Last edit by: Starwood Lurker
Signed-in FT members with 90 days / 90 posts can edit this Wikipost.
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?
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?
• 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:
Special Conditions for BRG & Design Hotels
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
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.
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.
- 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.
• 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
SPG Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) 2018: Success, failure & discussion thread
#916
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: HKG/MEL
Programs: CX MP Gold, MR Titanium
Posts: 72
I'm at 99 hours and 22 minutes as of this minute! Their incompetence isn't just on the time it takes...they're not honouring flex vs flex with deposit either!
#917
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,050
But actually the foreign language speakers seemed to have missed the memo, and are being quite harsh. But I've had no problems at all with flex vs. flex and 24-48 hour turnarounds on the regular English service for the standard OTAs.
#918
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: HKG/MEL
Programs: CX MP Gold, MR Titanium
Posts: 72
I used to use the foreign language team as well, mainly to avoid India.
But actually the foreign language speakers seemed to have missed the memo, and are being quite harsh. But I've had no problems at all with flex vs. flex and 24-48 hour turnarounds on the regular English service for the standard OTAs.
But actually the foreign language speakers seemed to have missed the memo, and are being quite harsh. But I've had no problems at all with flex vs. flex and 24-48 hour turnarounds on the regular English service for the standard OTAs.
#919
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: India
Programs: Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, IHG Plat, HH Gold, Trident Plat, DL Diamond, AI Maharajah
Posts: 29,682
just had another claim denied by the team in india....they claimed that while the rate is available on the third party website, they are however unable to complete the booking process so would therefore have to deny my claim....i tried completing the booking on the third party website after i received the mail & the booking went through without any problems....i'm going to try calling them tonight to get this sorted out....
#920
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: NY
Programs: HHonors Gold, SPG/Marriott gold, Hyatt Globalist, AAdvantage Plat Pro
Posts: 87
BRG Success in London!
Hotel Name: Le Meridien Piccadilly
Arrival Date: Early September 2018
Departure Date: 1 night
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 2
Room Type: Classic Room
Starwood Brand Web Site Room Rate: GBP 305
Competing Rate: GBP 271 (free cancellation, including VAT)
Competing Web Site: getaroom
BRG Rate: GBP 203 and change. (25% off competing web site rate.)
Comments: I’ll be Marriott Platinum Elite come August, so hopefully I’ll get some type of upgrade. Regardless, I’m very excited to get a decent hotel in a great location for roughly USD 270. For some reason both the LM and the W are really expensive in early September.
Arrival Date: Early September 2018
Departure Date: 1 night
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 2
Room Type: Classic Room
Starwood Brand Web Site Room Rate: GBP 305
Competing Rate: GBP 271 (free cancellation, including VAT)
Competing Web Site: getaroom
BRG Rate: GBP 203 and change. (25% off competing web site rate.)
Comments: I’ll be Marriott Platinum Elite come August, so hopefully I’ll get some type of upgrade. Regardless, I’m very excited to get a decent hotel in a great location for roughly USD 270. For some reason both the LM and the W are really expensive in early September.
#921
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: BKK
Programs: World of Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Bonvoy LTP; IHG Plat
Posts: 2,234
Almost 150 hours since submitting a claim (german language), still no response!!!
#922
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Homeless
Programs: Hyatt Glob; Hilton Dia; Marriott AMB; Accor Dia; IHG Dia Amb; GHA Tit
Posts: 4,841
So if I understand the wiki correctly, if there is no prepaid rate available on SPG (all rates are flexible), and if I find a lower rate on a third party website but it's prepaid, then there is no way to submit a successful BRG. Right?
#923
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: India
Programs: Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, IHG Plat, HH Gold, Trident Plat, DL Diamond, AI Maharajah
Posts: 29,682
#924
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: BKK
Programs: World of Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Bonvoy LTP; IHG Plat
Posts: 2,234
FInally a good news.
Hotel Name: W Boston
Arrival Date: 10/xx/2018
Departure Date: 10/yy/2018 (2 nights)
Number of Adults: 1
Number of Rooms: 1
Room Type: Wonderful room
Rate On Reservation: USD 436.05 per night plus taxes and fees
Competing Website: otel.com
Competing rate: EUR 565.33 per stay plus taxes and fees
Actual confirmed rate: USD 256.61 (USD 342.15 - 25%) per night plus taxes
#925
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: LHR
Programs: Accor PLT,Thai Silver, HH Dia, SPG Titanium (LT Gold), Aegean Gold, BA Silver
Posts: 5,120
Having read through the new rules does anyone actually know the new procedure for a BRG when the rate is available on an OTA but not on SPG? The link in the WIKI now does not mention this so can I book the lowest rate and BRG against that?
#926
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: DTW / SJC
Programs: AA EXP, DL DM, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 764
Hotel Name: The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort
Arrival Date: August 2018
Departure Date: August 2018 (1 night)
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 1
Room Type: Ocean View Room
Starwood Brand Web Site Room Rate: $369 + tax
Competing Rate: Partial Ocean View room was available on Agoda for $299 + tax (but no availability for that room type on SPG.com)
Competing Web Site: Agoda
Actual Confirmed Rate: $224.25 + tax
Comments: Claim was originally denied because they compared rates for the Ocean View room, but I called in and the agent was able to reprocess it
Arrival Date: August 2018
Departure Date: August 2018 (1 night)
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 1
Room Type: Ocean View Room
Starwood Brand Web Site Room Rate: $369 + tax
Competing Rate: Partial Ocean View room was available on Agoda for $299 + tax (but no availability for that room type on SPG.com)
Competing Web Site: Agoda
Actual Confirmed Rate: $224.25 + tax
Comments: Claim was originally denied because they compared rates for the Ocean View room, but I called in and the agent was able to reprocess it
#927
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: DTW / SJC
Programs: AA EXP, DL DM, Marriott Titanium, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 764
If you mean that SPG isn't selling a lower room category but the OTA is, then yes, it should work (just did it today).
#928
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: LHR
Programs: Accor PLT,Thai Silver, HH Dia, SPG Titanium (LT Gold), Aegean Gold, BA Silver
Posts: 5,120
It worked
Hotel Name: Sheraton Senggigi Beach Resort
Arrival Date: April , 2019
Departure Date: April , 2019
Room Type: Executive Suite for two adults, including breakfast
Actual confirmed rate: 1,329,055.16 IDR (1,772,073.55 IDR less 25%) plus taxes and service charge, per night
No rate was showing on SPG
Hotel Name: Sheraton Senggigi Beach Resort
Arrival Date: April , 2019
Departure Date: April , 2019
Room Type: Executive Suite for two adults, including breakfast
Actual confirmed rate: 1,329,055.16 IDR (1,772,073.55 IDR less 25%) plus taxes and service charge, per night
No rate was showing on SPG
#930
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Toronto
Programs: UA 1K, AC MM E75, Marriott LT Ti, IHG Dia Amb, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 15,521
It worked
Hotel Name: Sheraton Senggigi Beach Resort
Arrival Date: April , 2019
Departure Date: April , 2019
Room Type: Executive Suite for two adults, including breakfast
Actual confirmed rate: 1,329,055.16 IDR (1,772,073.55 IDR less 25%) plus taxes and service charge, per night
No rate was showing on SPG
Hotel Name: Sheraton Senggigi Beach Resort
Arrival Date: April , 2019
Departure Date: April , 2019
Room Type: Executive Suite for two adults, including breakfast
Actual confirmed rate: 1,329,055.16 IDR (1,772,073.55 IDR less 25%) plus taxes and service charge, per night
No rate was showing on SPG