mnelson

I don't think there's a thread on Wyndham's current BRG, so starting a new one. (A previous BRG, which had very different terms, was discussed mainly from 2005-2010 in this thread.)

A quick summary of the terms: If you find a lower rate for the same room and same conditions, they'll match it, plus give you 3000 bonus points. You're limited to one claim per calendar month.

I made my first claim last week, and it went smoothly. The claim was accepted about 30 hours after I submitted it, which isn't quite as fast as the 24 hours their terms suggest, but not too far off. I compared a cancellable rate on one of the major OTAs to the rate quoted on wyndhamhotelgroup.com. After it was accepted, the 3000 bonus points posted immediately. In fact even before the stay. I wonder if I would've gotten to keep them even if I'd ended up cancelling the reservation? The rate was also immediately adjusted on the reservation to match the claim.

I value 3000 points at maybe $50, so it's similar to Hilton's match-plus-$50 guarantee. Not as valuable as the free first night IHG offers, but for cheaper properties you can end up getting most of the rate back in points, especially when you add in the minimum 1000 points for the stay itself. Also, I've been pleasantly surprised that Wyndham properties seem not to play as many games outside the spirit of the BRG as those in some brands, like fiddling with slightly different cancellation terms to make OTA rates ineligible for comparison. Anyway, I've only tried it once so far, but so far my experience is that it worked as advertised.

bamba70

I made a claim almost 10 days ago, no response from them since then.
More important than the 3,000 points is the actual difference in rates which is very large.
Any advice how to get them to not ignore my claim? There is unfortunately no claim confirmation that they send, so they can basically lie and say that no claim was filed within 24hrs....

Andain

So I'm pretty new to this chain and used to getting BRG replies within hours at Starwood. Anyway I submitted a claim now a week and a half ago, still no response at all. After five days with no reply I sent a separate custom service request to follow up on the BRG and another question that I had. Still haven't heard a sound from them. Not the best first impression of this program. Thankfully I booked a fully refundable rate, as I'm seriously questioning getting involved with them at all at this point.

Emskevin

My claim was cleared within 2 weeks - problem was the only 1 claim per 30 days rule. Cool thing was the hotel usually didn't let the rate inequality happen again.. They ensured the rate was the most competitive.

HHonors OUTSIDER

I believe it is one successful claim every calendar month and not every 30 days? Does anyone know is it limited to one brg claim request every month or one successful claim every month?

amybd

They may say one every month, but it seems more like one every how ever long it takes for them to decide to respond to you again. I had one accepted quickly several months ago and since then I can't seem to get a reply at all.

Well, except for the one where they actually dropped the rate on the Wyndham website AFTER I booked and submitted the request so they said it did not qualify.

synergistic

Any recent experiences with this? Doesn't sound particularly hopefully, but 3k points is worth trying for... I also don't see the calendar month restriction anymore, have the rules changed?

Mauibaby2008

just submitted my first ever Wydham BRG. Wish me luck. Will probably send in an email if I don’t hear back within 24 hours.

i do not see the once every 30 days rule either

synergistic

Good luck! I submitted one awhile ago, was denied (I believe wrongly) but then cancelled the trip anyway so I don't know how it would have turned out. Looking forward to hearing about your experience - my denial came within a few hours, that part impressed me.

kcaluwae

I just submitted a claim as well. The part of submitting the claim was already pretty painful. You can't post a direct link to where you found the lower rate as the number of characters in the URL field is very limited.
You can't mention the currency in the rates fields so I had to mention that once more in the comments fields.
Tried to put a direct link in the comments fields but then you cannot submit the claim as this comments fields cannot contain 'special characters'.

And, best of them all, the confirmation number I received when I made my booking, is not accepted in the confirmation number field of this form. It's too long and contains some letters. The confirmation number field allows a maximum of 8 figures and no letters. What a joke!

Not a really good first impression of Wyndham I must say...

Now let's see what happens about my claim.

kcaluwae

My claim was rejected. I found a lower rate on Agoda but Agoda is seen as a coupon or promo code site and is not eligible.

I also noticed that they refer to a different version of the program rules. There're indeed 2 different versions of the BRG T&C's online.
I used this version: https://wr.wyndhamrewards.com/deals-...est-rate-terms

In the mail they included a link to another version: https://www.wyndhamhotels.com/hotel-...uarantee-terms

The second version is more restrictive. Differences I noticed:
- Only 1 claim each month (is not mentioned in the other version)
- Claims are only accepted for Canada, EMEA & USA

HHonors OUTSIDER

Thank you for this post. In the second version it is clear it's one claim submittal per calender month. What surprises me is it is one claim submittal a month and not one successful claim a month so if your first attempt fails in any month you cannot submit again until the next month.

kcaluwae

That's how I understand the rules as well. Makes no sense to me, certainly if they use their own interpretation of the rules to deny claims like they did in my case.

pitflyer

I have a pretty black and white BRG claim where the Wyndham Garden Pittsburgh Airport shows up at $80 on wyndham.com but every other site shows it at $65 (with similar flexible cancellation) and booking.com shows it at $55 non refundable -- and the other sites then offer another few bucks off if you sign as members at their sites. But I know that complicates things but trying to match to $65.

After about 20 hours I got an email that 'they tried and tried and could not find the rate'. Literally did the search brand new straight at expedia.com and found the rate again -- and again the response, this time about fifteen minutes later 'We can't find the rate'. Last attempt I sent them a direct link to expedia.com with the rate showing up once you click it... if they still can't find the rate I will know that their BRG is full of crap.

This is my first time looking at Wyndham properties (mainly because their recent promo made it worth while to consider) but pretty much every Wyndham property I see has better rates on other sites. Based on other people's experience and the way they treated the recent MasterCard checkout promo doesn't look like this company really offers any teeth behind its loyalty program.

EDIT: Like talking to a robot 'We don't see the rate'. Then I try to cancel online and there is absolutely no cancel link on the reservation page -- it says 'Cancellation online is only allowed for up to 1 room' which is all I booked. Called in, first time, hung up on. Second time, the agent was pleasant enough but tried to sell me on changing dates, a time share, or some other third presentation... what a frustrating experience! I don't think I'll be back. While the other hotel chains are no great shakes this sets a new low bar for me.

Billy Mumphrey

So I found a lower price on Priceline after booking at wyndhamhotels.com and submitted a BRG. They wrote back they could not find the rate. I responded to the e-mail with a direct link to the Priceline search results with the lower rate, as well as a screen shot showing that rate. They responded very quickly to match the rate and deposit 3000 points in my account. If you're sure the lower rate is still available, it pays to be a little persistent.