Best Western has a new Low Rate Guaranteed policy for a $100 Best Western Travel Card if you find a lower rate on another online travel agency website within 48 hours of booking a hotel at BestWestern.com. The  lower rate is matched plus a $100 hotel credit for a future stay. Great Deal! Right?

Best Western says submit a claim when you find a lower rate for the Best Western hotel within 48 hours after booking on BestWestern.com. Best Western reservations made within 48 hours of hotel arrival are not eligible for claims.

The online travel agency room rate must meet these conditions:

• same hotel
• similar room type
• same dates
• same number of people on reservation
• same currency and at least US$1 difference in rates on other website.
• the rate must be bookable by the general public when Best Western customer care agent validates claim.
• opaque sites that do not reveal the name of the hotel until after booking, like Priceline and Hotwire, are not eligible for claims.

Points or miles earned are based on room rate actually paid after Best Rate Guarantee claim processed.

This Best Rate Guarantee policy is only for residents of U.S., Canada and the Caribbean when staying at Best Western hotels in the U.S., Canada or Caribbean.

Other international locations and residents of other regions are still only eligible for a 10% rate discount on the lower rate found on a third party travel agency for approved claims.

 

Loyalty Traveler analysis

A $100 BW Travel Card is a good value Low Rate Guarantee if you have a claim approved.

I still object to the fact that no hotel chains follow the terms of Starwood Hotels and Hyatt Hotels who allow guests to file a Low Rate Guarantee claim before making a reservation on any site.

What good is a Best Rate Guarantee when I see a lower rate on a competing website, and I am faced with the choice of booking the lower rate or booking the higher rate on Best Western and file a claim?

He said, “We haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine” Eagles- ‘Hotel California’

While Kayak has lost its usefulness it once had when hotels could be filtered by hotel loyalty program, the fact that all Best Western hotels are in one brand means Kayak is still useful for filtering Best Western Hotels.

Kayak.com is a useful website for finding hotels eligible for Low Rate Guarantee claims.  On the left side of the page is a box for “Hotel Name/Brand”. Type in Hilton or Starwood or Marriott or Best Western and Kayak gives the selection choice to filter hotels for only “All Hilton brands” or “All Marriott brands”. I filtered this search to “All Best Western brands”.

EasyClickTravel,com is an online travel agency that I have used before for approved low rate guarantee claims. The $92 rate on EasyClickTravel.com listed is $17 less than the BestWestern.com rate.

EasyClickTravel.com has a rate of $105.75 after tax. BestWestern.com shows $125.90 for this same room after tax.

Bottom line: Best Western may approve my claim and I get a $100 gift card and the lower rate.

If Best Western rejects the claim for some reason I can’t see at this point, then I paid $20 more than I needed to pay for the same room.

Hopefully the Best Western Rewards points I earn from the hotel stay are worth at least $20 that I overpaid for the room.

For me personally, a Best Rate Guarantee that requires me to book the hotel room on BestWestern.com first is only useful if I have a rate that can be cancelled in case my Low Rate Guarantee claim is not approved.

When I really need a hotel room though, I don’t want to play booking games poker. In this post I have shown how easy it is to find a Low Rate Guarantee claim. I found this hotel in about five minutes. But I don’t want to gamble on whether the room shown in this post is an eligible Low Rate Guarantee with Best Western.

Now if I saw this with a Starwood Hotel or Hyatt Hotel, then I would be filing my claim and see if I could get a great rate deal for San Francisco. Starwood Hotels’ Best Rate Guarantee gives 10% off the lower rate, but I almost always take 2,000 Starpoints and a match of the lower rate. Hyatt’s Best Rate Guarantee will reduce the lower rate by 20%.

This is a good effort from Best Western and some guests are going to be excited to get a $100 Best Western Travel Card.

BestWestern.com Low Rate Guarantee.

The complete pdf Best Western Best Rate Guarantee Terms & Conditions.

InterContinental Hotels Group introduced a new Best Price Guarantee (BRG) policy this week offering guests the first night free when a lower rate for the same hotel, same room type, same restrictions for same dates is found on a third party online travel agency site. Additional nights will match the lower price submitted for approved claims.

What is a Valid Best Price Guarantee Claim?

1. You must make a reservation on an IHG website and have a valid confirmation number.
2. You must have booked a Best Available Rate. Group rates like AAA, senior rates, and corporate rates do not qualify for BRG claims.
3. You must book the lowest price among the Best Available rates for the room type.
4. You must find a lower room rate on a competing non-IHG brand website within 24 hours for the same hotel, room type,  same dates, same length of stay and same number of guests that is publicly available, viewable and bookable.
5. Competing website must have same reservation restrictions  for nonrefundable or refundable room.

The IHG Best Price Guarantee FAQ actually uses the example that if you find a refundable rate on a competing website that is lower than the nonrefundable rate you purchased from the IHG site, the claim is not valid.

That makes no sense to a consumer.

You book a more restrictive rate through IHG and then find a lower rate on a competing website with more flexible cancellation terms and you do not have a valid BRG claim. You have no recourse since you lose the entire prepaid deposit with IHG if you cancel a nonrefundable room.

IHG Best Price Guarantee is better than before when it offered 10% off the lower rate of a competing website, but still pales compared to Starwood and Hyatt BRG policies.

Up a Creek with Kayak.com and no paddle to freely navigate Hotel Brands filters

I wanted to test the new IHG policy with a few Kayak.com searches in hopes of locating a potential BRG claim only to learn that Kayak.com has changed their search filters recently. The changes to Kayak.com eliminates the ability to freely filter hotels in a location by hotel brand. I wrote a lament about this feature disappearing last year in my April 1, 2010 blog post “Steering to Starwood Hotels on Kayak.com without a Paddle“. Turned out that was a temporary change for Kayak.com.

Now it looks to me like Kayak.com has changed its hotel brand filtering to be some type of advertising revenue service since there is an odd and severely limited selection of hotel brands shown when attempting to filter the hotels by hotel brand.

Finding IHG rates on competing websites to compare with rates on IHG’s own websites is no longer a simple task with Kayak.com. Over the summer I easily located Best Rate Guarantee claims with Starwood Hotels using Kayak.com to check rates for locations I needed hotels. When I checked Kayak.com for IHG brand rates in San Francisco I now see a filter limited to this:

This is such a limited selection of the 300+ hotels in San Francisco shown here that I assume these are paid placements. There is no way I see now to filter these hotels to show only IHG brands when searching Kayak.com.

This is what Kayak.com used to provide which made it easy to check rates and compare to the hotel brand websites.

My purpose for discussing the Kayak.com filter changes is the fact that a Best Rate Guarantee policy only works when you can find a lower rate on a competing site within 24 hours and Kayak.com was a great site for locating lower rates quickly by filtering hotels to just the one brand of interest.

The screenshot above shows hotels in a Kayak.com Denver search filtered to show only Hyatt and Starwood. These happen to be the two hotel chains that allow submission of a Best Rate Guarantee claim before actually booking a hotel room. That is why I like the BRG policies of these two hotel chains.

Hyatt BRG FAQ. 20% off lower rate.

