Phony Marriott Rate Guarantee
 

Marriott's Look No Further Best Rate Guarantee
is a total fraud.

I was about to book a room for the PVG
Courtyard online, but my laptop was acting up. I called the
hotel directly and ask about the rate I saw on the MC website.
The hotel inhouse res agent told me I could do much better
online at other websites than she or MC could offer. I looked
around and found a MUCH BETTER deal on hotels.com for the
same room for the same nights. I was aware of, and depending
on the "Best Rate Guarantee" MC offers....so I sent an email to
customer care....who informed me the rate guarantee only applies
to Marriott websites. Priceline, hotels.com, Orbitz, etc....are
outside the MC guarantee. Thus, the "Best Rate Guarantee" is
totally worthless. Misleading. Unethical. A fraud.

After over 20 years in the MC program....I will now only stay
there as a last resort.

THIS thread says otherwise.

Yet another one post ranter that never comes back! Tchau!

I have email from MC internet.customer.care (James White) advising me that
"Hotels.com is not a qualifying website." for the Best Rate Guarantee.
I have since called two MC customer care 800 numbers.....at the
second the agent, very politely, offered to cancel my MC
rewards number if I found that Marriott policies were unethical
or deceptive.

I can't believe I was stupid enough to rely on that "guarantee" in the
past. Could have saved some $$$.

So your laptop was "acting up" when you called the hotel in-house reservations dept but was working properly when you visited hotels.com and when you sent an email to customer care?

Oh and is working good enough for you to register and post on FT?

hmmmmmm.

I'm back.
What's your point?

Nope, did all the subsequent internet work at the hotel business center.
(Astor House Hotel, Mezzanine Level, near the massage parlor.)

James White, MC Customer Care emailed me that "Hotels.com would not be a qualifying website" for the rate match.
Subsequent calls to MC have established that no internet site (Priceline, Hotwire, Hotels, etc) qualifies for the rate match. In other words, the MC website will be happy to match other MC websites rates. Outside the MC system and there is no rate match.

I have successfully used both expedia.com and hotels.com as sites that have I used to envoke the best rate guarantee from Marriott. Also, I am pretty sure others on this board have as well

something seems odd here...it's rare that those websites should be lower (not that it doesn't happen at times)...I'm not sure why a reservation agent would risk their position by directing a guest to another channel...Mr. Marriott firmly believes all channels should offer the same rate for the same type of product (hense the guarantee)

What is MC?

My guess is Marriott Corporate, but that is just a guess.

One word. LAZY. Reservation agents are not at the top of the pay scale and are not always as devoted to the barely above min wage job as you make them out to be. Many are very good and dedicated, but the pay scale does not always bring in the reservationist career seekers.

LNF works great, I can assure you there are no massive problems, I use it all the time.
Q to the OP: there are specific rules and it can very well be that hotels.com will not qualify for this specific claim. Only claims within the US and Canada are easy to get through; other countries have more stringent rules attached.

I presume you have not been lurking long as this subject comes up every few months.

Flyer Talk is very helpful but not known to be kind. I'm probably supposed to make some remark about doing a search and you would find a prior thread, but search hasn't been working well lately and I've been kicked once today myself. Let me bring you up to speed.

The guarantee only applies to published rates, and its a similar deal with most if not all major chains. It does not apply to "third-party" channels, who pre-buy rooms in bulk and resell them. Your complaint does not just apply to Marriott. It changed about five years ago across the board.

Hotels.com, Priceline (at least the bidding channel), and Hotwire are all examples of resellers who buy in bulk and then turn the room for what they can get. No points and no price match. Travelocity and Orbitz used to be the second model, but I'm not at all sure they still are based on my last near-booking experience with the former, when something seemed like I was about to prepay and I bailed for the direct website.

You can usually tell by whether you pay the seller directly at the time of purchase, including taxes, or if they just make you a reservation like a storefront travel agent and you pay the hotel on arrival, just as if you had booked directly with the hotel.

With the economy sucking there seem to be a lot more good third-party deals, as opposed to just dropping listed price. But they are off the record discounts and your reward is to pay less, not to get Marriott to price match,

No.

Something tells me some details are missing....

What dates did you look? Just curious...

The kind agent at the PVG Courtyard inhouse res office suggested I go to the internet after I ask about the rates, specifically after I expressed disappointment that the MC rate did not include internet access nor breakfast.....a total of over $40 worth of services that I planned to be using. She was trying to offer me a channel to get what I wanted at the best price. If you think about it - I have no idea what hotel management might think - it was probably the best course for her as I might well have gone to a different hotel had she not let me in on how to get what I wanted for the best rate.

April 1st thru 4th.

According to my two calls to MC customer care and the email I got from Mr. James White at MC internet cc....hotels.com does not qualify for the rate match, period.

Well, you've been given duff information then. If there is a rate on Hotels.com which is cheaper than on Marriott.com and all the various T&C's of the Look No Further guarantee are met, the claim will be approved.

If in the next 24 hours you find a lower rate for the same hotel, room type and reservation dates, submit a claim form. You may search anywhere for a lower rate, provided that a claim form is submitted at least 24 hours before your scheduled arrival date.

https://www.marriott.com/hotel-rates/travel.mi

dugar -

have to go with the majority here. I have successfully filed LNF multiple times; from outside web sites as well as using the some of the codes located in the sticky at the top of this forum. hotels.com is one of the ones I have used.

if hotels.com wanted you to pre-pay; doesn't qualify. if they do not, it does. if they do not want you to pre-pay, and all other criteria for LNF are also met - re-file.

