BORG completed with success!
I am gold status.

Original booking
Subtotal: 1,525.00 DKK Plus applicable Fees and Taxes *
Rate Type: Standard Guest Room
Breakfeast: Not included

BORG
www.amoma.com DKK1120.00-25%=DKK840.00 per room, per night (breakfast included, VAT included)

My BRG has been reject giving the reason that cancellation policy does not match.
Actually the cancellation policy at competent website is better than clubcarlson.com
clubcarlson.com allows free cancellation until 4 days before booked day whereas competent website allows free cancellation until the days of arrival.

Kindly suggest.

Alas, you are admitting that the cancellation policies do not match. Even though you think the cancellation policy at the "competitor" website is better, the plain language of the policy allows them to deny on this basis, even if you think that is silly.

LOL I have to laugh at this. THINK its better? It is better! You are probably the type of guy that reads the 50 page EULA every time he installs a piece of software too.

Why the personal attack on him? He responded to your question succinctly and in clear terms on why you were denied. :td:

I fail to see the connection. But yes, I am the type of guy who when someone questions being denied a promotion, goes to the text of the promotional terms and conditions. Crazy. I do not know enough about the individual's comparative rates to make the same conclusions you do. For example, one rate may "allow a cancellation" up to 2 days before, with a fee of $75, and another, up to 4 days out , with no fee. In that case, "better" would be subjective. More importantly, I am trying to provide correct, helpful information that is generally useful to others. I see you are not interested in doing that and instead make a post solely to make an odd personal attack but I have no apologies.

Ah, since nsummy was denied his BRG he is on a rant rampage ;)

First off, BRG is not a promotion, its a standard operating procedure of theirs'. Its part of the program, not some great deal they are extending for a limited time that we are lucky to get to begin with.

Second, I think its pretty obvious with most of these 3rd party booking sites. Most of them allow cancellation the day of or a day or 2 before for FREE. They state it in plain letters. I have yet to see one charge $75, unless its club carlson.

3rd. In your quest to provide helpful and accurate information, you seem to belittle anyone who doesn't read the very fine print. Or someone who does read the fine print and assumes (like many who have posted here) that CC won't deny their claim.

CC's website states in giant letters: "you can book any hotel on clubcarlson.com with no booking fees and be confident you are receiving the best hotel room rate available on the web - guaranteed. "

Then in extremely fine print they have these exclusions that your average consumer would not find as appealing as the giant marketing text. There are certain businesses you expect stuff like this from: used car dealerships.

Not on a rant rampage, just find it ridiculous when someone says that a poster "THINKS" he/she found a better cancellation policy, as if he or she doesn't know basic math!

Thanks. I find you ridiculous too, if you go through life thinking that no company but used dealers can have terms and conditions beyond a 10 word lead, and have such a narrow definition of " promotion". I will be sure to clear all my word choices with you in the fiuture. Regardless, I wasn't seeking to get into a dispute over whether the CC BRG policy is as generous as it could be (obviously, it could have no BRG at all). I was explaining to a poster why his claim was denied as per the terms and conditions of the program, and you instead launched an attack on me over semantics. I will repeat something I've suggested before: there should be separate threads for people who just want to rant about not reaping windfalls from BRGs, and those who are actually helping others navigate the program (or promotion or feature or whatever you, high priest of language, has deigned appropriate).

Nearly 48H after submitting the claim, no response.

2 slightly related questions. Hopefully they fit here.

(I was advised not to open that many topics)

- A Radisson Blu property in Europe on its front page offers a (quite affordable) price. As all Radisson Blu properties display their cheapest prices on their respective home pages. Sure, I did not try all 365 days on which day they offer that price but the nearest price was 1.5 times and the average price was 2 times as much. Now what?

- Why only the cheapest rooms offer a prebooking discount across the brand? Sure there might be a business logic behind it I just couldn't figure it out.

Original rate €129

BORG APPROVED UK.HOTELS.COM 103.20 - 25% = 77.40 EURS TI

:)

From the T&Cs:

So that means the great Radisson rate I found on another website including breakfast AND at a vastly cheaper price is ineligible for the BORG? What a joke of a programme. SPG doesn't have a problem with that kind of match.

I'm 3 out of 4 radisson BRGs in the past week. Never stayed there before but am taking advantage of the AA promotion for 7500 miles, so booked 2 stays each for me and the wife. The only one that was denied was because the rate had changed on the OTA. However, I did have to cancel and submit multiple times. Make sure you get the acknowledgement of submission email, otherwise, it didn't go thru

Hi, I sent a claim last saturday, and I'm still waiting for an answer. Radisson BRG is now just a waste of time...

I thought that Radisson BRG was dead, but I've got a valid claim yesterday.