Starwood BRG FAQ. 10% off lower rate or 2,000 Starpoints.

Marriott BRG. Marriott gives 25% off lower rate.

Hilton BRG. Hilton matches lower rate and gives $50 gift card or $50 credit.

IHG, Marriott, Hilton and most other hotel chains offer a Best Rate Guarantee, but only after you have booked the room through the hotel’s own websites and then find a lower rate on a competing website and submit your claim within 24 hours of booking the room. Earlier this year I analyzed the different BRG policies from major hotel chains in this post.

Personally I don’t spend much time looking at room rates in the 24 hours after I have booked my room.

Orbitz.com still offers the ability to filter by hotel brand and that will be my preferred search site until I locate another travel search engine to filter by hotel chain like Starwood, Marriott or IHG. I only use third party sites to compare rates to branded websites. I make all my reservations on the brand website for the loyalty benefits and almost always the lowest rate. If the hotel brand website is not the lowest rate, then file a Best Rate Guarantee claim.

I don’t think I will find much use in the IHG Best Price Guarantee policy changes.

This IHG change should provide more fuel for the people producing the Best Rate Guarantee blog who mainly work Expedia deals since Wyndham changed its BRG free night policy in April 2009.

Question for readers: What other travel websites allow a hotel search to be filtered by hotel chain?

IHG Priority Club has another clever promotion to support the launch of its new Best Rate Guarantee policy. There is a five day Tweet-to-Win contest on Twitter giving away 50 free hotel rooms each day in the form of 40,000 Priority Club points per winner. Contest runs from Tuesday, September 20 through Saturday, September 24. This is a 10 million points giveaway.

Twitter followers of @PriorityClub (currently at 3,495 followers at the time of this post) enter the contest with a tweet answering the question ”What would you do with a free night?” 

Today is Day 1 of the contest and there are still a few hours left to enter for the Tuesday, September 20 giveaway of 50 free room nights. Read the rules carefully before submitting your tweet to improve your chances of winning 40,000 points and the value of those points if you redeem your free night for a top tier InterContinental Hotel.

IHG launched a new Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) policy today that offers the first night free with an approved claim for a same room, same terms, lower rate  found on a third party online travel agency site. I’ll write up the BRG policy in a post tomorrow. The Twitter contest is simply a PR promotion for the new BRG policy and a good odds opportunity for winning a free hotel night.

Link to Priority Club Contest description.

Link to detailed Twitter Contest Terms and Conditions.

• Contest runs as five separate days of giveaways for 50 room nights each 24 hour period.
• Day 1 is Tuesday September 20 12:00am ET and ends September 20 11:59pm ET. The contest continues for each day through Saturday, September 24.
• Follow @PriorityClub on Twitter.
• Tweet a response in English to the question “What would you do with a free night?”
• You may enter once each day of the contest.
• This is a contest. Tweets will be judged on originality (50%), Creativity (40%) and Enthusiasm (10%).
• Winners will be notified by Twitter Direct Message.
• Read the rules yourself before making a submission as these are just some of the rules I thought relevant to readers.
• The short rules state you must add “#bestrateguarantee” to the end of the tweet and the detailed rules state you must have #BestPriceGuarantee http://bit.ly/rulesihg  at the end of the tweet.   I added the rules link just to be sure the submission is eligible, but that shortens the available characters for a question response in the 140 character Twitter limit for the total message.

This Twitter contest is open to residents of the U.S.  (including D.C.), the U.K (excluding Northern Ireland) and Canada (excluding Quebec).

 

Hat tip to AJ, a new BoardingArea blogger with Live from a Lounge.

Note: This post was updated September 21 to reflect the fact that Priority Club Tweet-to-Win prize winners receive 40,000 points rather than a free night credit.

FlyerTalk has a 56-page thread on Hilton’s Best Rate Guarantee with over 800 posts covering 7.5 years since 2003. Over 80 posts from the past 12 months indicate there have only been a couple of posted successful Best Rate Guarantee claims approved by Hilton Worldwide and even these often required escalating the claim to Hilton supervisory levels after initial denials of claims. All in all, it appears the chance you will have a successful BRG claim with Hilton is about the same probability you will stay at an Embassy Suites with no children on the premises.

Hilton Worldwide has one of the most restrictive Best Rate Guarantee policies of the major hotel chains.

• First you must book a hotel room through Hilton channels.
• Then, you must find a lower rate within 24-hours of your Hilton booking.
• The terms must be identical and anecdotal evidence indicates Hilton will deny a claim based on some rather minute differences between the Hilton reservation and the third party room description or fees.
• Approved claims will match lower rate and Hilton will give you a $50 American Express gift cheque for hotels in U.S., Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Your bill will be adjusted by US$50 for approved claims at hotels in other regions.

Anecdotal evidence indicates Hilton BRG claims are denied for a variety of factors due to some discrepancy between different wording used on third party sites to describe the basic room category for the hotel, the room bed size, different check-in times posted, third party website booking fees and taxes combined and breakfast rates on third party sites. 

The general consensus on FlyerTalk is even taking the time to submit a Best Rate Guarantee with Hilton is a waste of time. Advice FlyerTalkers frequently give to Hilton HHonors members is just book the lower rate on the third party site and forget the loyalty benefits, since you will unlikely ever get a rate match and even if you manage to get a rate match, the likelihood of getting the $50 American Express voucher is low without follow-up at higher management levels.

Another common piece of advice is book with Marriott.

Marriott’s Look No Further threadon FlyerTalk has 48 pages with 719 posts since April 2006. Since the beginning of 2010 (page 35 of the FlyerTalk thread), there are over 200 posts in the Marriott Look No Further thread and almost all of the posts report  an approved Best Rate Guarantee claim for a Marriott brand hotel.

Marriott Look No Further Best Rate Guarantee Policy

• Guest must first book room on Marriott site.
• Must file claim within 24 hours for lower rate found on third party site.
• Approved claims will discount lower rate by an additional 25%.

 

Starwood Hotels and Hyatt Hotels actually allow the guest to file a Best Rate Guarantee claim prior to making a confirmed reservation for the hotel. Starwood Hotels Best Rate policyoffers 10% off lower rate or match the lower rate and gives 2,000 bonus Starpoints for an approved Best Rate claim. I generally take the 2,000 points if the 10% savings off the lower rate is less than $50.

There are 45 pages with 671 posts since January 2008 in the FlyerTalk Starwood Best Rate Guarantee thread. Denied claims tend to be related to specific third party websites. Most seemingly eligible claims appear to be approved.

In my experience, I find Starwood Hotels to be fairly straightforward with their approval of Best Rate Guarantee claims. I actually book between 25% and 50% of my Starwood Hotels using BRG claims and earn an additional 2,000 points per stay for most of these bookings. In summer 2009 when Starwood Preferred Guest offered a free night after two stays, I completed 16 stays and half of those stays earned a 2,000 points Best Rate Guarantee claim bonus. And SPG was giving out Delta/Northwest miles too. That was a great year for hotel travel.

Now in 2011 we really need the Best Rate Guarantee backup as many hotels are skyrocketing rates.

