I talked about the BRG Experiments, and how I’m keeping track of different BRG successes and trying to push things like BRGing a hotel that I’m using a BRG coupon for… the never ending goal.
Oh, and a BRG is a “best rate guarantee”, which is when you book on the hotel website and then find a lower rate elsewhere. They usually match and give a bonus. Hyatt will match and discount 25%, IHG will match and make the first night free (even on one night stays).
See the Complete Guide to Hotel Best Rate Guarantees.
I explained in a recent newsletter how to do that with Orbitz, which has so far been an amazing never ending train for us. Keeps getting better actually.
However, things have changed recently, and I wanted to talk about the BRG situation from less of a terms-and-conditions point of view. The terms and conditions might say one thing, but what is the success rate? How moody are the agents? What’s the response time like?
Hilton
Hilton is better than ever. Response times are under 24 hours, and my approval rate is extremely high.
However, many of the agents have defaulted to giving me the awarded $50 Amex Gift Card after the stay is over… even though the $50 Amex Gift Card is supposed to be for domestic stays and a $50 discount is for international stays.
My last 3 approvals I got an email saying, “congrats” and all that, and then it proceeded to tell me about the $50 Amex Gift Card. I then reply and include a copy/pasted part of the terms and conditions that say you get a $50 discount.
It overly worked in our favor when we got both, so it ended up being a profitable $10 stay in Istanbul. Not what I was aiming for at all, I just preferred the $50 discount. Although, maybe people prefer the $50 gift card so they can have a slightly higher spend to get practically reimbursed for. For me it’s just a hassle.
Another time that worked oddly in my favor due to the incompetence of the BRG team…
Another time (at the same hotel) I submitted a claim and the TOTAL for the room on the competing site was about $70. They then matched the $70 and then improperly added taxes to the rate that included taxes.
I explained that the rate I BRGed and they matched was the post-tax rate. I showed how it was about $60 + tax. Did they not even check?
Apparently not too well. They then discounted the $50 from the $60 as if $60 was the post tax rate.
In other words, they double added tax the first time, and then forgot to include it at all when correcting it. Or rather, discounted the pre-tax rate and then made it my final rate.
The stay should have been $20, but we ended up paying $10.
While it’s slightly frustrating getting the wrong policies, when they aren’t that complicated, Hilton is simply the least scammy BRG team on earth. If you find a lower rate, they don’t come up with absurd reasons to decline you.
I once got declined for a BRG from IHG (a long time ago) because the competitor cancelation policy was better… so they disqualified it because they are different rates. Hilton doesn’t come up with bogus reasons, they just check to see if the rate is better or not, and I applaud them for that. I just want the $50 discount on my room if that’s what I’m supposed to get.
Orbitz
My favorite, by far has been Orbitz. If you have “Gold” status (after 4 nights) you get $100 in Orbucks instead of the normal $50… which is awesome.
The staff is slightly fickle and some of the terms and condisions aren’t as specifically worded as they should be.
As I said in the newsletter a month ago, I have been able to use credits to BRG and earn credits. Right now I’m earning $100 per BRG, plus the price difference is given in “Orbucks” instead of discounting the rate… which can work out really well.
That process has been fickle for me, but quoting the terms and conditions has helped – which was my newsletter advice.
The process has been super easy, with only a few declines. Although the declines were frustrating as they were pretty legit BRGs, but the policies are so odd.
The incredible thing about Orbitz, is that it is almost always the best rate or worst rate. In Sydney, Orbitz rates for one weekend were all significantly better than all the other sites, including the hotel’s rates. Which is great because I can either BRG a hotel, or get a good deal redeeming my Orbucks. It’s almost always one or the other.
One awesome tip for using Orbucks is that you can go to Orbitz discount section or the Flyertalk hotel discount codes thread, and apply the Orbitz promo codes to the reward booking. Most of the hotels seem to accept promo codes.
Orbitz has had the best prmo codes of all the hotel booking sites. Orbitz is the one that had a promotion giving $100 off hotel stays of $100 or more… multiple times. You could have used Orbucks to cover any remaining balance. Most of the time it’s small discounts, but hey, it’s a savings.
Btw, Orbitz has the best response times, even better than Hilton. You might not always agree, but at least they are quick most of the time.
Club Carlson
By the way, Radisson / Club Carlson is the hotel I filed a BRG with in Sydney, as the rate was significantly lower on Orbitz for the same hotel.
Club Carlson has you download a pdf, print and fill it out, then fax or email it back. In 2015, WHAT THE HECK? Seriously, that has got to be more of a pain for them than any old form app/service. They can’t click over, or copy websites, or whatever.
The intention HAS to be to discourage people from actually using their guarantee.
Anywho, I did all that to try it out, and ultimately got declined because the cancelation time was 1 hour different. Which, just feels absurd at that point. And they took a long time to reply. Just feels like a big scam. Another reason to avoid Club Carlson. Simple things like forms and best rate guarantees are incredibly complicated for this organization.
100% avoid.
IHG
I don’t have too much to say about IHG, other than I really like IHG.
