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SPG Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) 2018: Success, failure & discussion thread

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Old Jan 1, 2018, 7:21 am
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Last edit by: Starwood Lurker
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POSTING FORMAT

Hotel Name:
Arrival Date:
Departure Date:
Number of Rooms:
Number of Guests:
Room Type:
Starwood Brand Web Site Room Rate:
Competing Rate:
Competing Web Site:

Comments:

FAQ

What is the Best Rate Guarantee (BRG)?

If a lower rate at an SPG Hotel is made available on a non-SPG website or non-SPG mobile application, upon its receipt of a claim that satisfies these Best Rate Guarantee terms and conditions, SPG will honor that Competing Rate and provide the individual that submitted the valid claim one of the following rewards: (1) an additional 25% discount off the Competing Rate (20% for Design Hotels) per room per night (up to a maximum of three rooms); or (2) 2,000 Starwood Preferred Guest® Starpoints® per room per stay (up to a maximum of three rooms).

What should I do if my claim is successful?
  • Re-confirm your rate at check-in; normally the hotel will have the correct BRG rate in your reservation, but sometimes you will need to remind them.
  • If you choose points, they will be credited after the stay; check in one week to see if they have posted. If they have not posted, then contacted the BRG team to get it posted.
Are SPG benefits honored for BRG stays?

Yes. You should receive the same SPG elite member benefits and stay/night credit as for a normal paid stay.

How do I view my reservation after my BRG has been approved?
  • Log into your SPG account.
  • Click on your stays to view your current reservation.
  • Click on "Set Stay Preferences" link for the BRG reservation, then SAVE.
  • Refresh your stays page and the reservation should be visible again. You may need to repeat this step if the hotel touches your reservation. If you apply for Your24, you will not be able to view the reservation details.
How do I add a Suite Night Award (SNA) to a my BRG reservation?
  • Follow the steps as outlined under: How do I view my reservation after my BRG has been approved?
  • At the end of this process, you should be able to select "Apply SNA to this Stay" from within your stays page.
GUIDELINES FOR A SUCCESSFUL CLAIM

• You cannot BRG against a rate on a Starwood Website/App (hot escapes, promos, Gov. Rate etc.). It has to be a 3rd party website/App.

• The rate you submit the BRG against must be a rate that is available to the general public
• Cancellation/Deposit Policies and amenities must match on both websites to be valid

A valid Starwood website reservation is required to submit a BRG

• If a room category is available on an external website but not on Starwood, you may still make a claim. You still need to make a booking with Starwood using the next lowest category of room and must include the cancel/deposit polices and amenities you are wanting- if your claim is approved the room type in the booking will remain what is booked.


• Only one claim may be submitted per reservation number (If your first claim is denied, you may submit a new claim for that reservation if you find another lower rate after you receive the denial email)

• You must book and submit a claim for the room type, cancel policy, deposit policy and amenities you are comparing. If you a flexible rate on SPG.com, they will look for a flexible rate when processing your claim, even if a lower rate for non-cancellable is available.
• You cannot BRG with a flexible rate against a prepaid rate. All information must be the same on both websites and the claim will be denied.

• If your comparable rate includes extras like breakfast or parking, make sure there is a room available on spg.com that includes the exact amenities. If there is no room available with the same amenities, it will be denied.

• Room types must be the same for a BRG.

• If you are booking and comparing rates for a non-refundable booking, note that you are responsible for any and all charges including cancellation charges, even if the claim is not approved

• If you have an approved and finalized claim and you find an even cheaper rate later, then you may submit a new BRG claim that is not connected to any existing reservation. If this BRG claim is approved, you will need to make a new reservation on SPG.com. Once the process is completed, you will then email the BRG desk to cancel your first reservation, if it is within the cancellation deadline.

• The cancel policy of an approved claim will be the same as what was booked and approved. It will no longer default to flexible.

• If you find availability for the room type you want on a third party website/app but there is no availability for that room type on the Starwood Website, then this may be an approved claim if it meets all other terms and conditions. You will need to make sure that you specify the room type you actually want on the Starwood Website section and enter 0 in the rate and currency. This will ensure that the processing associates know that the room type you want is not available on the Starwood Website. You may also add additional comments near the end of the claim form indicating that there is no availability on the Starwood Website for that room type to help clarify.

• If you find availability on a third party website/app but there is no availability on the Starwood Website, then this claim cannot be submitted as you must have a valid reservation to submit a claim. If it is submitted somehow without a reservation, the claim will not be processed as a valid Starwood reservation is required.