Hyatt Hotels, on the other hand, reminds me a bit of the Hilton policy. Getting a Hyatt BRG claim approved for 20% lower than the third party rate  is more difficult in my experience than with Starwood Hotels. A check of FlyerTalk Hyatt Best Rate Guarantee thread shows several successful Hyatt Best Rate Guarantee claims over the past year, however, there are only 37 posts in the three page thread since June 2009.

Priority Club is a Best Rate Guarantee program that I have little knowledge of its practical use. I couldn’t find the FlyerTalk thread covering IHG Best Rate Guarantee anecdotes.

The IHG Lowest Room Rate webpage does not instill much faith in me for the program. This is why.

Here is a piece describing how their Best Rate Guarantee works:

The following is from IHG Lowest Room Rate webpage.

Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee Claim Questions & Answers:

Did you make a reservation on an IHG Web site? IHG’s portfolio consists of the most recognized and respected hotel brands in the world, including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express® Hotels, Hotel Indigo® Hotels, Staybridge Suites® Hotels and Candlewood Suites® Hotels. With full-service Web sites in eleven languages to support worldwide operations, we feature over 4,500 hotels in nearly 100 countries and territories. A reservation must be made directly on an IHG Web site to qualify for the Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee, and you must have a valid reservation confirmation number.

Did you use the Best Available Rate search? When you search for a room on an IHG Web site and specify “Best Available” as your rate preference, you will be presented with a variety of rate types (e.g. Best Flexible, Advance Purchase). These are the best hotel room rates available currently that meet your search criteria.

Did you choose the lowest rate from the Best Available Rate search results for your reservation? A guest must book the lowest available hotel room rate through the Best Available rate search – for the type of accommodations sought – in order to qualify for the Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee.

Did you find a lower rate on a “competing Web site” within 24 hours of your IHG reservation? A competing Web site is a Web site that sells a hotel room from the IHG Family of Brands (InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express® Hotels, Hotel Indigo® Hotels, Staybridge Suites® Hotels and Candlewood Suites® Hotels). It is not another hotel brand Web site.

Is that lower rate for the same type of accommodations? Same type of accommodations includes the same hotel, the same type of room(s), same dates and length of stay, and same number of guests.

“Example of a resolution to a valid Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee claim:

A guest books a one night’s stay at the lowest available rate through the Best Available Rate search for a hotel in Atlanta, GA, (USA) on an IHG branded site for a rate of $200.00.

Within 24 hours, that same guest finds a rate of $190.00 on a competing Web site for the same hotel, same night and same room type (same number and type of bed(s)).

The guest contacts IHG to claim the Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee either by phone or by filling out the online form.

Once the Guest Relations team confirms that the Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee claim filed is valid, they will modify the guest’s room rate to $181.00 to uphold IHG’s Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee policy! That’s 10% better than the lower hotel rate reported.” 

Loyalty Traveler Analysis of IHG methodology:

• IHG website = $200
• Competing third party online website = $190
• IHG will modify the guest’s room rate to $181

InterContinental Hotels Group Lowest Room Rate Guarantee Example is incorrect math.

The example as shown is $9 off of $190 room rate. That is not a 10% modification of the lower rate. IHG is showing a discount of less than 5% below the lower third party rate.

The modified room rate should be $171 to be 10% lower than $190. ($190 x 0.90 = $171)

Readers, please share your experiences of claiming Best Rate Guarantees. Specifically people who have made claims in different programs can share some comparisons of the experience across hotel chains.

What are your good and bad stories about Best Rate Guarantee claims?

Loyalty Traveler Best Rate Guarantee Hotel Report Card

Starwood Hotels = A (Guest may file claim before booking room and easy claims process)

Marriott Hotels = B (Guest must book room first with Marriott, file claim. Easy validation process.)

Hyatt Hotels = C  (Guest may file claim before booking room, but not so easy validation process.)

InterContinental Hotels Group = no grade (need more data to assess program)

Hilton Hotels = F  (Guest must book room first with Hilton, file claim within 24 hours and seemingly valid claims denied for variety of reasons.)

Results from an American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) indicate nearly 40% of hotels are using flash selling like last minute website sales, or Twitter and Facebook specials. I saw some examples of flash selling with Hyatt and Starwood hotels in San Francisco for this weekend.

Here is the AH&LA poll survey question:

Poll: A recent report described that hotels, airlines, and other travel suppliers are increasingly finding success in flash selling, or offering last minute deals in the form of emails or other means to fill unsold capacity – and more customers are purchasing such deals. Is your hotel increasingly using flash selling and has this method improved the filling of unsold capacity?

Results:               

• 61% No flash selling tried;
• 26% Flash selling has boosted last minute sales;
• 13% Flash selling has not significantly boosted last minute sales.

I was finding all kinds of hotel deals on Twitter a few months ago, but then I hit follow on loads of people who were following me and the hotel deals now seem to be lost in the myriad of tweets on my page. I think I need to aggressively unfollow to filter my tweet follows back down to mostly hotels.

The problem I find with Twitter is not enough hashtags, #, are used in tweets to allow good searches. For example, if all hotel deals were labeled #hotel, then it would be easy to search for deals. But with only 140 characters to write for a tweet, labeling with multiple hashtag terms takes up the strictly limited writing space.

Question for the twitterati – I would love to learn about some good resources for tutorials on using Twitter and Facebook. Anyone have sites to share?

Hotel Rates this week in San Francisco

I like the case study method for analyzing hotel rates. I spent the past week studying room rates for San Francisco this weekend. I was struck by the high rates I saw for San Francisco hotels this Friday and Saturday April 23-24 when I started looking last week. The rates were generally low with Hilton and IHG all week, but the rates were quite high for Starwood and Hyatt hotels.

I noticed huge discrepancies between rates displayed on Kayak.com and rates displayed on the hotel websites during the course of the week.

Last Sunday I spotted several lower rates on Kayak.com compared to the Hyatt and Starwood websites. I clicked on several of the lower rates listed on the Kayak.com search results. The rates generally were incorrect on Kayak.com and came out matching the hotel website when I followed through a booking on Orbitz or Expedia.

I happened to find a $45 discrepancy for the Westin Market Street San Francisco between EasyClickTravel.com and Starwood. I applied for a Best Rate Guarantee (BRG). I applied for the wrong night. I resubmitted a second BRG for a different night.

The odd discrepancy was the standard room, called traditional at the Westin Market Street was not showing up on Starwood’s site. A higher category Deluxe room was the lowest room category bookable through Starwood for most of this week. The EasyClickTravel.com room was a standard room.

The responses from Starwood’s Best Rate Guarantee representatives were interesting. My first submitted claim was rejected. The response stated my claim was invalid since EasyClickTravel.com did not have a Deluxe room available on its website and only the Deluxe room was listed on the Starwood site for $143 . The fact that EasyClickTravel.com had a lower $98 standard room did not matter since the lower category rooms were not being sold on Starwood’s sites.

No problem. I had submitted that BRG claim for the wrong date anyway.

But it does bring up a lingering question of logical consequences since I book so many rooms using Best Rate Guarantee claims.