I had to do that once. On the second go-around, it was accepted. No one is perfect.......

2009 or 2010?

If it was for 2009, and you're filing now (as your thread was started on April 15), then you're a little late & maybe it was declined since you tried after the fact?

MC is also the GDS chain code for Marriott Full service hotels (MHR)

having spent a fair amount of time interacting with reservation agents I personally dont believe this is the case...MI has a very strong quality control and training program-not saying it couldn't be the case but wouldn't be even close to being the norm

>>> Marriott Concierge can you please confirm for our newbie that hotels.com is a site that can be used as a comparison for LNF guarantee.

From the Q&A (https://www.marriott.com/hotel-rates/faqs.mi):

10. Can I submit a claim based upon a lower rate found on any Web site?
Most Internet Web sites are included in Marriott's Look No Further® Best Rate Guarantee (for example, Hotels.com, Expedia.com, Travelocity.com). However, the Web site must be one in which you can complete the transaction on the site. Opaque providers of hotel rooms, such as Priceline.com and Hotwire.com, that do not reveal the hotel brand name until after you have pre-paid your hotel room do not qualify for the guarantee.

Someone is caught up in the smoke screen......

Maybe you missed the OP's posting....

Friends.....(five postings here above.)

Note: I have it IN WRITING from MC that Hotels.com does not qualify for the rate match. From Mr. James White of Internet Customer Care. In writing. Would be glad to post the email from MC if there is a way to do that on flyertalk. Additionally I have appealed twice to the customer care folks. They all advise that there is no match for any of the mentioned websites. Perhaps because it was PVG and not a domestic location, or whatever.....but MC says no way to hotels.com. Period.

Sorry you feel I'm caught up in a smoke screen - I can assure you that isn't the case given my background, no I didn't miss the OP's posting either - It still feels to me as though additional details are missing however one important piece of information was disclosed in a later posting by the OP

let me make a call and get back to you on this

I understand the hotels.com rate included free internet and free breakfast.

Did the Marriott rate you were comparing on hotels.com also include free internet and breakfast? Because if it didn't, that is the reason the hotels.com rate was not a valid comparison for your stay.

The comparison rate must be for the exact same room type and any additional extra's such as breakfast, internet, gift cards, etc... I have seen lower rates on many websites vs. marriott.com but they sometimes include extra's where as the marriott rate does not. That would not qualify as a valid comparison for a LNF claim.

Even a pre-payment or cancellation policy difference will not qualify for a LNF claim.

I have to make a statement on the prepayment thing...

I scored a successful LNF when comparing an Expedia.com rate to a Marriott rate. If what y'all are saying is true, they should've rejected my claim because the Expedia rate was a PREPAY IN FULL rate. One of their special Expedia rates. I believe they refer to it as Expedia Special Rate. The Marriott website rate was not a prepay rate; only a reservation.

At any rate, I saved a ton of money and was very impressed with how easy it was to file the claim. The turn around time was amazing!

They key word is "should've". I too have had one approved (and I know of others who have), but they are supposed to reject them & almost always will. Somehow they missed yours........enjoy your savings!

If what your saying is true it only makes my point that the rate guarantee from MC is an unethical fraud.

You say if MC is charging $100. per nite, room only, but Hotels.com is charging $95 per room nite plus internet and breakfast....that this would not qualify for the MC rate matching cause hotels.com is not offering the same product. Of course not, they are offering a better product for a lower rate. The room nite is an equal product, but the extra amenities are an added inducement to book out of the MC channel. Which is what any "rate match" would be designed to stop, to keep you booking at MC knowing you are getting the best deal available.

Likewise on the prepay issue. Yes, at Hotels.com they charge your credit card. But if you no-show at MC, the charge your credit card also. I don't see the difference.

Prepayment or free breakfast do not justify MC's actions. Neither of these issues makes MC's behavior any less unethical. In the case of the free breakfast MC's action seems even more unethical.

Not sure why Hotels.com would not count in a BRG, as you see the property and price before you book. As for pre-pays, I saw a pre-pay on Expedia, put in a BRG request to Marriott and at first was denied since I didn't book it with Expedia. I shot back that had I booked at Expedia and my BRG was denied, I was out the money with no recourse. (I did book a cancelable res at Marriott for comparison before I filed as Marriott did not have a comparable pre-pay rate)
My next email was my new no-pre pay BRG rate, cancelable until 6p the day of check in, so now I had my cake and could eat it as well...Seems Marriott does do the right thing based on my one recent experience.

sorry didn't have time on Friday - but I'll do my best to see what's up on Monday

I'm not sure what's unethical about this....not rational yes, unethical no

Usually on most competing sites, pre-paid rates are non-changeable & non-refundable. You have the option of canceling before a set time without penalty with Marriott as long as its not pre-paid rate.

For example: Let's say you booked a room with hotels.com and it was prepaid, the day of arrival something comes up and you are not able to complete the stay, you would not be able to recoup the money with hotels.com yet if you had booked with Marriott you would have until 6pm the day of arrival without penalty.

Sometimes the flexibility of canceling without penalty outweighs the savings from the competing site. After-all, what good are the savings if you think there is a chance you might have to cancel the stay?

I may not always agree with the LNF policy but I along with others have saved thousands of dollars with the program.

It is NOT a Fraud nor is it Unethical.