The currency thing has required me passing up genuinely better rates, but because IHG books in one currency and Expedia another… it’s a no go. Seems silly, but it actually matters for a number of the places I’ve been lately, including French Polynesia where not a lot of competitors book in XPF.
Overall, the free night reward for finding a lower rate has been awesome for us.
We’ve stayed for free at the InterContinental Istanbul, Nairobi, Vienna, Budapest, and a number of others. Many of them multiple visits actually.
Expedia
The Expedia that used to give people the $50 coupon before the cancelable stay was even completed, now has been over corrected.
You now have to email in a copy of your hotel’s receipt… which is insane because they’ll still check their system to see if you actually stayed. At least they should, and it would be way easier for everyone.
The only thing it does is discourages people from doing it.
I’m totally not bothering with expedia again. Plus, I believe the $50 coupon has to be used on $100 stays. Not a big deal, but a pretty big deal considering you can’t even get the thing without attaching your hotel recepit.
To make things worse, I passed the deadline and it was too late to get my $50 coupon for my earlier stay… even though it was legitamate.
Avoid Expedia.
Choice & Best Western
I lump them together because they often have the same issue.
Also they both have great BRG bonuses. Choice gives a free night, and Best Western gives a $100 gift card. Even if you’re paying with your Best Western gift card, you can still file a BRG and get more. A beautiful thing in theory.
But I haven’t had much luck with either because of one of two problems.
Either the hotels sell out all of one room type to the booking site, and/or the room names are different on the booking site.
I had a Best Western with one single room type in the hotel… There was seriously just one type of room to book, but on Expedia the room name was something different. However, the claim was denied because the room type compared was different.
Imagine that. One was called standard, and the other website called it a superior room and because the names were different on the booking sites, I got denied. Same room.
Another example with Choice was the exact same problem but it wasn’t as easy to explain because both sites had different room types but each room type was titled and described differently. Nothing was the same. Obviously some of the rooms have to be the same, but it’s hard to prove which ones were the same.
Another example with Choice is that they told me the above problem was the result of the booking site buying all the standard rooms up. The rates and names were different because the booking site had all the standard rooms, and the hotel’s own website had none.
The reward is great on both of these but it is so hit miss. If there’s a secret, I haven’t cracked it. Unlike Club Carlson or Expedia, I’ll keep trying.
Conclusion
IHG free nights are amazing.
Orbitz is super amazing.
Hilton is extremely consistent in approvals.
Expedia and Club Carlson are total avoids designed to discourage you from actually getting the better rate.
Best Western and Choice are super annoying but have a big enough reward that I sometimes check.
I didn’t mention the 20% to 25% off ones, like Marriott and Hyatt. Hyatt is extremely odd, and there is a FT thread on their oddities. But Marriott is very consistent as well. Marriott actually functions well, which is the big pro for Marriott in general I guess.
Hyatt is only 20%. They also really really suck for BRGs.
I actually love hyatt, both my wife and I are diamonds, earned the hard way and every single one of our combined 100 nights were BRG rates.
Sorry, I guess I should have added some helpful information. Even when your BRG is denied, or the rate they approved is wrong, you can actually call in to Hyatt and the front line agents are empowered to review the BRG claim. So it’s the same process as before when you can call it in except now, you have to submit online first, and when they respond, which has always been under 24 hours, you can call back and argue the rate
When I check, 9 times out of 10 I can’t find a better rate. How do you consistently find lower rates elsewhere? For me, BRGs are something I can take advantage of 1-2 times per year…
It depends on the program. With Hilton I just search often and hope to get lucky.
With IHG it takes lesser known sites. I posted lesser known sites for BRGs. And it takes knowing the rules very well.
I consistently find choice brgs but never find ihg. Do lower ihg rates appear on any of the aggregators?
I haven’t been able to find a refundable domestic IHG BRG in forever. A couple promotions ago they were amazing so I had high hopes for Accelerate, but it’s been pretty rough lately – at least on the sites and in the locations I’m looking.
Just matched to Hyatt Diamond, so I’m excited to dabble with their BRGs. My travel is pretty much booked through the end of the year, but I’m sure I’ll get quite familiar with it in 2016.
Best Western is an outlier, but I do enjoy their program. I definitely do a BRG with them every month or two and recently got my partner started doing the same. I’ve spent probably $55, including my initial outlay, on somewhere near 10 BW stays in the past year or so.
Any tips for SPG?
I also agree with Becky. I have a heck of a time finding anything lower!
Actually, I don’t stay with SPG ever, so it’s the one I don’t have experience with.
I’ve written about BRGs a bit, and there is a learning curve. For me it’s quick, but I used to get denied 75+% of the time, so I ended up wasting a ton of time mostly for nothing.
Now I spend less time up front searching, and don’t file unless I know it will get approved. And I’m quick to cancel. I don’t debate or whatever. It’s always a waste of time.
Do a quick search.
Book if it’s there.
Claim.
Then cancel or not.
If you spend more than 5 minutes searching, you’re almost always wasting time.
That’s based on my experience.