If this were truly a rational reason for rejecting a BRG claim, then what keeps the hotel from moving their lowest room category inventory to online travel agencies and charging more on their own websites for higher category rooms? This seemed to be the case with the Westin Market Street this week when standard rooms were available through several online travel agency sites but not on Starwood’s sites.

Turned out to be a moot point.

Twenty minutes later I received a second email from a different Starwood Best Rate Guarantee specialist who approved the second submitted claim for the night I actually wanted. I got the $98 room and 2,000 points.

Then the hotel rates suddenly dropped yesterday for this Friday and Saturday.

Hyatt Regency San Francisco on Monday $200+; Thursday ($159 AAA with breakfast)

Grand Hyatt San Francisco on Monday $179; Thursday ($116 AAA)

Le Meridien San Francisco on Monday $199; Thursday $109 Starpicks prepaid rate

W San Francisco on Monday $219; Thursday $149 Starpicks prepaid rate

Westin Market Street $159 Monday; $114 Starpicks rate for the “traditional” room. Suddenly Westin Market has traditional rooms for sale after only offering Deluxe rooms all week.

The other interesting fact is the OTAs have not lowered their prices for the weekend.

Orbitz is charging $139 for Westin Market Street – Starwood is $114.

Expedia is charging $189 for W San Francisco – Starwood is $149.

Orbitz is charging $199 for Hyatt Regency San Francisco with a $25 Food & Beverage Credit– Hyatt is $169.15 (AAA with breakfast for two at hotel restaurant).

Orbitz is charging $199.01 for Le Meridien San Francisco – Starwood is $109.

There has been a growing clamor among big-chain hoteliers that online travel agencies like Expedia and Orbitz are playing too large a role in dictating room rates. I cited an article earlier this week arguing room bookings over the internet through third parties like Expedia, Orbitz, and dozens of other online travel agencies cost hotels about 8 times more than direct booking through hotel websites.

Hotel revenue is the largest proportion of OTA profits for the big companies like Expedia.

Too bad the San Francisco hotels waited so long to drop their rates this week. They would have taken in more money from me, but I already went for the bonus points of a Best Rate Guarantee due to the lower rates with the online travel agencies much of this week.

The point to take away from all this is keep an eye on hotel rates as you go for the free night promotions these next few months. Hotel revenue management tactics mean you will see highly dynamic room pricing. Getting the best room rate deal is really a matter of timing and luck.

I booked my Hyatt hotel stay next month with Booking.com. Hyatt Hotels rejected my Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) claim today. Hyatt Place Orlando Airport showed a prepaid Hyatt.com room rate $161 for the date of my stay ($152 for AAA rate). A quick trip to Kayak.com revealed a rate of $79 through Booking.com that allows cancellation up to one day before arrival.

I call up 1-888-96-HYATT and request a BRG claim. After several minutes the agent returns to tell me the Booking.com rate is not eligible because it does not show a breakdown of room rate and taxes for each day of the hotel stay.

Booking.com simply states $79 for the room rate.

My Booking.com confirmation policy states there will be a 12.5% tax not included in the $79 rate:

Here are the other relevant booking terms from Booking.com

“Booking.com will not charge you any reservation fees for making this booking, nor charge your credit card. You will simply pay for your stay at the hotel.
Cancellation is free of charge provided you adhere to the notification period stated in the hotel cancellation policy (see “Hotel Policies”).”

Hyatt .com had a $161 prepaid, nonrefundable rate for the same room type and date.

Hyatt Daily Rate is $169 and may be cancelled up to day of arrival.

Technically, I guess the cancellation policies are not actually addressed in Best Rate Guarantee Terms and Conditions so it may not be a factor that the $169 Hyatt Daily Rate has a more liberal cancellation policy (day of arrival) compared to the Booking.com rate (day before arrival) and the prepaid nonrefundable rate cannot be cancelled at all.

I think my claim falls through Hyatt loopholes. The spirit of a Best Rate Guarantee is that a Hyatt guest should not have to be concerned that a lower rate is easily bookable elsewhere. In this case I found a rate for 50% less than Hyatt showed for the same room on the same date.

A simple trip to Kayak.com showed me where to find a $79 rate for the Hyatt Place Orlando Airport with the same room type on the same date and an almost comparable cancellation policy to the $169 Hyatt Daily Rate found on Hyatt.com.

I am a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond member, but I’ll forfeit one night loyalty credit and Hyatt Gold Passport points for a one night room rate after tax of $88.88 rather  than paying more than double the rate that Hyatt is charging as their comparable rate for the same room.

 

$190.12 at Hyatt.com vs. $88.88 at Booking.com?

I booked the $79 rate on Booking.com, received an immediate email confirmation, and the hotel verified my reservation was in order when I called Hyatt Place Orlando Airport.

What is the purpose of a Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) policy when a rate discrepancy as vast as this doesn’t qualify for a BRG claim?

Here are the full set of Hyatt BRG terms and conditions. I have addressed each part for my particular claim. I do not see anything in these terms that would disqualify the Booking.com $79 rate from qualifying for a Hyatt Best Rate Guarantee.

Hyatt Best Rate Guarantee Terms & Conditions

“Hyatt guarantees to provide the lowest on-line bookable rate for room reservations at Hyatt Hotels available to the general public on the Internet, subject to the following terms and conditions:

If you find a publicly available and immediately bookable room-only rate on the Internet for a Hyatt Hotel (“Competing Rate”) that is lower than the room rate available for the same reservation on http://www.hyatt.com (i.e., same hotel, same type of room, same number of guests, same dates of stay and same length of stay), then prior to or within 24 hours of booking the reservation on http://www.hyatt.com, please call Hyatt Hotels & Resorts at 1-888-96 HYATT (1-888-964-9288) or 402-593-5445.”

Loyalty Traveler: This portion of the T&Cs seem to have been met with Booking.com.

Once Hyatt confirms the availability of the Competing Rate on the Internet, subject to room availability at the applicable Hyatt Hotel, Hyatt agrees to match the Competing Rate for the same reservation, plus discount an additional twenty percent (20%) off the room rate for the duration of the stay being so reserved.

Loyalty Traveler: This seems to be the clause used to reject my claim. The agent told me the total rate including tax was never displayed on Booking.com. True enough. I made my reservation on Booking.com immediately after my BRG claim was denied by Hyatt.

My confirmation shows 12.5% tax as pictured in this post. Taxes are the same rate charged for a Hyatt.com booking at this hotel.

This Guarantee does not apply to:

• Opaque or auction sites where the hotel brand and/or the specific hotel is not known until booking is finalized. Examples of these types of sites include but are not limited to, Priceline and Hotwire.

Loyalty Traveler: Booking.com clearly showed Hyatt Place Airport for $79.

• Web sites that “package” travel, entertainment, hotel and/or food components such as airfare and hotel stay, hotel stay and car rental, hotel stay and restaurant voucher, etc. Examples of package websites include but are not limited to Site 59 and Delta Vacations.

Loyalty Traveler: Booking.com only provided room.

• Packaged rates that include taxes, service charges, meals, coupons, parking, services, or other amenities.

Loyalty Traveler: Booking.com clearly stated taxes were not included in room rate.

