Jan 1, 2018, 7:21 am
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
Jul 24, 2018, 5:21 am
#961
Join Date: Jun 2009
Programs: A3 Gold, AA Platinum, Marriott & Discovery Platinum, IGH Diamond
Posts: 889
BRG team was the absolute star of SPG and kept me loyal for years.
Recently they became so bad that Marriwoods lost me as a customer as a result.
All of my recent perfectly valid claims has been denied with bogus excuses. It is simply insulting.
Result - I'm booked @ Waldorf, Anantara, Kempinski and Oberoy for my trip next week, instead of usual StR and LC
Enjoy, Marriott.
Regards,
El Puerco Volante
Recently they became so bad that Marriwoods lost me as a customer as a result.
All of my recent perfectly valid claims has been denied with bogus excuses. It is simply insulting.
Result - I'm booked @ Waldorf, Anantara, Kempinski and Oberoy for my trip next week, instead of usual StR and LC
Enjoy, Marriott.
Regards,
El Puerco Volante
Jul 24, 2018, 6:36 am
#962
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
Jul 24, 2018, 7:23 am
#963
Join Date: Jun 2009
Programs: A3 Gold, AA Platinum, Marriott & Discovery Platinum, IGH Diamond
Posts: 889
Those properties won me as a customer on a combination of ambiance and amenities.
And FHR/Virtuoso are covering the benefits
BRG was a winning card for SPG that moved my choice from often better properties towards SPG ones.
Now that it's gone - and may I add, gone in a way that insults my intelligence by inventing endless bogus excuses to do not approve my claims - Marriwood lost me.
I may still stay from time to time. Not often though, as Marriwood properties are rarely winning on merit.
Regards,
El Puerco Volante.
And FHR/Virtuoso are covering the benefits
BRG was a winning card for SPG that moved my choice from often better properties towards SPG ones.
Now that it's gone - and may I add, gone in a way that insults my intelligence by inventing endless bogus excuses to do not approve my claims - Marriwood lost me.
I may still stay from time to time. Not often though, as Marriwood properties are rarely winning on merit.
Regards,
El Puerco Volante.
Last edited by El Puerco Volante; Jul 24, 2018 at 7:54 am
Jul 24, 2018, 8:12 am
#964
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 55
BRG approved for the standard room, even if the room type did not match. So I think the rule is that room types and cancellation policies must match IF the room type is available on both SPG and the comparison site.
Must say that the claim was processed by the North America team. Who knows what the India team would have done.
Jul 24, 2018, 8:22 am
#965
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 301
There’s a thing called expectations management. SPG offers a certain product which includes the promise of allowing guests to lower their rate through a successful BRG claim. Once that component of the product offered by SPG fails miserably — in a manner that is disrespectful and insulting to the customer — all the goodwill is lost. I can understand that faced with such tremendous failure at such an initial planning stage of their stay, many customers (even the loyal ones) will simply give up on their reservation altogether and move their business elsewhere.
I know that’s what I’ll be doing with my most recent reservations.
I know that’s what I’ll be doing with my most recent reservations.
Jul 24, 2018, 8:32 am
#966
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 55
The SPG BRG team has been the best bar none for me for last 5 years. This is a transition period and I'm willing to ride it out until they sort things out. They've done so much to help us get approved BRGs before, why would you now insult them and call them disrespectful and clueless? They read this forum too...
Even with the recent change in BRG rules, there are still some aspects that are more consumer-friendly than Marriott's LNF rules -- e.g., SPG BRG compares the competing rate against the average SPG rate for that room type (as shown on spg.com), whereas Marriott LNF compares the competing rate against each night's rate. So if say you have a three-night stay with Marriott showing 200 USD, 120 USD, 120 USD, and your competing rate is 125 USD/night, your LNF claim would be approved only for the first night. Whereas spg.com would show the official SPG rate as 146.67 USD (average of 200 / 120 / 120), and your BRG claim would be approved for all three nights.
Jul 24, 2018, 8:51 am
#967
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
There’s a thing called expectations management. SPG offers a certain product which includes the promise of allowing guests to lower their rate through a successful BRG claim. Once that component of the product offered by SPG fails miserably — in a manner that is disrespectful and insulting to the customer — all the goodwill is lost. I can understand that faced with such tremendous failure at such an initial planning stage of their stay, many customers (even the loyal ones) will simply give up on their reservation altogether and move their business elsewhere.
I know that’s what I’ll be doing with my most recent reservations.
And then come back and tell us honestly how the grass is not actually greener... SPG and Marriott are the only hotel chains where the BRG isn't actually a scam aimed at misleading the consumer into believing their prices are the lowest.
Yes these SPG BRG changes are frustrating, but they have also opened new avenues for BRG claims that would have been denied under the old rules (i.e. flex vs. flex). And before you start hating on the BRG team, try to think of how you would feel during a corporate takeover where you might be sacked or to be told that you have to completely change the way you do things... overnight, with no training...
