Oxon Flyer

Marriott's Best Rate Guarantee Discussion Thread

This thread is about Marriott's BRG. Please see the thread wiki for details, links and posting format.

Zurich35

I called the BRG team and they helped me to resolve the issue. In fact the submission that I had done was not successful and they did not receive the claim.
They asked me to do a work around to be able to submit successfully a claim. Instead of logging into my account and then submit the claim from the BRG claims page, I was told not to login and just fill in my personal details and the membership number manually and not have it prefilled via the login from the account. Not sure why that worked but that did the trick.

craigthemif

That's rather the opposite of what I would want to do most of the time. IIRC you must be logged in if you want to choose the 5,000 points...

Zurich35

Since I wanted the discount this was no issue for me. Maybe it was only a temporary glitch. I have not submitted a new request since then, so it is hard to tell.

DaM3nace

Does BRG apply if the rate varies over the course of the stay? Some days the Marriott rate is cheaper while other days the competitor site is cheaper. On average, the competitor site is cheaper overall.

Zurich35

If the competitor prices each night individually it will work like this:
Night 1: 125 USD
Night 2: 125 USD
Night 3: 200 USD
Total: 450 USD

Marriott pricing:
Night 1: 200 USD
Night 2: 200 USD
Night 3: 150 USD
Total: 550 USD

You will get the claim approved for nights 1 & 2.
For night 3 the rate is higher and will therefore not be approved.
If you were to choose the 25% discount you will end up with a total like this:
187.50 USD (2 x 125 USD – 25%)
+ 150 USD
Total: 337.50 USD

If the nightly rate is not displayed individually and only shown as a total it will work like this:
Competitor pricing:
Total: 450 USD / 3 nights
Avg. rate per night: 150 USD

Marriott pricing:
Night 1: 200 USD
Night 2: 200 USD
Night 3: 150 USD
Total: 550 USD

You will get the claim approved for nights 1 & 2.
For night 3 the rate is the same and will therefore not be approved.
If you were to choose the 25% discount you will end up with a total like this:
225 USD (2 x 150 USD – 25%)
+ 150 USD
Total: 375 USD

DaM3nace

Thanks for the detailed response!

CkCrunch

Thanks for this - I had the same issue last night trying to submit a claim. Not only did I need to log out, I also needed to make sure not to put in my membership number manually either. Not sure what is going on.

LAX2DCA

Hotel Name: Hotel Adagio, Autograph Collection
Date of stay: March 11-14, 2022
Number of Guests: 1
Room Type: Guest room, 1 Queen
Marriott Brand Website Rate: $190
Competing Rate: $158.40
Actual Approved Rate: $118.80

I found a much better rate with the same cancellation on Hotels.com. Marriott approved the rate within about 12 hours, and I saved nearly $250 on the three night stay (I obviously chose saving 25%). Looking forward to putting my Marriott Gold status to use this year.

Zurich35

Hotel Name: Courtyard Munich City Center
Date of stay: January 2022, 2 nights
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 1
Room Type: Deluxe
Marriott Brand Website Rate: 262 EUR incl. breakfast (131 EUR per night)
Competing Rate: 228.46 EUR incl. breakfast (114.23 EUR per night)
Actual Approved Rate: 85.67 EUR incl. breakfast
BRG Award: 25% discount
Comments: Flexible rate, it took about nine hours to approve.
It was one of the scenarios where I was only able to find a lower rate for a breakfast inclusive rate. The prepaid rate excl. breakfast was 99 EUR.

joakgarp

Nice find! For what you get Munich offers really cheap hotel stays. I remember our four night NYE trip in 2019 before the big pandemic outbreak in Munich and I think we just paid about the same 90€/night through a Brg rate. I'm used to pay 200€ or even more per night during NYE lol.
Very easy to get around from Munich as well with trains and such.

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xep

I've found a rate on a third party site for a Marriott property for £192 per night. B&B, non-refundable.

Marriott is offering the same room for ~£254 per night, B&B but is the "Member Flexible Rate with Breakfast".
If I choose the "Prepay and save" tab, the rate actually goes up to ~£296 per night, for the same room and B&B, nonrefundable and nonchangeable.

Would this final rate be eligible for the BRG? Seems too good to be true.

Zurich35

I am afraid this claim is most likely to be rejected. As per the terms and conditions "When multiple rates for the same hotel, reservation dates, and room type are available through a Marriott channel you must reserve the lowest rate for that room type to be eligible for the guarantee.". Since the 254 GBP is the lowest rate for that room type that includes breakfast, you would need to book that rate. As this rate is flexible/refundable vs. the non-refundable rate on the competing website, your claim would be rejected.

xep

Makes sense Zurich35 - thank you.

bertheike

Not made a claim sice SPG was merged with Marriott and just learned. >
Rates on auction websites, on sites that do not disclose the hotel brand until the reservation is completed (i.e., Priceline and Hotwire), on sites that require a login or specific credit card to view or book, or on sites that don’t provide an immediate confirmation (e.g., an “on request” rate) are not accepted. Pre-paid, advance purchase, or non-refundable rates on Qunar, eLong, Meituan Travel, Ctrip/Trip.com, Ctrip/Trip.com affiliate sites, or Fliggy are not eligible. Any rates on WeChat are not eligible.

Consens Marriott knows that TRIP.com is cheaper ! So if you plan to book and BRG a trip.com rate, better reserve a refundable rate on Marriott first, otherwise them catch you and you NOT get the BRG and also can't cancel ( for free ) the rate you confirmed with Marriott. This is a bad change comparing with SPG ! With SPG only the rates on auction websites didn't count, or the ones which not confirmed and had to requested first.....Like this now, only the higher standard rates are eligible for BRG....