• Qualified discount rates including, but not limited to, Government, AAA or Senior Citizen Discounts.

Loyalty Traveler: this term is not applicable to this BRG claim.

• Unpublished, negotiated rates with corporations, travel agencies, groups, associations or other rates that are specifically agreed upon by Hyatt and a specified and limited group, and are not publicly available.

Loyalty Traveler: Booking.com required no membership, rates are published for the public, and I did not require any kind of group membership. Just needed a credit card. Obviously there was a negotiated rate between Hyatt and Booking.com because the 5 rooms available dropped to 4 rooms available after I made my reservation, however, these are publicly available room rates on Booking.com.

• Hyatt Vacation Club properties or any residential or extended stay apartment properties (i.e. The Galleria Residences in Dubai).

Loyalty Traveler: not applicable to this situation.

This Guarantee applies only to the room rate for the duration of the reservation and does not apply to taxes, gratuities, guest incidental charges, food and beverage charges, resort fees, and any other fees or charges that you may incur during your stay.

If you have already booked a prepaid stay on Hyatt.com, and find a Competing Rate that meets the Guarantee terms and conditions set forth here, then Hyatt will refund the full amount originally charged to your credit card for the rate booked on Hyatt.com and charge the full stay based on the new rate to your credit card.

The number of Gold Passport points awarded to you if you are a Gold Passport member will be based on the room rate actually paid by you upon checkout.

This Guarantee is subject to change or revocation at anytime.”

Loyalty Traveler: I still do not believe there is a valid justification for denying this Hyatt Best Rate Guarantee claim.

Fortunately, this is a Hyatt Place reservation so it is not like I am missing out on an upgrade with my $79 rate through Booking.com.

“Under the new program, customers who find their prepaid hotel room available for a lower price on any site, including Orbitz, can receive a refund for the difference and a $50 discount on a future hotel or vacation package booking. Plus, Orbitz now allows customers to submit a claim right up to the time of the property’s cancellation deadline.” http://pressroom.orbitz.com/index.php?s=43&item=770

This looks like a great Best Rate Guarantee policy. Loyalty traveler took it out for a test spin. How hard can it be to find a Best Rate Guarantee claim? Both Travelocity and Orbitz offer $50 if their site doesn’t have the lowest rate. This means their rates have to match perfectly right?

Price Discrepancy 1:

Hilton Garden Inn Monterey

2 nights for Friday, December 11 – Sunday, December 13

 

·         Travelocity          $110.71 (nonrefundable)

·         Orbitz                    $110.72 (nonrefundable)

·         Hilton                    $111.00 (nonrefundable)

There should be at least two valid Best Rate Guarantee claims since there are three different prices and obviously Travelocity is the lowest rate. Orbitz Lowest Price Guarantee Claim form.

The issue with Orbitz.com is each of these rates is a nonrefundable rate and the cancellation period is passed the moment you make a reservation. The Orbitz policy claims a customer can “submit a claim right up to the time of the property’s cancellation deadline.” Once the customer has booked the Orbitz.com reservation the cancellation deadline has passed.

The total price for the Orbitz hotel room comes out to $245.78 with tax and fees.

Hilton lists the total price as $246.36. The $0.58 difference should make for a valid claim using the  Hilton Hotels Best Rate Guarantee. Hilton gives you a $50 American Express gift cheque if a Best Rate Guarantee claim is validated.

Price Discrepancy 2:

For the same weekend the rates are highest at Orbitz.com for the Hyatt Regency Monterey. Again, the room type is the same, but the rates vary by pennies. This time the Hyatt website has the lowest rate.

Hyatt Regency Monterey

2 nights for Friday, December 11 – Sunday, December 13

 

·         Hyatt.com                           $119.40

·         Travelocity.com                $119.43

·         Orbitz.com                          $119.47

 

 

 

Is Orbitz.com Low Price Guarantee any good in this case?

Again, the rates being compared are nonrefundable rates. The cancellation deadline has passed for the Hyatt Regency Monterey hotel the moment you submit your reservation payment to Orbitz. And this time you do not have a lower Hyatt rate to fall back on for a claim with the hotel company. (Hyatt discounts a lower rate by 20% if a Best Rate Guarantee claim is validated.)

In this example Travelocity should be a valid Best Rate Guarantee. The rules only consider the base rate and not any additional fees or taxes associated with the hotel stay.

“The Price and Service Guarantee applies only to the base cost, and not tax recovery charges and service fees, of standalone Flight, Hotel, Car, and Cruise bookings.”

Travelocity Best Rate Guarantee terms:

For a prepaid “Good Buy” Hotel (excluding Top Secret Hotels) if you find a Qualifying Lower Rate up until the day before check in, we will provide you with the following per booking:

§  For claims made between October 22, 2009 and December 31, 2009: One $50 Promo Code for a future “Good Buy” Hotel or Flight + Hotel vacation package booking on Travelocity and

§  A refund of the difference between the price you paid through Travelocity and the Qualifying Lower Rate.

 

For the next five weeks a claim with Travelocity provides a $50 future Travelocity “Good Buy” hotel credit. Come January 1, 2010 this Hyatt Regency scenario where three different prices exist will only provide you with 6 cents credit back to your card using Travelocity’s Best Rate Guarantee. Orbitz will have you shut out with their cancellation deadline clause.

Conclusion:

Best Rate Guarantee claims are easy to find if you are interested in cutting 10% (Starwood, IHG), 20% (Hyatt), or even 25% (Marriott) off the lowest rate bookable on the internet.  Or you can get a $50 future stay certificate with Orbitz or Travelocity or a $50 gift cheque from Hilton for a successful Best Rate Guarantee claim.

In these two examples the rate at Orbitz.com was not the lowest, yet the hotel rate does not appear to meet the Orbitz.com terms for a valid Lowest Price Assurance claim for a $50 credit on a future stay.

The main drawback to having a claim approved is the lag time between when a claim is submitted and when the claim is processed. Hotel rates change frequently. I watched rates go from $109 to $249 today for next weekend at the Westin Market Street San Francisco while at the same time the rate for the San Jose Sheraton dropped from $189 to $84 over the same two hour period between 11am and 1pm. And screen shots are not considered evidence for a valid claim.

Travelocity “Good Buy” Best Rate Guarantee

Orbitz Lowest Price Guarantee

Mark Ashley of Upgrade: Travel Better  posted a strategy yesterday to cash in on the Travelocity new hotel price rate guarantee. I took a closer look at Travelocity today and made a sample rate check for San Francisco next week to see if there are some possible claims.

The new Travelocity Best Rate Guarantee is an addition to the old policy in that a customer who makes a Travelocity “Good Buy” prepaid hotel booking can invoke a BRG claim at any time until the day before check in. A successful claim results in a refund on your prepaid room to match the lower rate found and until December 31, successful claimants will also receive one $50 promo code to apply to a future “Good Buy” hotel room or Flight + Hotel Vacation Package purchased on Travelocity.