• Per the FAQ, "Any questions regarding claims should be directed to [email protected] or call 1-866-500-0368." A human is available at this number beginning at 9am EST.

OTAs not eligible because they do not confirm instantly:
  • AsiaWeb
  • BestDay
  • Cancelon
  • Ctrip (Known as MyTrip from Dec 2017)
  • Elvoline
  • HappyRooms
  • Hoteling
  • Hotelreservierung.de (according to BRG team 5 Sept 2017)
  • HotelsClick (Some rates on request, some instant)
  • Ostrovok
  • Roomertravel
  • Laterooms (according to BRG team 24 Oct 2016)
  • Hotelius (according to BRG team 21 Sept 2017)
  • Zenhotels (according to BRG team 10 Nov 2017)
  • Travelbag (according to BRG team 22 Dec 2017)


Special Conditions for BRG & Design Hotels
  • You may only claim against the absolute lowest rate on SPG.com, for the date(s) in question.
  • The rate must be the lowest on sale on SPG.com, and is regardless of the type of room you actually want, the number of occupants, cancellation policy and the amenities provided. In all likelihood this will mean you have to use a rate for a standard room, for 1 person, non-refundable and without any amenities.
  • It is not necessary for the rate on the external website to match the SPG.com rate in any way including room type and number of occupants. The only requirement for a successful BRG claim is that the rate be lower than the lowest rate on SPG.com for the date(s) in question.
  • As with normal BRG claims, you need to make a booking before submitting a claim but it must be the lowest rate for the hotel and dates. Since this will likely be a non-refundable booking, note that you are responsible for any and all charges including cancellation charges, even if the claim is not approved.
  • Amenities are not included in the comparasin
  • You will retain the category of room booked on SPG.com, even if the external website rate submitted for the claim refers to a different category of room. This is especially pertinent in situations where the hotel continues to sell lower categories of rooms on other websites, while not making them available on SPG.com. You will then be able to book a higher category of room on SPG.com, BRG the lower rate, and retain the higher category of room while paying the lower rate.
  • If you need to BRG Design Hotels for Double or higher occupancy.
    • The BRG will be processed for a single occupant, even if the rate does not change for more than one occupant. You must book the actual number of occupants intended. Effectively, you can only BRG for single occupant unless double rate happens to be the same as single. It is not possible to BRG if double rate is higher than single. No modification to occupancy is allowed if BRG is approved. If you submit with single rate, you will be stuck with single room; if you submit with double rate and single rate is lower, it will be automatically denied irrespective of competing rates.

Differing currencies

Marriott may deny claims where the difference between the comparison rate and the Marriott rate is less than $1. Rate disparities primarily attributable to fluctuations and/or differences in currency exchange rates are excluded from the guarantee.

Link to T&C
https://www.starwoodhotels.com/bestrate/terms.html
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SPG Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) 2018: Success, failure & discussion thread

 
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Old Jan 25, 2018, 5:07 am
  #136  
Hilton 25+ BadgeMarriot 100+ Badge
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Homeless
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Posts: 4,841
Originally Posted by margarita girl


The upside is German BRGs can’t be processed by India!
Indeed, this is why I originally preferred German. But if it takes 7 days and it gets declined because the rate has changed, then I am better off with English and accept that once in a while I will have to argue or re-submit valid claims. If the English turnaround is 2 days and if I can get my BRG with 2 attempts (4 days) then it might still be quicker than German...
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Old Jan 25, 2018, 5:08 am
  #137  
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Does anybody have experience with BRG response times in French?
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Old Jan 25, 2018, 5:33 am
  #138  
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Originally Posted by escape4
So after my BRG that took 137 hours, the next one I referred to in my previous post ended up taking 148 hours. Next in line is now 153 hours and counting. It is clearly getting worse so perhaps I should change my language settings from German to English because if a BRG takes a full 6-7 days then it's not very useful.
BRG approved after 155 hours! My next 2 BRGs will be declined however because the rate has changed after 100+ hours.
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Old Jan 25, 2018, 5:58 am
  #139  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
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Posts: 1,280
There is a flash sale going on at hotels.com so I did 2 BRG's. One in English and one in Indonesian Any word on which language is being quicker. Already ruled out on German.

Also, maybe a lurker can clarify. The T&C states that the BRG claim is reviewed within 48 hours. It seems as though for a longer period of time this rule is not met. Do we in any way can ask for leniency, since this is clearly the fault of SPG and not the customer.
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Old Jan 25, 2018, 7:29 am
  #140  
Company Representative - Starwood
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: SPG
Posts: 713
Originally Posted by kevinflyaway
There is a flash sale going on at hotels.com so I did 2 BRG's. One in English and one in Indonesian Any word on which language is being quicker. Already ruled out on German.

