yule_boy

* the competing web site should be otel.com not tel.com, lol

lkar

Just had a BRG claim granted and chose the 2k points.

(Westin St. Francis; $284 on SPG, $183 on otel.com.)

I'm setting my account to miles for this stay to take advantage of an airline miles promo. Do I still get the 2k spg points?

3544quebec

Westin Europa & Regina
SPG pr[ce E400 Deluxe room with breakfast
otel.com E135 Deluxe Room with breakfast

Claim denied because breakfast was included and therefore a package rate.
Platinum E-concierge offered alternative of Single Cosy room without breakfast for E180 and when I responded pointing out that the competing site was still much less expensive for a better room with breakfast included, I got the response I do understand that the competing website offers a better deal at this stage.. Obviously a better deal is not the same as the best rate.

Similar denial for Sheraton Sao Paulo
Lowest SPG Rate $425
octopustravel.com rate $142
Unfortunately breakfast included in competing rate so claim denied

JFKSFOLAX_friend

So, if both rates include breakfast, they can still deny the BRG? Hmm...William?

Competing Website: King room, breakfast included $xxx.xx
spg.com: King room, breakfast included $xxx.xx + $xx.xx

They can deny this?

mahasamatman

It all depends on which agent processes it.

3544quebec

The T+Cs are quite explicit

Packaged Rates

* The Best Rate Guarantee does not apply to packaged rates. Packaged rates include (b) hotelaccommodations sold with value added amenities, including, but not limited to,free breakfast and hotel parking.


So if breakfast is included in the competing website's rate SPG can and usually does deny the claim regardless of the difference in rates (almost $300/night in the case of the Sheraton Sao Paulo) even if the SPG rate that you submit also includes that amenity and is the cheapest SPG rate with that amenity.

Some hotels only seem to offer rates with breakfast included eg the Four Points Roma West - by the T+Cs SPG could deny all BRG claims for this hotel because the rate can always be classified by SPG as a Package Rate because it always includes breakfast.

3544quebec

Ain't that the unfortunate truth

I posted a few weeks ago about a similar two claims for stays at the Sheraton Sao Paulo a couple of days apart. The claims were made within minutes of each other and handled by different agents- one approved, one denied - exact same rate conditions/inclusions.

Starwood Lurker

What I know about the BRG, I could write on my thumbnail. My advice is to keep sending it back from whence it came. Eventually, a supervisor that handles BRG's will respond and that will be the gospel.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

samuel99

Hotel Name: Four Points by Sheraton Los Angeles Westside
Arrival Date : 10-18-2010
Departure Date : 10-19-2010
Number of Adults :2
Number of Children : 0
Number of Rooms : 1
Room Type : Twin
Starwood Brand Web Site Room Rate : 139
Company room provider : Other Web Site
Other Company room provider ctopustravel.com
Competing rate : 121
Are the currencies of the Starwood brand Web site and the competing rate the same? : Yes
Comments : The $121 quoted includes all taxes and fees.
BRG Reward : points
Actual Confirmed Rate: $107.99

Sagy

Multiple successes ^


Also got the same for 01-16-2011 to 01-22-2011 and 01-18-2011 to 01-23-2011 (needed 3 rooms for slightly different dates)

lkar

To answer my own question in case anyone else is interested, now that the points have posted, the answer is no. If your account is set to direct deposite airline miles, the 2,000 starwood points earned for a successful BRG claim go over as part of the stay to miles. (Or at least mine did.) My BRG, stay, and elite bonus all were direct deposited to airline miles. My every night counts bonus stayed as starpoints.

starlings

Had an interesting experience with a claim for the Montreal Westin.

The 'Sweet Deal' promotion on the Tourism Montreal site offers a second night at 50% plus breakfast, discounts and other amenities. Rate code: WSWEETDL

Cost for per night (based on two nights) at Westin Montreal on the Tourism Montreal website showed 127+ tax; on the SPG site, 164+ tax

I made a claim for two December 2010 nights and it was approved at $126/night with the same amenities. We then decided to book a second set of nights in the same week, confirmed the prices and made a claim in my partner's name that was then denied (by a different agent) on 'package' grounds:
... uh... the packages are identical and a claim was already approved 4 hours before.

So I tried again in my own name (within 30 minutes of the refusal), got the same agent as for my first claim, and it was approved. Except that by then the rate on Montreal Tourism had increased to 142/night.

Lessons (already learned by many others)

• packages are sometimes allowable under the BRG
• agent response is variable
• persistence pays off

Total savings: $120 over 4 nights, plus base points, plus BRG points.

terrysalmi

Does anyone know the hours the BRG people work?

Am currently in Germany and submitted a claim for a rate for the Westin Frankfurt which is 40 Euro's less on Hotels.com vice the Westin website. This is mainly due to the Advance Purchase Rate disappearing at midnight local time from the Westin website, even though the rates on Hotels.com are all still 10 Euro's less for all category's.

The catch is, this is for this Saturday night (same day claim, basically). I know in the past I've had responses within hours and that would be fine today but unsure if they work after normal US business hours or on weekends. I could always book the more expensive Westin rate now with the knowledge a BRG claim could go my way and get my money back, but I'd rather not spend that extra money without knowing for sure first!

samuel99

You may be out of luck because it is same day.....from the terms and conditions:

Claims Processing

A claim must be submitted prior to, or within 24 hours after, making areservation through a Starwood-branded Website, and 24 hours before scheduledarrival. If the original reservation was made within 24 hours of arrival, theBest Rate Guarantee is not applicable.

Hvanv0405

Hotel Name: The Nines (Portland, OR)
Arrival Date : 11-07-2010
Departure Date 11-08-2010
Number of Adults :2
Number of Children : 0
Number of Rooms : 1
Room Type : CLUB QUEEN QUEEN
Starwood Brand Web Site Room Rate : 249
Company room provider : Expedia (though almost all other sites were this price)
Competing rate : 229
Are the currencies of the Starwood brand Web site and the competing rate the same? : Yes

Took the 10% off for $206. Wanted to make sure I secured a Club level room since upgrades at the Nines are very seldom. Right now SPG.com is about $20 higher that the other websites (I noticed this increased on Friday)