The new Travelocity BRG policy for anytime “up until the day before check in” only applies to “Good Buy” bookings which are prepaid rates, but are not necessarily nonrefundable. The fine print for “Good Buy” prepaid rates on hotels I checked is cancellation must occur before 3 days of arrival or a penalty of one night’s room rate is forfeited. Travelocity Good Buy Rates terms.

Travelocity has several restrictions to their new “Good Rates” BRG policy. The main restriction I saw is a limit of 5 BRG claims in any one month. I had more than 5 successful BRG claims in May 2009 with Starwood Hotels.

TRAVELOCITY PRICE and SERVICE GUARANTEE

Rule 17  Limit: Each customer shall be limited to five (5) Price and Service Guarantee claims per customer per calendar month, regardless of the number of accounts used by the customer.  

 

http://svc.travelocity.com/info/info_popup/0,2766,TRAVELOCITY:EN%7CGUARANTEE_TERMS,00.html

 

The most important restriction for frequent guests focused on the price of a hotel room is group rates are not covered in Travelocity’s price guarantee. This means a lower rate available from the hotel chain using a AAA or a senior discount is not covered by the Travelocity guarantee. Since AAA is the most common lowest rate I find when searching hotels, this is a big gap in a Best Rate Guarantee policy from any online travel agency. The rate comparison table at the end of this thread shows several examples of lower AAA rates and there were some good senior rates deals in San Francisco.

 

Travelocity covers non “Good Buy” Hotel Rates with older Best Rate Guarantee policy

Travelocity’s old Best Rate Guarantee policy is still in effect for non-prepaid hotels and is more in line with hotel chains’ BRG terms. Find a lower rate on Travelocity or another US-based website within 24 hours of booking on Travelocity and you will receive a $50 promo code for a future “Good Buy” hotel or Flight + Hotel Vacation Package.

 

An even better plan may be to stick with a hotel loyalty program.

My searches today revealed several opportunities for cashing in with Travelocity’s $50 offer, but honestly I wouldn’t bother leaving the hotel chain’s own websites for the $50 credit with Travelocity. The points and benefits I earn from most of my hotel stays have a tangible value higher than $50. That is why I am a Loyalty Traveler.

I have invoked around 25 Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) claims this year directly with Hyatt and Starwood and about 2 out of 3 were approved. The denied claims were due to two reasons. The first reason is some online travel agency (OTA) websites do not actually book the room in real-time and these sites are not covered by the hotel chain’s BRG policy. Some agencies require you to submit your reservation and then they email you when the room is booked. These not in-real-time bookings are excluded from the hotel BRG eligibility. At least that is what I have been told by Hyatt over most of my denied claims I find through Kayak with OTAs I have never heard of before.

Travelocity, Orbitz, and Expedia all book in real-time and close the deal with a confirmation of your room purchase and price. GTAHotels.com is one particular smaller online travel agency site I have had great luck finding approved BRG claims this year.

The second and more common reason for a denied BRG claim is a rate change before the claim is processed by the hotel chain. This issue will likely be the same with Travelocity. Screenshots of a lower rate do not count. The good thing about Hyatt Hotels is the ability to call and process a claim directly over the phone. Starwood Hotels takes up to 24 hours and several of my valid BRG claims were not honored due to a rate change within 24 hours of finding a lower rate on an online travel agency site. I submitted a claim, but the rate had gone up in the typically 18 to 23 hours  before receiving a Starwood BRG reply.

Hotel  Chain’s own Best Rate Guarantee policies:

Hyatt Hotels BRG matches lower rate and discounts additional 20% off lower rate. BRG claims are allowed without having an existing room booking. Search Hyatt, search Kayak.com or other online travel agencies for lower rates, and call in any potential discrepancy for a 20% discount on the lower rate.

Starwood Hotels BRG matches lower rate and discounts an additional 10% or matches lower rate and receive 2,000 Starpoints rather than the 10% discount.  I have earned loads of Starpoints invoking the Starwood BRG points offer this year. BRG claims can be made before booking a room.

Hilton Hotels BRG Must book room through Hilton first, then if lower rate found on another site within 24 hours of your booking, Hilton will match lower rate and award you with a $50 American Express gift check.

Marriott Hotels BRG Must book room through a Marriott channel first, then if eligible lower rate found within 24 hours and at least 24 hours before check in, Marriott will discount lower rate 25%.

InterContinental Hotels Group BRG Must book room through IHG channel first, and if lower rate found within 24 hours on a competing site, IHG will discount the lower rate by 10%.

All BRGs aside, here is my rate search comparison for a downtown San Francisco hotel next Friday, November 6, 2009 for a one night stay. Take your chances with a Travelocity BRG claim or just go with the lowest rate. The lowest rate for the hotels I checked was found on the hotel chain’s own site nearly every time.

A hotel rate search strategy I recommend is use Travelocity’s “Good Buy” Flexible calendar rates to see 90 days of a specific hotel’s rates. This is a better search than most hotel chains’ websites. If a GoodBuy rate is low on Travelocity, then the rate will either be low on the hotel chain’s site or you have a good rate candidate for invoking the hotel chain’s Best Rate Guarantee option.

 

 

San Francisco Hotel Rates Travelocity.com vs. Starwood.com and Hyatt.com

 

Special offer rates are the hotel guest’s best rate friend, but also are the traveler’s biggest challenge for quickly finding the lowest rate for your hotel stay.

Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research published a new report on hotel revenue management last week. The report reiterates one of the hotel industry’s primary strategies for getting more money from the hotel guest:

“Bundle services into packages that disguise room rates.”

Loyalty Traveler goes into HD (hotel detail) mode with today’s rate analysis by concentrating on the myriad of special offer rates available at one hotel, The Nines, Portland, Oregon, over one Labor Day weekend.

Here is my Loyalty Traveler detailed room rate analysis to illustrate how hotel revenue management rate strategies are a time-consuming endeavor for the guest seeking the best value for a hotel stay at a particular upscale or luxury hotel. It is difficult to know which special offer will truly be a good value until you plug in some dates and give the hotel rate slot machine a spin.

To save readers from needing to read the entire analysis I will tell you the results up front for The Nines this Labor Day.

The Nines Hotel, a Starwood Luxury Collection property is available for $126 per night for a 3-night stay over Labor Day weekend with the 3rd night free special offer rate.

The Nines has been open for less than a year in downtown Portland, Oregon. I stayed last November a few weeks after the hotel opened for $199 per night and that was a discounted rate. Rates this past winter fell to as low as $99 per night. Here is my Loyalty Traveler hotel review from last year with several photos. http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2008/11/12/the-nines-starwood-luxury-collection-portland-oregon/

The 3^rd night free offer from Starwood Hotels reduces the nightly room rate from the default rate of $189 per night to $126 per night for a 3-night stay over Labor Day weekend. The hotel has a true 3^rd night free offer of 33% off the lowest rate. The Ivy Hotel , Minneapolis (yesterday’s rate analysis) also has a 3^rd night free offer that was not the best deal for the lowest rate rooms over Labor Day weekend.

 

Loyalty Traveler’s Comparative Rate Analysis for

The Nines, Starwood Luxury Collection, Portland, Oregon

September 4-7, 2009 for 3 nights.

