- booking your reward stay after BRG is approved (I know, not an option for you)
- booking from a different account
- booking at a different hotel
- booking at a non-Marriott hotel
Wait until you get a BRG with multiple nights at different prices and they only give you 25% off on certain nights.
Anyone who says Marriott LNF is better than SPG BRG needs to have their heads examined.