Original rate = 105 €
VALID, 81.61 EUROS - 25% = 61.21 INCLUDING TAX

Unfortunately, I had to make 3 attempts and needed two weeks for that. I'm not sure it's worth the effort...

I just received an answer to my claim after exactly 24 hours and I am very happy with it :-) Approved!!
Hotel: Radisson Blu Scandinavia Düsseldorf (3 nights / 2 business class rooms during New Year)
- Total price for my booking on the Radisson website : €963
- Total lower price on other website : €639
- New Radisson price after BPG claim : €479,22 (average of €79,87 per room per night)
That's less than half the price of my original booking!!

I have successfully been able to claim several BRG in the past, however, my last claim is being rejected for a reason that I fail to understand.

I have performed a Standard booking (that is cancellable) on a Radisson Blu property at 390€. I have found a cheaper cancellable rate on Expedia for 360€.

My rate was rejected because the Carlson representative was able to find a non-cancellable rate at 300€, both on RadissonBlu.com and Expedia.

I re-read the entire BRG T&C , unfortunately I failed to read which paragraphs states that a BRG cannot be claimed when another rate is not eligible for a BRG.

This even seems pretty inconsistent with the T&C, that states:

To the best of my understanding, the mere fact that I booked a room with a given rate, and found a “Competing Rate” on another website makes the claim valid.

Have you ever been subject to this rule?

It sounds like a bogus reason, some hotel BRGs require you to book the lowest available rate but I do not see that in Club Carlson's rules. I wonder if CC outsourced to the same group that does IHG's BRG? :D

Did you protest or escalate the issue, and what was the outcome?

Re: Brg is joke
 

Yesterday, I found a $74 rate for the Park Plaza in Bloomington MN on Expedia. The rate was fully cancellable by 3 p.m. on the date of arrival. The Club Carlson rates were a prepaid rate of $89.25; and a rate of $105.00 fully cancellable by 6 p.m. on date of arrival.

I booked the $105 rate which is the closest to the Expedia rate. It was denied because the $105 rate can be cancelled up until 6 p.m. whereas the Expedia rate had to be cancelled by 3 p.m.

Booked: Radisson Kalamazoo, 2 nights $159/nt on Radisson/CC website - non refundable advance rate, king

Found: $154/nt for my dates on hotels.com, expedia, travelocity and a bunch more - non refundable advance rate, king

Submitted Claim on their webform 17th April, about 10 mins after booking

1st reply - 18th April, denied as no screenshots sent - rate still online and no option to include screenshots on form :rolleyes: - replied right away with screenshots

2nd reply - 21st April (i had emailed them a few hour before, asking for update, but this reply was to my mail on the 18th) - denied as cancellation policy did not match - agent quoted hotels.com refundable rate to me, at least she looked up the rates I suppose - I replied asking to please check the correct cancellation policy of no refund

3rd reply - 22nd April - success! 25% off hotels.com rate applied to stay, new rate $114. Agent did say that it does not qualify for points "as per Club Carlson terms", so I have asked for clarification on this


Not bad overall - 3 emails to them about it, they could give the option to include screenshots in the claim form to stop the presumed blanket 1st round denials. Much better than Accor (weeks to get it sorted and then usually given rate due to the delay) and Hilton BRG programs. 25% off is very nice too!

Update on the above, agent error, rate/stay counts for gold points.

Next booking:

Booked: Radisson Kalamazoo, 1 night (previous night to other 2) $143/nt on Radisson/CC website - non refundable advance rate, 1 bed

Found: $139/nt for my dates on hotels.com, expedia, travelocity and a bunch more - non refundable advance rate, 1 bed

Submitted Claim on their webform 27th April, about 30 mins after booking

1st reply - 29th April - success! 25% off hotels.com rate applied to stay, new rate $104. Surprised at the no BS at all - no screenshots submitted again so the agent must have looked up the rate himself, great :D

This rate and the one from my previous post have updated on the My Account section to reflect the new dates. Both were non-refundabe rates and the emails with the BRG success both confirm this as the case. However, on the My Account section, both state:

:confused:

Do i have a Valid Claim?
 

Radisson Royal hotel in Dubai

Radisson.com Lowest Rate of $251.31
Travelzoo.com Lowest Rate of $91.67

Reply received
___
We are unable to approve your Best online rate claim due to Travel Zoo searches other sites in order to book.
The rate has to be viewable and bookable online, as oppose to take you to additional sites in order to book the rate.
___


But this is not true,

http://www.travelzoo.com/hotel-booki...ocationId=2503

This is a direct link to a viewable and bookable online room via travelzoo.com

I submitted a new claim where they just said that i've passed the 24 hour after time of booking limit. Anyone know how i can escalate this claim? Or should i just give up. I feel like they are just stalling and waiting for the good rate to disappear.