 

Searching Rates for Online Travel Agencies

I start hotel rate searches with an initial search of online travel agency rates for comparative purposes to Starwood Hotels. Rate discrepancies may be applicable to a Best Rate Guarantee claim with Starwood Hotels for 10% off the total nightly rate or 2,000 bonus Starpoints ($70 value).

In 14 Starwood hotel stays in May 2009 I received Best Rate Guarantee adjustments to a lower rate found on an online travel agency website for 8 stays resulting in 16,000 bonus Starpoints in addition to the lower hotel room rate found with the online travel agency. Loyalty traveler post on Best Rate Guarantees. 

The default rate on the hotel chain website is typically the same rate shown on websites for Online Travel Agencies (OTA) such as Expedia.com, Kayak.com, Travelocity.com, and Orbitz.com.

An interesting result for a search of The Nines for a 3-night stay, September 4-7, 2009, is a different rate was found for each of the three major OTA sites of Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity. I do not see this occur often.

Expedia.com = $139 rate for Friday (Superior room eligible for Best Rate Guarantee claim with Starwood Hotels? Only Deluxe rooms are shown on Starwood website. This may qualify for a BRG claim. Starwood will notify you within 24 hours if the $139 rate will be matched by The Nines.)

$189 for Friday and Saturday, but no availability is shown Sunday night on Expedia.

Travelocity.com = $189 per night

Orbitz.com = $215.67 per night (Club Floor Deluxe) No availability shown for regular Deluxe room without Club Floor access.

Kayak.com = $189 per night.

GTAHotels = $255 per night (I have had good luck in the past finding BRG rates with GTA Hotels.) 

 

Starwood Hotels Basic Rate Searches: Default rate, AAA rate, and senior rate

Rate Search #1 – Default rates  

Look on Starwood Hotels main website for Portland, Oregon and “from $189” is the rate shown for The Nines Hotel.

 

 

Click on the $189 rate and  Starwood’s “recommended” rooms and rates are shown.  These are all rooms with 2 queen beds with or without Club Floor access. The only room with a King bed is shown as a Club Executive Suite with a rate of $950 per night for Friday September 4 for a 3-night Labor Day weekend stay. I’d just like the bed please. No dining room table is necessary.

Deluxe Room $189 (2 queen beds)

Club Floor $219 (2 queen beds)

Club Executive Suite $950 (King bed)

 

 

 

Rate Search # 2: AAA rate, if a member

Deluxe Room $180 (2 queen beds)  This rate is 5% less than initial search.

Club Floor $197.10 (2 queen beds) This rate is 10% less than initial search.

Club Executive Suite $855 (King Bed). This rate is 10% less than initial search.

 

Rate Search # 3: AARP rate, if a member

Senior discounts vary by hotel and program. Some hotel chains require guest to be 62, but this rate is based on AARP membership. Persons 50 and older can join AARP.

Deluxe Room $159 (2 queen beds) . This rate is 16% less than initial rate of $189.

 

Hotel Special Offer Rates

Typically hidden in the special offer rates is the best value – if you have the time to search through all the offers for your hotel dates. Loyalty traveler took the time to analyze 10 special offer rates from The Nines for a Labor Day weekend hotel stay.

Click on the hotel name “The Nines” for the link to go to the hotel website.

This is where the potential guest can view special offer rates from The Nines. Click the link on the far right “Offers” to view webpage of special offer hotel rates.

 

The Nines has 10 different special rate offers on this page. That is 10 different rates which potentially could offer a better deal than the $189 shown in the initial Nines hotel rate search. Two of the special offers are Starwood Preferred Guest bonuses. The first offer is for 1,000 bonus points per Starwood Hotel stay. Sign up for this.

 

SPG 1,000 bonus points per stay promotion

 

Rate Search #4: Third Night Free Special Offer Rate (This is the best deal Loyalty Traveler found)

Labor Day weekend rates: Friday, Sep  4; Saturday, Sep 5; Sunday, Sep 6.

Deluxe Room = $126 per night (33% savings over initial $189 rate)

Friday @$189 + Saturday @$189 + Sunday free = $378 for 3 nights.

Club Floor = $146 per night (33% savings over initial $189 rate)

Friday @$219 + Saturday @$219 + Sunday free = $438 for 3 nights.

Club Executive Suite = $1,900 for 3 nights = $634/night.

The unusual aspect of this 3^rd night free offer is the rate used for 3^rd night free is not inflated. Typically these offers use a nightly rate for the first two nights significantly higher than the lowest rate otherwise available. The Nines is offering a true 3^rd night free offer since there are few discount rates for one or two night stays.

Yesterday’s analysis of 3^rd free night rates at Hotel Ivy, Minneapolis, another Starwood Luxury Collection Hotel, was not the lowest rate for lower category rooms.

Remember: 3^rd Night Free rates are fully prepaid and nonrefundable. This rate is a significant savings, but also has significant risk of losing your entire deposit if you do not complete the hotel stay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rate Search #5: 50% off 2^nd night for a 2-night stay September 4-6.

Deluxe Room = $141.50 per night (25% savings over initial $189 rate).

Friday, Sep 4 $189 Saturday, Sep 5 $94 = $283 for 2-night stay

 

Club Floor Deluxe Room = $164 per night (25% savings over initial $219 rate)

Friday, Sep 4 $219; Saturday, Sep 5 $109 = $328 for 2-night stay

 

Loyalty traveler comment: I have stayed at the Nines with Club Floor privileges and the Club Lounge daily food and evening alcohol service is definitely worth the extra $22.50 per night.

 

 

 

Rate Search #5 – Live Life to the Nines Special Offer Rate includes two value-added amenities from the following list:

1. Complimentary Valet Parking 
2. Breakfast for two in Urban Farmer or from In-Room Dining
3. Welcome Amenity that includes chocolate dipped strawberries and your choice of a bottle of Champagne, Cabernet or Chardonnay
4. Dinner and a Movie (one on-demand movie of your choice and a $25 In-Room Dining credit)
5. 4:00pm Late Check-Out
6. Complimentary Room Upgrade (based upon availability)
7. 1,000 Starwood Preferred Guest® Starpoints 
8. Complimentary Morning Coffee Service
9. Signature Gift from the Nines (choose one): Bracelet, Cuff Links or Bathrobe 

The list includes some items that are one time and some items are daily. Since the rate being paid is higher on a daily basis, the guest should choose items with daily added value like complimentary parking and breakfast. I recall the Nines having the most luxurious towels of any hotel I stayed at this past year. I would definitely check out the bathrobe offer to determine if it is a nice quality robe.

$229 Deluxe Room (King Bed) for Friday Sep 4 on a one-night stay.

$309 Club Floor Deluxe King

Loyalty Traveler analysis of Live Life to the Nines Special Offer Rate:

The room rate is significantly higher than the 2 or 3 night special offers. This could be a good deal for a one-night stay. And the Deluxe King is available for Friday night.

Most of the value-added amenities are one time offers so this rate has the best value on a one night stay. There is diminishing value for this offer on consecutive night stays due to the much higher nightly room rate.

