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 25, 2018, 7:32 am
#976
Join Date: May 2011
Programs: UA platinum, Club Carlson Gold, SPG Gold
Posts: 111
BRG Denied for the Sheraton Poznan, they have replied 1 WEEK later, WOW, it's really going downhill in the SPG BRG department,
Jul 25, 2018, 8:05 am
#977
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Sweden
Programs: Marriott Platinum - LT Gold
Posts: 688
I'm waiting for two brg claims, english and Spanish, they are usually faster with 25-30 hour response times. Will see if they approve or not and in the right time frame.
I hope someone have the time to prepare a lawsuit for these long response times. A week wait is awful. Think the European Union would be interested to take a look at this. They are always interested in big american companies..
Jul 25, 2018, 12:47 pm
#978
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Zurich
Programs: Aegean Gold, United Mileage Plus Silver, Privilege Club Platinum, Bonvoy Titanium Elite (LTP)
Posts: 118
Completely agree. The North America SPG BRG team are absolute stars, and have always been helpful and reasonable whenever I called in to contest the response of the India team or had some other concern. I'd like to think that these are just birthing pains and we should give them some allowance as the system transitions to Marriott's rules.
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.
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 25, 2018, 1:22 pm
#979
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Sweden
Programs: Marriott Platinum - LT Gold
Posts: 688
Let me guess the German team?
I'm waiting for two brg claims, english and Spanish, they are usually faster with 25-30 hour response times. Will see if they approve or not and in the right time frame.
I hope someone have the time to prepare a lawsuit for these long response times. A week wait is awful. Think the European Union would be interested to take a look at this. They are always interested in big american companies..
I'm waiting for two brg claims, english and Spanish, they are usually faster with 25-30 hour response times. Will see if they approve or not and in the right time frame.
I hope someone have the time to prepare a lawsuit for these long response times. A week wait is awful. Think the European Union would be interested to take a look at this. They are always interested in big american companies..
Responsed on the 25th hour mark.
Hotel Name: Sheraton Rhodes
Arrival Date: September, 7 nights
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 1
Room Type: Classic room but called Standard room on 3rd party.
Approved rate 25% off: 130 euro/night with half board
Comments: Competing third party called their room Standard room and not Classic room as the hotel's lowest rated room is called. I was a bit feard reading this reason have denied lots of Flyertalkers claims before.
This was a flex stay as well.
I'm glad the brg team is approving on how they are implementing their terms for the brg program.
The American brg team is at the moment the quickest to respond. Will try to submit more English claims from now on. No response yet from the Spanish but it should come anytime now.
Jul 25, 2018, 9:44 pm
#980
Join Date: Sep 2012
Programs: AS MVP 75K, UA 1K, Bonvoy Plat.
Posts: 51
Nobis Hotel, Copenahgen
Hotel Name: Nobis Hotel Copenhagen, A Member of Design Hotels
Arrival Date: Nov 25 '18
Departure Date: Nov 28 '18
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 2
Room Type: Superior Loft
Starwood Brand Web Site Room Rate: 2210DKK ($346) (inc tax)
Competing Rate: 1664DKK ($261) (exc tax)
Competing Web Site: Hotels.com
Comments: Initially declined because I hadn't booked the lowest rate on SPG.com - cancelled and rebooked and resubmitted and approved 28 hours later. The savings aren't quite as good as they first look as the SPG.com rate included 25% tax and the Hotels.com rate didn't, still any saving is good and I took the additional 20% discount, resulting in about an $80 a night saving. The SPG.com rate included breakfast, the hotels.com rate didn't - I'm not sure if I can still expect breakfast to be included (nice if it is, but not a big deal).
