Middleseatguy

So, I always book directly with Marriott (and whatever other company for their products). The last few days I noticed some fare drops on hotel and rebooked it. I then contacted their low fare desk via the web form and in both instances was denied stating "I did not book thru their media".... what are you talking about??? Both were directly via marriott yet DENIED?? Read the reservation information.

So, they got back to me and told me YOU MUST book via the same method... One via APP the other via website does not qualify... ...? Then they told me that the fare does not exist. Which it does, and I have the proof...... Being my reservations.

Who can I contact to get this fixed? I suspect they don't want to own a 25% "discount" on a $400 room and would rather give out 5,000 points...

myperks

DonnyJohn

Hotel Name: The St. Regis Osaka
Date of Stay: Dec 2019 (2 nights)
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 2
Room Type: Deluxe Twin room
Marriott Brand Website Rate: 83,193 JPY per night include taxes
Competing Rate: 35,483.15 JPY excluding service charge and taxes
Actual Approved Rate: 26,612.36 JPY excluding service charge and taxes
LNF Award: 25%

Biggest deduction I had so far.

joakgarp

Anyone else getting these replies with "unable to approve your claim" ie denial emails now? I think I'm up at 20 or something in a row of denials for 3 different hotels. Haven't gotten a single claim approved for a very long time. I'm finding lower rates but because of Marriott's tough T&C I'm getting denied. Either the rate has changed, they don't see the rate for some add reason even if I give perfect written instructions, the room name is standard but the lowest room category on marroitt.com is deluxe and for this reason they deny, or the agent has found the OTA is not 100% instant confirmation. Sigh.

Brg is tough business sometimes. Is Marriott going the Hyatt soon and loose up on the instant confirmation thing? As well on the room name because really it's pretty obvious that "Standard room" on an OTA site would mean the lowest room category on Marriott.com. In this case, Deluxe Room. Why bother and deny for a reason like that?

mahasamatman

The Look No Further (LNF) program went away with the Bonvoy branding (or maybe even before). It's now (back to) being called Best Rate Guarantee (BRG).

joakgarp

And becuase of my post I had one of my claims approved lol.

Hotel Name: Sopot Marriott
Date of Stay: Aug 2019 (2 nights)
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 2
Room Type: Standard
Marriott Brand Website Rate: 1840 PNL for two nights including taxes
Competing Rate: 392 USD for two nights including taxes
Actual Approved Rate: 1140 PNL for two nights including taxes
BRG Award: 25%

Rate is okay but I think it can a little bit better.

joakgarp

Yes Mods should change the name of this thread to Best Rate Guarantee or BRG instead. I'll alert them.
https://www.marriott.com/look/claimForm.mi
"Look" is still there in the URL but headliner is Best Rate Guarantee Claim Form.

Updated the wiki with correct Brg term. Hope that was okay.

​​​​​​Thanks mods for the name change. Looks good now :-)

DaveMidknight

Yes, I get the same denail emails in the last two months, but it looks like my claims are now mostly getting send to the old Starwood BRG Team in India. And they nearly always denied all claims before the merger.
They mostly come up with that the OTA is "on request". Even when the OTA states that they offer instance confirmation and when I reply if they can show me were in the OTAs terms is says that the booking is "on request" I never get an answer or they come up with a new reason to deny the claim.
If by change my claim get send to one of the other BRG Teams I still get my claims approved.

joakgarp

My claims (I'm in europe) are all handled up to 99,99% by americans & canadians.
Just got a second claim approved of five nights over new years eve. However only the three last nights received the 25% off because Marriott had 1 euro/night better rate for the first first two days lol. The total rate from OTA was much better than Marriott's total rate.
I don't really see the point in in approving half of my stay as I'll (flexible cancellation of course) just continue to search more and file more claims from other OTA sites which means just more work for the BRG agents. More work for BRG agents = costs Marriott money. This is another thing Marriott should improve as Hyatt and Hilton are all looking at the total rate and not per night.

DaveMidknight

I am as well in Europe. :-) As most of my stays are in original Starwood hotels maybe that has something to do which BRG center gets my claims.

My last two claims are a good example for the inconsistency of the BRG agents.

I send two claims two days ago (like 12 hours apart) for 2 different hotels but with the some OTA. Yesterday afternoon the first one got approved and a couple of hours ago the second one got denied, because the OTA is "on request".
I will later call the hotline and see what they say, even if I lose my first claim.

margarita girl

I've NEVER had a claim withdrawn after it was approved, even if it was in error. Starwood was way too classy for that.

joakgarp

Do you experience sometimes that you can see rates that they can't see and the agent denys? I always double check with a VPN set to US and with different web browsers as well on mobile phone and computer, to make sure it's available over there but I do notice sometimes there's a regular denying from some brg agents. What would be great is if their response could be returned with a screenshot with proof that the rate I'm claiming is not for them to see. Feels fishy plenty of times. Bold claim I know but it's strange sometimes.

DaveMidknight

I hope so! And I agree with your comment about Starwood!

Just talked to the BRG hotline and the agent told me to reply to the denied claim with a copy of my approved claim and request a recheck by a supervisor. Let's see what happens!

Yes, I have the same experience and mostly by the same BRG agents, but only since the name change to Bonvoy in March. That was also the time most sites became "on request". So far I haven't found a way around it, even when I check using VPN, mobile devices or different web browsers. Normally I just make a new claim and hope a different agent gets my claim, but this only clogs the BRG queue.

joakgarp

Good luck
This is what I don't like after Marriott took over the BRG hotline. Why can't the agent who answers just check on his computer or cell phone and see the rate and approve or deny the claim by him/herself? Instead they insist we reply back on the email and wait another 14-24 hours. Sometimes the agents won't even respond lol if I reply back. I had someone who didn't want to check my claim lol and asked me to submit a whole new claim. Like, come on are you a salesman on provision or something?

DaveMidknight

So, here is the update! Yesterday, I replied to the denied claim, asking for a review and pointing to my approved claim. A couple of hours ago I got an updated reservation for my denied claim with an updated rate and the remark that it is now a "Best Rate Guarantee Rate". But I never got the approval mail or a reply to my mail requesting a recheck of my claim. Just the updated reservation! The rate was updated correctly, so I am happy with the outcome!

But it really leaves a bad impression of the agent denying my claim in the beginning. Because (and this is just my opinion) it looks like he cheated, when he denied my claim the first time. He even wrote the following, when he denied the claim: And now I just get an updated reservation without any comment or reply. That also doesn't shine the best light on him, because I don't think that he would just changed the reservation, if he didn't knew my claim wasn't correct. And if a supervisor rechecked it and approved it, a short sorry email would also have been nice. Mistakes happen, we are all human!