That's not correct. You have to book the lowest rate from the website, which often is a prepaid rate, even if the rate you want to match against ist completely flexible. I had a claim refused because I booked the best flexible rate. On the other hand, another poster reported he had the claim refused because the other rate was flexible, whileas his was not (however, the T&C never talk about the restrictions of the rate, only the room, so I agree with the way I was treated).

HTB.

Interesting thread.

I've just submitted a claim for a stay in September at the HIX Nottingham. The best rate on the HIX website is the best flex rate (no adv purchase rate offered) so if they deny the claim I can always cancel anyway.

LOL just got my reply - was worth it! Website best price was �89, found other rate for �70 so should get the room for �63. Yay!

Thank you for contacting our office regarding the Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee in reference to rates at the Holiday Inn Express NOTTINGHAM CITY CENTRE. We appreciate the opportunity to assist you.

We are currently requesting the hotel to adjust the nightly rate on your reservation to reflect 10% off the rate which was verified on the third party website. We appreciate your patience and will contact you via e-mail when this has been confirmed.

We look forward to accommodating your upcoming reservation. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us.

Not sure how long your stay is for but if two nights then this link maybe of interest to you...

http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/...-_-EMEN-_-BOOK

Regards,

J

Will the hotel still upgrade the room if you use the guarantee and successfully negotiate a partial refund?

Thanks Flyers - there's no availability for the Thursday unfortunately but appreciate you pointing it out.

Would IC honor the following?

Crowne Plaza Haifa - 2 adults - all rates advance purchase, non-refundableThis appears to be common for all hotels that have per-person charges. So do they consider the per-person charges as part of the rate for the purposes of the rate guarantee?

I really wish they'd work like the SPG BRG where you can get confirmation of whether they'll cover you before booking anything.

Theoretically speaking, the amount you pay should have no bearing on the upgrade. But some stingier hotels may try to cut back on the upgrade/benefits so it's better to email them beforehand and get their written confirmation.

I'd probably just pay IC the $10 and save myself the hassle of getting into a lengthy back-and-forth over the refund. Not to mention you'll be guaranteed points and qualifying night if you book direct with IC whereas there's no such guarantee with 3rd party sites.

Thanks, but that wasn't the question.

Is this another "trick" of at least one IC in Japan to avoid the lowest rate guarantee?

The IC Tokyo Bay is selling their Superior Rooms (i.e. their lowest category) for 18000 JPY + 10% + 5% (approx 21000 JPY) even though this kind of non-inclusive pricing is no longer allowed in Japan). check-in Time is noon, check-out time is 11 am.

On travel.rakuten.co.jp they sell the same room for 14300 JPY (check-in is 6 pm, check-out is 10 am) and 16300 JPY (check-in is 3 pm, check-out is 11 am).

I wonder if I can claim the lowest rate guarantee if my check-in time is after the stated times of the special prices...

I kind of lost my faith in calling the Japanese service center for lowest rate guarantees since about 2 weeks ago, when I found a lower rate but was initially declined with the argument that "the same rate that I found should have been available and was not available because of a computer error, so they cannot force the hotel to honor the lowest rate guarantee". It took at least a 20 minute discussion on the phone to convince the otherwise very nice customer service representative to reconsider, and a long mail to the Ambassador Service to back me up. Even then I was left with the impression that computer errors are my problem, and that I should check various language versions of the ICH webpage because apparantly the Japanese version was not affected by this error.

What are your thoughs?

Cheers,


HTB.

Had a 4 night stay at the IC Buenos Aires last week at BRG rate of $110/night + tax. The lowest rate on the IHG websites was about $135 + tax. The stay has posted as non-qualifying. Can they really get away with having a best rate guarantee but then claim that because the rate was heavily discounted it doesn't qualify for priority club points/stay credit?

I have a best rate guarantee room booked as well, but I'm wondering if the stay won't count as a qualifying stay. Does anyone have any experience with these types of rates?

BGR is always a "qualifying stay".. but the hotel may give you a poor room as retaliation (from my 1 out of 1 experience)

Thanks...so stay would count toward the sweet dilemma promotion?