Arrival Date: Nov 25 '18
Departure Date: Nov 28 '18
Number of Rooms: 1
Number of Guests: 2
Room Type: Superior Loft
Starwood Brand Web Site Room Rate: 2210DKK ($346) (inc tax)
Competing Rate: 1664DKK ($261) (exc tax)
Competing Web Site: Hotels.com
Comments: Initially declined because I hadn't booked the lowest rate on SPG.com - cancelled and rebooked and resubmitted and approved 28 hours later. The savings aren't quite as good as they first look as the SPG.com rate included 25% tax and the Hotels.com rate didn't, still any saving is good and I took the additional 20% discount, resulting in about an $80 a night saving. The SPG.com rate included breakfast, the hotels.com rate didn't - I'm not sure if I can still expect breakfast to be included (nice if it is, but not a big deal).
Jul 28, 2018, 3:07 pm
#981
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: MCI
Programs: Southwest A-List, AMC Stubs A-List, Chick-fil-A-List
Posts: 399
A question on the new cancellation terms matching policy: When the SPG flexible rate plan becomes de facto prepaid because it's very close in, will that BRG against any rate? The property I'm looking at for next Thursday has the cancellation penalty kicking in at T-72 and deposit required, so on Monday afternoon the effective terms match, even though the SPG rate plan is still called "flexible" at that point.
Jul 28, 2018, 8:43 pm
#982
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: bay area, ca
Programs: UA plat, , aa plat, marriott LT titanium
Posts: 4,833
Lost revenue to spg b/c this change
Just chose to book outside of spg for xk expense due to new brg policy! If I have to pay 25% more than booking with an OtA then the benefits aren't worth it ....so I'll just book at another hotel and choose best for me .... goodbye (devalued) points, sometime ug and.....
Jul 28, 2018, 8:43 pm
#983
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: bay area, ca
Programs: UA plat, , aa plat, marriott LT titanium
Posts: 4,833
Lost revenue to spg b/c this change
duplicate
Last edited by estnet; Jul 28, 2018 at 8:44 pm Reason: double post
Jul 28, 2018, 9:45 pm
#984
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 1,727
Marriott does not care for bottom feeders who aim to actually score BRGs and they do not care about any revenue they may lose due to this policy change. The Best Rate Guarantee is meant for optics only.
Jul 29, 2018, 3:23 am
#985
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: bay area, ca
Programs: UA plat, , aa plat, marriott LT titanium
Posts: 4,833
I've probably used brg less than the fingers on one hand over the years, but it was nice to have. I agree they don't care if I no longer stay at their hotels (or may even want me to move since then they don't have to offer benefits), but to me it is a sad commentary for years of loyalty
.
Jul 29, 2018, 5:29 am
#986
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 146
Stay with BRG from 18 to 20 august
Hello!
I have a BRG stay starting 18th Aug and ending 20th Aug in SLS las vegas. I asked for the 2000 starpoints. Will I receive 6000 points? Any idea?
Thanks!
I have a BRG stay starting 18th Aug and ending 20th Aug in SLS las vegas. I asked for the 2000 starpoints. Will I receive 6000 points? Any idea?
Thanks!
Jul 29, 2018, 12:24 pm
#987
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
Jul 29, 2018, 12:30 pm
#988
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: CEB - primary/YVR -secondary
Programs: AC*Super Elite (100K) / PR*Elite / AY*Platinum (OWE) / SPG*Bonvoy Titanium (LTT)
Posts: 2,272
Jul 29, 2018, 12:33 pm
#989
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
got it....but i believe the new rule is 5k points, not 6k....so the op should get 5k points....
Jul 29, 2018, 12:36 pm
#990
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Sweden
Programs: Marriott Platinum - LT Gold
Posts: 688
Think my Spanish brg agent is having a long day. He just denied my flex booking vs flex rate on 3rd party and asked me to book a prepaid rate on SPG.com
Waited 3 and a half day for that reply. Nice. For nothing.
Sent a reply back with further info. Deny again and I'll call in.
Text from the faq on page 1 here on FT:
"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."
Waited 3 and a half day for that reply. Nice. For nothing.
Sent a reply back with further info. Deny again and I'll call in.
Text from the faq on page 1 here on FT:
"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."