Also, maybe a lurker can clarify. The T&C states that the BRG claim is reviewed within 48 hours. It seems as though for a longer period of time this rule is not met. Do we in any way can ask for leniency, since this is clearly the fault of SPG and not the customer.

Hi kevinflyaway,

I understand that a long waiting time may be frustrating and you are right, that the rules state 48 hours for non-English claims.

Unfortunately our language staffing does not always allow us to fulfill this promise. For more urgent claims I would therefore recommend to send the claim in English.

Feel free to send an email if you have any further questions.


All the best,

Alice Kons
Specialist, Social Media
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, LLC
[email protected]
Starwood Lurker IV is offline  
Old Jan 25, 2018, 11:16 am
  #141  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: HEL
Programs: SPG LTP, hotels, OWE, STE+, *G, Octopus
Posts: 5,788
Originally Posted by ChocolateFactory
I did just that after calling the BRG team last night. They said their English response times were very low at the moment. I guess I'll see if that's true.
Pushing 48 hours soon so I'm not sure what is considered "very low"...
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Old Jan 25, 2018, 11:56 am
  #142  
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Programs: SPG, Asia Miles, Skypass
Posts: 13
Hotel Name: Le Méridien Arlington
Arrival Date: June 19, 2018
Departure Date: June 20, 2018
Room Type: Classic room for two guests
Actual confirmed rate: $172.85 USD plus taxes ($230.46 USD less 25%)

Hotel Name: The Westin Crystal City Hotel
Arrival Date: June 20, 2018
Departure Date: June 21, 2018
Room Type: Traditional room for two guests
Competing rate : USD 176.4
BRG Reward : 2000 points
Actual confirmed rate: $176.40 USD plus taxes

Hotel Name: W New York
Arrival Date: June 21, 2018
Departure Date: June 22, 2018
Room Type: Cozy Room with Two Guests
Competing rate : USD 205 (all inclusive)
BRG Reward : 2000 points
Actual confirmed rate: $189.98 USD plus tax and charges

Hotel Name: W New York – Downtown
Arrival Date: June 22, 2018
Departure Date: June 23, 2018
Room Type:One Wonderful room, non-smoking with two guests, room only
Actual confirmed rate: $166.67 USD per night plus taxes and fees, room only ($222.22 USD less 25%)
alanslegal and flockavelliFT like this.

Last edited by a288bennie; Jan 25, 2018 at 11:59 am Reason: more info
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Old Jan 25, 2018, 8:15 pm
  #143  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: HKG/MEL
Programs: CX MP Gold, MR Titanium
Posts: 72
All my claims in the last few days have been processed in approx 24 hrs if not less (not necessarily approved, but at least looked at - enough for a call to get approved). So yes, English processing times seem to be relatively good at the moment,

Hotel Name: Four Points by Sheraton Milan Center
Arrival Date: September 2018
Departure Date: September 2018
Room Type: One Classic room, for two guests, including breakfast
Starwood Rate: EUR 199.50
Actual confirmed rate: 136.86 EUR (182.48 EUR less 25%) including VAT and breakfast, plus city tax
Comments:

Hotel Name: Hotel Imperial, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Vienna
Arrival Date: September 2018
Departure Date: September 2018
Room Type: Classic room (one room for two adults)
Starwood Rate: EUR 401.80
Actual confirmed rate: (360.76 EUR - 25%) 270.57 EUR including Vat per night
Comments:

Hotel Name: The Westin Excelsior, Florence
Arrival Date: October 2018
Departure Date: October 2018
Room Type: 1 Deluxe Room with 2 adults
Starwood Rate: EUR 558.60
Actual confirmed rate: 387.94 EUR (517.25 less 25%) with VAT included, plus city taxes per night
Comments: Initially denied because of a calculation mistake, called and approved very quickly.

Hotel Name: Schloss Fuschl, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Fuschlsee-Salzburg
Arrival Date: September 2018
Departure Date: September 2018
Room Type: 1 Deluxe Room with breakfast for 2 adults
Starwood Rate: EUR 297.50
Actual confirmed rate: 186.82 EUR (249.09 less 25%) with VAT included per night
Comments: First time denied as couldn't find availability so resubmitted claim. Second time denied, because they picked a higher rate on the OTA even though directly above it was a cheaper rate. Called and agent couldn't figure out why the higher rate was used. Agent tried to go in and approve the lower rate but wasn't able to see the same rates so she said she would contact someone in Canada to try do it or ask her supervisor if she can approve based on the screenshots showing the lower rate (it was originally processed in India). Not sure what she did to get it approved, but I received approval the next day.