Just wanted to share my experiences (1x on each)
1. SPG – simple BRG for an international hotel. Getting 20% off the better rate was great. The best part was it made the rate refundable and pay at hotel so I gained flexibility from the original pay-up front rate. I love that you don’t actually have to have made a reservation first. Saved us about $800 because it was a long stay.
2. Hyatt – simple. Responded to quickly. Will save me ~$200.
3. Marriott – refused two times for odd reasons. Resubmitted again and added a note, got it done ASAP. It went even lower and so I did it again and won again. Saved $250.
Thanks for sharing your experience too!
Drew
Excellent post, Drew! I also really enjoyed the extra input from the comments so far. Have yet to do a BRG (haven’t spent much time looking), but you’ve certainly got me interested.
Like I say above, do a quick search and if you find something, try it out! You can always cancel.
I was having some success with ihg but I’ve noticed recently that the cancelation policies on competing sights are now usually 12 to 24 hrs different so they will be denied. I’ve had good luck with choice in the past.
That can be difficult with all programs. It’s almost regional for me now. Europe I always get BRGs, some places I never get it, for that reason.
I’ve found that IHG BRGs are near impossible because their T&C say “lowest available price” when searching for Best Available Rate. This invariably includes non-refundable rates, which means they demand you book a non-refundable rate before doing the BPG claim. Have you run into this problem?
That was the case until 2012/2013 when they changed the rules. I haven’t had that issue since, and I promise you I have done a lot of BRGs with IHG. Like regularly since 2013.
I have had the almost exact opposite experience as Drew, my favorite BRG is Best Western, I wish I could do more than one per 30 days, it’s so easy with them and they respond fast…moreover, I can argue with them and win sometimes, they’re often very reasonable when you respectfully spell-out why you think they made an error. Choice has been my second favorite but the last 6 months I’m just not finding a lot of lower rates. I hate IHG, they always deny me on the cancellation window being different, I don’t bother with them at all anymore. My goal for 2016 is more Hilton and Orbitz, those sound promising from your write-up. I really recommend Kayak for searching, they list all the rates right there for you in one box.
I find IHG to be the most frustrating ever. Every time I have submitted a claim, I never get a response.
I tweeted them on one occasion, only to have their BRG team saying that they never received a claim with my email address.
Almost makes me not even want to try anymore. They also don’t post things correctly, and don’t respond to any requests for reconsideration when sending in proof of stays.
I once had a BRG approved by Choice. However, when I try to check in at the hotel, the front desk refused to honor the free room and asked me to either leave or pay the rack rate.
The good thing is after complaining about the event to Choice after stay, Choice refunded me with a check.
So, with IHG, you can book the flexible rate (rather than the advance-purchase rate) and submit a claim that compares with the flexible rates on other sites?
Care to tell whoever might be interested (I am!) what the lesser know sites are for IHG BRGs? I find that the IHG prices are basically the same for all the ones I have checked and it’s near impossible to find anything cheaper. Although I ahve to admit I limited myself to North America and not Europe (maybe that makes the difference?)
I read Drew’s newsletter so I was excited to try Orbitz’s BRG. It was easy to find lots of possibilities. I booked, then filed by BRG claim. It was denied because I didn’t have a credit card with a US address. So only good for US residents unfortunately.
Buy a prepaid card from US to use. Like Vanilla.
I use Expedia BRG few times a month. Hotel needs to be prepaid to XP, then you don’t need to provide any receipt. You can BRG flights, cars, etc. You can BRG pre-coupon hotel rate even if you applied the coupon. Most replies are same day, sometimes weeks later (and I got a refund and a coupon on some of these replies)
I thought Expedia now only drops the $50 coupons in your account after you complete your stay in the BRG’d booking. Are you getting the coupons dropped in your account before you complete the stay? Could you then cancel the BRG’d trip and get a full refund?
Drew,
Question about orbitz brg —- can one make a brg claim using or bucks to pay on the original booking — or if you paid with or bucks do they consider that you paid nothing as you did not pay with real money?
From my experience, if you use Orbucks, the total amount paid (could be $0) is the amount that you’d be reimbursed with. I had a reservation partly paid with Orbucks and they only add the amount charged to the card as the Orbucks bonus. So if fully paid with Orbucks, I believe you’ll only get the difference.
Drew, please let us know if your experience differs.
Drew second question — I know that ita can fire you as a customer, they have no obligation to doing business with anyone.
Having gotten fired and having had all my bookings cancelled by them and coupons previously earned not honored do I have any recourse? Perhaps attorney general or Better business or something else? I want what was already agreed to, promised and delivered but not yet used. I am ok with being an ex customer. I broke no rules, was always polite, etc but was not profitable as a customer. Too many mistake fares, too many brg. Not Orbitz, but prefer not to mention them by name.
Are there any BRG’s still where a price difference for, say, Middle-Of-Nowhere Inn can generate me a discount on my choice of hotel/destination? I used to be able to book any Expedia BRG fully refundable, claim three $50 coupons, cancel those reservations, and still use those $50 coupons on any hotel booking. Is there anything still like this, or at least where the coupon is dropped before the hotel stay is completed?