I am afraid that this is not a valid claim because Travelzoo requires being a member and logging onto the website to see the rate and book it (rate is not available to the 'public'), even though this is free...

Denied!
 

So my claim has been denied for a Park Plaza hotel in London and the customer care has been no help at all. No matter what I ask they send me a copy of the Terms and say once again that my claim is ineligible based on the currency being different in the comparison rate.

I booked on their site at a rate showing 15% off, then found a rate of 30% off on Hotels.com. After the first denial I went to Hotels.com and changed the currency display option to British Pounds and sure enough the rate not only changed the currency but also went back to 15% off to match the Park Plaza site. The language of the terms appear to indicate that the clause is there to remove any claims based only on the currency conversion rate but the 15%/30% has nothing to do with the currency conversion.

It is beyond me how they can get away with showing rates in this way and also how they can deny a claim that clearly had a better rate shown. It is even more puzzling that a company would see it beneficial to claim a guarantee only to use a questionable detail to invalidate that guarantee.

Not exactly:

A "Competing Rate" is defined as a rate available online for the same date(s), the same length of stay, the same number of guests, and the same room type (i.e. room size and amenities) at the same hotel, in the same currency, subject to the same rate rules and/or restrictions.

I was referring to the next paragraph where it goes into detail about conversion rates not being valid as a basis for a claim. If the only valid comparison rates are in the same currency, why would there be any need to mention conversion rates?

But further one has to ask why and how they can exclude a comparison rate based solely on the currency displayed. Are residents of certain countries entitled to better rates at these hotels? Most sites make it clear that the currency conversion is only for display and any payment will be converted to the local currency of the hotel anyway so I don't see how it makes a difference.

I would also point out that just because something is written in the terms does not make it right or even legal. If they changed their terms to simply state "Except when we don't feel like it" would you be satisfied when they denied your claim?

I think this is to stop angling from claimers when it comes to finding a "cheaper" rate. A marginal change in an XE rate (incredibly normal and happens hundreds of times a day) could suddenly make a rate more than $1 less (especially for much more expensive room rates) when trying to convert the currencies. As this is not a truly cheaper rate, its easier to blanket ban all claims with differing currencies.

It should not be too hard to find whatever cheaper rate you are looking for in the currency that you booked your hotel rate in. If not, then its also clearly more profitable to book a rate and pay whatever % your bank will charge you for currency conversion, if you are getting matched to a lower rate and then a further 25% off of it too

I get why they would have that clause in general but as I mentioned they are denying a rate of 30% off compared to their rate of 15% off ONLY because the 30% off rate is displayed in dollars. I have looked everywhere for the same rate in British Pounds but even on the site where I found the 30% off rate it reverts to 15% when I change the currency option. Also interesting is that the terms shown by Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, and probably many other chains word the currency clause completely differently so that it is clearly only excluding differences caused only by the conversion rate.

nvm..

What about the site you found the great deal on is just broken? If it changes from 30% to 15% if you just change the displayed currency something is not right.

I had a couple of valid claims, mostly with booking.com and got it approved every time as long as all the details where matching.

By the way, the other chains BRG, LNF etc programs are pretty picky as well.

YMMV.

This is just one of the ways to turn claims down - booking.com is a bit special because they don't have country specific sites like hotel.com (.dk, .se etc.)

Every chain has their own rules, and if you want to play, you'd better know with the rules. I have had success with Radisson a couple of times.

it's 72h since I've submitted my claim and I'm still waiting for their decision. Idiots.

Let's see... I have submitted a BRG yesterday. So far nothing, just the rate on Expedia (60% of the official one) is gone now ;)

Why the hell do you think they take 2-5 days to reply! :P

So, got a decision "denied". But not since the rate expired and they didn't found it. No, since I did not book the cheapest rate on Club Carlson - which of course would have been non-refundable/non-changeable compared to the full flex rate?!

They even claimed that they offer the same rates as Expedia and when I checked Expedia was still cheaper... not that much but still cheaper.

Old story mate! ;)

After complaining and sending in proof again the claim was accepted within minutes. New rate is Expedia - 25% (around 100€ now, rack rate was 200€) which is a quite nice rate for that hotel. Will save my 44k points/per night for another time.

Submitting BPG claims...
 

In your experience, how long does it typically take to get a response to a BPG claim?

If the price on the competing site changes in the mean time, does Club Carlson accept the screen shots as evidence of lower rates?

Also, is printing the blank claim form and then filling it by hand and then either faxing it or scanning + e-mail the only way to submit a claim?