Jul 24, 2018, 9:17 am
#968
Join Date: Jun 2009
Programs: A3 Gold, AA Platinum, Marriott & Discovery Platinum, IGH Diamond
Posts: 889
I invite you to try the Hyatt, IHG, Hilton, Radisson, Accor etc. BRG policies before you rush to move your business elsewhere. Or to start booking those OTA rates and miss out on your elite benefits.
And then come back and tell us honestly how the grass is not actually greener... SPG and Marriott are the only hotel chains where the BRG isn't actually a scam aimed at misleading the consumer into believing their prices are the lowest.
Yes these SPG BRG changes are frustrating, but they have also opened new avenues for BRG claims that would have been denied under the old rules (i.e. flex vs. flex). And before you start hating on the BRG team, try to think of how you would feel during a corporate takeover where you might be sacked or to be told that you have to completely change the way you do things... overnight, with no training...
And then come back and tell us honestly how the grass is not actually greener... SPG and Marriott are the only hotel chains where the BRG isn't actually a scam aimed at misleading the consumer into believing their prices are the lowest.
Yes these SPG BRG changes are frustrating, but they have also opened new avenues for BRG claims that would have been denied under the old rules (i.e. flex vs. flex). And before you start hating on the BRG team, try to think of how you would feel during a corporate takeover where you might be sacked or to be told that you have to completely change the way you do things... overnight, with no training...
SPG BRG was the only honest BRG out there and most agents has been excellent. Now it's also borderline scam, same as others. And people's attitude changed.
And the usual "don't go anywhere, it's even worse out there" motto just doesn't cut it for me.
As the result of SPG BRG insulting changes, I started to choose my hotels purely on merit.
Need a place for quick rest ? Now I choose the hotel that is best priced and closest to my destination, instead of often overpriced and far SPG property
Need a nice one? Now I choose the one that I really like, instead of showing a boring SPG property down my throat
So sorry, but no. The grass is way greener out there.
Regards,
El Puerco Volante
Jul 24, 2018, 9:48 am
#969
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: MCI
Programs: Southwest A-List, AMC Stubs A-List, Chick-fil-A-List
Posts: 399
Is there a new procedure to start the claim when a third party has a room available and the entire hotel is sold out on spg.com? I know I've used that before but don't see a way to continue without a reservation number now.
Jul 24, 2018, 10:03 am
#970
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 301
I couldn’t care less about Hyatt, IHG, Hilton, Accor, etc — I’m not their client, and never was. I have been an extremely loyal Starwood customer, which only adds to my sense of betrayal.
For my most recent claim, I just opted to book with a brick-and-mortar travel agent on a non-Marriott property.
Yes these SPG BRG changes are frustrating, but they have also opened new avenues for BRG claims that would have been denied under the old rules (i.e. flex vs. flex). And before you start hating on the BRG team, try to think of how you would feel during a corporate takeover where you might be sacked or to be told that you have to completely change the way you do things... overnight, with no training...
Again, this has nothing to do with the individual agents. It’s about the dereliction of a terrific program through extremely poor management, complete disregard for customer satisfaction and total carelessness in its processes.
I blame the management team — they should be sacked asap —, but of course their overall attitude does trickle down to some of the associates.
I’m now on a 72+ hour wait into a claim submitted to the German desk. This is pathetic...
Jul 24, 2018, 1:39 pm
#971
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: LHR
Programs: Accor PLT,Thai Silver, HH Dia, SPG Titanium (LT Gold), Aegean Gold, BA Silver
Posts: 5,120
Read back up the thread a little as I did this about a couple of weeks ago.
Jul 24, 2018, 2:25 pm
#972
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: MCI
Programs: Southwest A-List, AMC Stubs A-List, Chick-fil-A-List
Posts: 399
Jul 24, 2018, 4:18 pm
#973
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 573
@ El Puerco Volante : it is correct what you told, BRG is not working now and I was last week in Hyatt next weekend we will have Hilton stay, Starwood hotel I have only one booking in September to burn same points and up night counter to more than 100nights - rest our stays in this year I will stay anywere but not in Stariott. If they clear roulez in next year I will see what to do.
Jul 24, 2018, 4:33 pm
#974
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: LHR
Programs: Accor PLT,Thai Silver, HH Dia, SPG Titanium (LT Gold), Aegean Gold, BA Silver
Posts: 5,120
Jul 25, 2018, 5:44 am
#975
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: HKG/MEL
Programs: CX MP Gold, MR Titanium
Posts: 72
Well I had a great respect for them too, but I feel they lost their respect for me as a client. Bogus rejections, made-up grounds to deny a claim, constantly comparison rates mysteriously not showing up on their part, total carelessness while processing a claim, deliberate bad faith in nit-picking comparison details even against the T&C explicit provisions, 5-day-plus delays to get a reply from them, complaints to management go unanswered and unacknowledged, etc.
Marriott’s LNF team is also going through a transition period and I don’t see any of these things happening over there — they get things done, and they get them done on time!