Last edited by Yannie; Jan 27, 2018 at 5:37 am
Yannie is offline  
Old Jan 25, 2018, 10:18 pm
  #144  
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: bay area, ca
Programs: UA plat, , aa plat, marriott LT titanium
Posts: 4,833
?? Cancelling a BRG reservation

Recently decided to cancel and BRG and discovered that I could not do it online so had to make an international call to Plat concierge - who also was unable to cancel! Since this was a "flexible" rate with a 30 DAY CANCELLATION policy (although the matched rate was 7 days - brg said that doesn't matter and original spg cancel applies) I was quite glad I didn't wait until the last minute.
I did get an email from the hotel the next day confirming cancellation (in response to email sent for me by concierge)..... so my question

Is it normal not to be able to cancel online and even customer service can't cancel, but has to email the property to have them do it?
estnet is offline  
Old Jan 25, 2018, 10:46 pm
  #145  
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: perth
Programs: SPG(LTG), QANTAS gold, Korean, Accor Plat
Posts: 1,500
Originally Posted by estnet
Recently decided to cancel and BRG and discovered that I could not do it online so had to make an international call to Plat concierge - who also was unable to cancel! Since this was a "flexible" rate with a 30 DAY CANCELLATION policy (although the matched rate was 7 days - brg said that doesn't matter and original spg cancel applies) I was quite glad I didn't wait until the last minute.
I did get an email from the hotel the next day confirming cancellation (in response to email sent for me by concierge)..... so my question

Is it normal not to be able to cancel online and even customer service can't cancel, but has to email the property to have them do it?
To save Marguita girl the effort I have copied her reply to the same issue I had last year!

As lcpteck says, you just need to make the reservation visible by clicking on the "Set Stay Preferences" button, click SAVE and refresh your reservations screen.
geminidreams is offline  
Old Jan 25, 2018, 10:49 pm
  #146  
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Toronto
Programs: UA 1K, AC MM E75, Marriott LT Ti, IHG Dia Amb, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 15,521
Originally Posted by geminidreams
To save Marguita girl the effort I have copied her reply to the same issue I had last year!

As lcpteck says, you just need to make the reservation visible by clicking on the "Set Stay Preferences" button, click SAVE and refresh your reservations screen.
LOL. Thank you. I was just about to say, did you try the method described in the Wiki?
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margarita girl is offline  
Old Jan 26, 2018, 1:45 am
  #147  
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: bay area, ca
Programs: UA plat, , aa plat, marriott LT titanium
Posts: 4,833
Thanks, but I'm confused. All my reservations except the brg ones have the option to set stay preferences (as do my point awards - but in those options there is nothing about being able to cancel, just bed type, ug preference, etc), but the brg ones did not) and a button to cancel the reservation. The brg did not only a message about a complex rate and to call customer service ????
Anyway it's cancelled now but still a puzzle. I'll look at the wiki in case it comes up again, but the reservation was always visible - just not the ability to cancel it. And customer service (plat line) also couldn't cancel it????
estnet is offline  
Old Jan 26, 2018, 4:32 am
  #148  
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Programs: MR-Amb, Hyatt-Globalist, AA-EXP
Posts: 1,744
Originally Posted by estnet
Thanks, but I'm confused. All my reservations except the brg ones have the option to set stay preferences (as do my point awards - but in those options there is nothing about being able to cancel, just bed type, ug preference, etc), but the brg ones did not) and a button to cancel the reservation. The brg did not only a message about a complex rate and to call customer service ????
Anyway it's cancelled now but still a puzzle. I'll look at the wiki in case it comes up again, but the reservation was always visible - just not the ability to cancel it. And customer service (plat line) also couldn't cancel it????
I've found that the wiki method works 95% of the time, but if it doesn't there's no other way than contacting the BRG team to cancel it, which takes ~24 hours. It's crazy, but I've definitely had this happen a handful of times. The hotels will sometimes cancel it themselves, but often they won't even touch it.
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Old Jan 26, 2018, 4:49 pm
  #149  
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: LHR
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Posts: 5,120
2 denials today after approx 4 days so rate had moved
ExpatSomchai is offline  
Old Jan 26, 2018, 5:34 pm
  #150  
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Join Date: Jan 2009
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Aloft Liverpool
7th Feb, 1 Night
Rate: 66 GBP
Confirmed rate: 54GBP
Double room
2000 bonus starpoints.
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