BRG will now better the rate by 20% :) :)

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Alanslegal

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I have just found out that the Best Rate Guarantee Program has now doubled their discount to 20% off (or 1,000 points).

As someone who has only stayed at a Starwood property once in the past 12 months, I have managed to re-book into two hotels for March 2015 thanks to two successful BRG claims (one in Honolulu, the other in Bangkok).

I have been regularly successful with BRG's in the past so with this increased 20% discount, it might lure me back and get me some more nights with SPG properties (and onwards to Lifetime status).
 
Always take the 20% discount if the value is there. Booked one night in LA at Westin (in town for Clippers NBA game) saved $100 on the SPG rate (first time seeing a discount of this amount). Just sent in a BRG for 3 nights in Tokyo at Westin Tokyo, lets see what transpires. Also have SNA upgrades for this booking, would be good to get a massive discount and a suite (lots of friends to invite over for a reunion party or 3).

Cheers
BF
 
I have just used this to book 4 nights at the Le Meridien Isle des Pins. Venere.com had the cheapest rate and this was beaten by 20% by SPG.

Definitely a great offer as we ended up saving $850 over 4 nights for a Bungalow including breakfast (ended up less than the cost of one of the standard rooms).
 
I have clocked up about 180 nights with SPG and I would say 75% of those nights were utilising BRG rates, many other were just points stays.

I have had several comments from check-in staff about my low rates and I smile to myself knowing I've got myself a good deal :)

Other than that in all my stays I have only had two issues with BRG .... once was at Le Meridien Frankfurt where they weren't happy I had breakfast included in the claim (this was before the BRG conditions did not allow breakfast to be included in the competiting rate) and the second was the Le Meridien Pyramids Cairo where they tried to refuse the BRG claim and sent me an email privately, saying they could not honour the rate. I expected the LM Pyramids to play hardball because they operate like an used car dealership there. I forwarded that email to SPG BRG and everything was sorted.
 
I need to find a good deal for April in the height of school holidays to use this. Then book under my dads Platinum membership :p
 
Can any one recommend a good hotel booking website to use for Paris which would then enable me to approach SPG to better the rate?
 
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There are websites that search multiple sites at once for you.. like... hotelscombined.com , kayak.com , even tripadvisor now searches hotel pricing.
 
Alan, give stayangel.com a go, its automated and searches far more than those you listed...and its an AFF member idea/investment...

Cheers
BF

There are websites that search multiple sites at once for you.. like... hotelscombined.com , kayak.com , even tripadvisor now searches hotel pricing.
 
Two recent BRG wins:

St Louis Westin, spg.com rate, $292, BRG claim at $175. spg.com did come down in price day before I stayed there for close $200/night.

Bangkok Royal Orchid. 15,000 THB on spg.com for 4 nights, 11,000 THB via the claim.

Also got upgrade to a suite at St Louis Westin, which was convenient as two of us travelling together on business (small company, entrepreneurs)

Cheers
BF
 
Gday

When submitting a BRG claim what kind of turnaround time do you people get? I did one about 20 hours ago and got the auto email acknowledgment but nothing since then saying yay or nay. The longer it goes the more likely it is the cheap room i found will evaporate.....

Pele.
 
Looks like you have 4 more hours to wait ...

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Gday

Well after 33 hours they got back to me and rejected the claim. I was p*ssed off and thought that the kaligo inventory must have dried up in that 33 hours. I went back to kaligo to check and low and behold it is still there and for $AUD1 cheaper! I have responded to the BRG claim rejection with screenshots and will see what happens. Don't understand why it is so hard.

Under normal circumstances i would just book with kaligo and take the bonus Krisflyer points to boot but i have a westpac altitude black card which gives Starwood gold status with one stay paid with the altitude mastercard. I want to trigger this as i have a trip early next year and intend staying in some Westin's. This was to be my trial of hotel status to see first hand if it is really worth anything. Struggling to get off the ground at the moment!

Pele.
 
I have found that this can occur from time to time so I just resubmit and it usually goes through on the second time (sometimes changing the OTA can help if you find the rate at more than one, I suspect some have differing pricing based on the region).

You can also reply querying it but have found resubmitting is usually quicker and more successful.
 
Gday

My claim was still rejected even after submitting screenshots of the payment page on kaligo showing $40 less than spg.com. They said they cannot take into account any customer submitted evidence provided with the claim. The operator must be able to generate the same quote. I have concluded that the problem is cookies. They track what you do and guess what you want and try and provide a compelling price for you to book. On a separate laptop i at the same time I tried to book the same room in the same hotel on the same night and it came up with a different price on kaligo.

Anyway i thought f8ck it, im not paying $275 to stay at the Four points by Sheraton on Perth on a Thursday night with no breeky. Booked the Fri and Sat nights through SPG.com for $140 a night including breeky. Thursday night i just booked a $65 airbnb place close by.

Pele.
 
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