Club Lounge privileges come at a hefty $80 per night premium. There is only a $30 per night add-on fee for Club lounge privileges using Best Available Rate. This is a poor value special offer for the Club Lounge.

$229 Deluxe Room + Valet Parking ($25 value) + Breakfast for two in Urban Farmer ($30 value).

Or

$229 rate + 1,000 Starpoints ($35 value) + bathrobe ($50 value?) could be a decent deal for the extra $50 cost over the AAA rate for a one-night stay.

Remember: Sign up for the SPG offer for 1,000 bonus points per stay. The $229 rate could earn 2,000 bonus points with these two 1,000 point offers + 458 base points for hotel rate = 2,458 points ($86 value).

 

 

Rate Search # 6: Over the Moon 40^th anniversary of moon landing rate advertises a free space theme in-room movie , chocolates, and rates from $159.

$209 Deluxe room

$239 Club Floor Deluxe

The rates are much higher than $159 so this is a poor value for these dates.

 

Rate Search #7: Linger Longer with Complimentary Nights and Luxury Collection makes a UNICEF donation.

This rate is unavailable for Labor Day weekend.

 

Rate Search #8 – Better Tomorrows 50% off second night.

This special offer rate uses the same promotion code as Rate Search #5 and shows same rate.

 

 

Rate Search #9 – Taste of Luxury (rate code TASTE)

includes daily breakfast for two and deluxe room. For stays in October, November, and December a 4^th night is free. Rates start at $299 and minimum 3-night stay required.

$339 per night Deluxe Room

$399 per night Club Floor Deluxe room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rate Search #10 – Lavish in Love (rate code LUXROM)

Rate includes daily full breakfast room service, one bottle of champagne, and flowers.

$339 per night Deluxe Room

$399 per night Club Floor Deluxe room

 

This is a huge rate premium for breakfast and champagne. A poor value for Labor Day weekend.

 

 

Conclusion: Loyalty Traveler is waiting for a website which includes special offer rates. Until then, rate analysis is a plug and chug endeavor for the frequent guest seeking the best room rate value.

 

 

Stayed Wed 5-27 and Sat 5-30

 

Rate Search History: The hotel was priced at $74 for weeknights and $59 on Friday and Saturday when I first started my searchs at the end of April 2009. On May 5 the room rate increased to $98 for Wednesday night May 27. I had already planned to stay there but I had not made a reservation. I saw the rate was $74.13 on Orbitz.com and filed a Best Rate Guarantee. The weekend rate had increased from $59 to $71 so I also filed a BRG based on teh $59 Orbitz.com rate for Saturday, May 30.

Starwood Best Rate Guarantee representative approved both claims.

For the nights I was in Denver and could have potentially stayed at Sheraton Denver Tech Center the nightly room rate had a range of $59 to $71 on the weekends. Weeknight rates ranged from $74 to $143 as the lowest nightly rate.

Arrival:

We arrived late – around 10:00 pm.  Agent spent some time reading the computer while I waited. I was curious what was in the file.

Desk agent stated that all the upgrade rooms had already been given out. The Club floors are Floors 9 and 10. The top floor is 10 and the elevator exits into the Club Lounge. Key card is required to reach Floor 10. I was given Club Lounge access on my key. We had room 832.

Lobby:

 

Room:

We walked into Room 832 and the smell of smoke knocked us over. The 8^th floor is a nonsmoking floor and the room contained a card stating a $200 charge would be assessed for smoking in the room.

This room had the strongest smoke smell of any room we have been in since Amsterdam a few years back. Kelley was exhausted and didn’t want me to bother changing rooms.

The room entry had closet to the left and bathroom to the right.

King size bed and two endtables with clock radio.

 

A long desk area with the TV, coffee maker and AV panel with comfortable desk chair. Two upholstered cushions and a coffee table as a seating area. 

 

The room seemed a decent size at 305 square feet but the larger space room was at the expense of a small bathroom  under 40 square feet.

 

Features: Curved bathroom shower rod. 37 inch Philips flat screen TV and long desk counter. Two red upholstered cushioned chairs. It was nice to have two chairs in the room.

Bathroom had no working fan. Windows do not open. Toilet did not refill immediately after flushing. More than two flushes an hour cleared the toilet out and no more flushes allowed. We hoped this would not be a night with Kelley vomiting from her chemotherapy which unfortunately has been occurring more frequently the past couple weeks.

No robe in room which apparently are in rooms on Floors 9 and 10. Only one decaf Starbucks coffee packet in the room so no morning jolt. Fortunately we had lounge privileges beginning at 6am for my morning coffee pick-me-up.

Hotel Facilities:

Outdoor pool and hot tub open 7am-11pm. The pools were covered when we arrived. A posted sign stated management would be happy to uncover the pools for guests during pool hours.

 

 

Fitness room is accessed via ground floor and is located in the conference center wing. Fitness room is relatively small with only about 6 pieces of equipment. The door key card lock was broken to the fitness room and I needed two trips to the front desk and an engineer just to get inside the room.

The hotel design is such that a person must either walk through the ground floor conference center wing to reach the fitness room or pass by the hotel restaurant and bar to reach the pool and hot tub.

Two suites on 10^th floor and one suite on 9^th floor of hotel were the only ones I saw.

10^th Floor lounge had one computer terminal and printer. Breakfast was primarily fruit, yogurt, cereal, and pastries. One hot item was bread pudding. No eggs or meats.

The pictures in the guest room were hung at a level that would be appropriate if guests were all 5 ft 0 in tall. I laughed looking at the room hangings. I don’t think I have ever seen wall hangings so low on the walls of any hotel I’ve ever stayed.

 

M

y criticism of Sheraton Denver Tech Center is focused on the hotel itself and not the staff. The staff were all pleasant, accommodating, and friendly. The Club lounge concierge was highly attentive, friendly, and talkative with guests.

The hotel is a Category 2 for SPG award night redemption and will remain a decent value given low rates and an option to use a relatively small number of points for a free night. The hotel lobby looks nice and the pool is a decent size for a warm day. The appearance of the hotel is fine, particularly the public spaces. Hopefully you won’t experience any room surprises. 

My first impression of this hotel after my stays was this hotel should probably be gutted and remodeled from scratch. The hotel has done a decent job with the public spaces, but the rooms still need some major remodel work.

5-30 revisit to Sheraton Denver Tech Center

Kelley really did not want to return to this hotel after staying at the Sheraton Denver West and Westin Westminster. I had a nonrefundable Best Rate Guarantee rate of $59 and decided if the room was as bad as before then we would leave and head to the Sheraton Downtown Denver.

We enjoyed the several parking spaces with the sign “Starwood Preferred Guest”.

  

Once again the Front Desk read the computer for an inordinate amount of time before checking me in.

We received a 10^th floor, top floor club level room this time. The main difference in the room is a wall of windows with electronic shades. Also the room had a red upholstered couch rather than two chairs.

Bathroom was same miniscule design. The bathroom is only 7.5 ft x 5’ and the door, if you don’t close it, rests against your knees when sitting on the toilet.

I was there for an hour thinking I needed to re-evaluate my criticism of the hotel since the smoking smell was not apparent and there was a couch, and the atrium windows are great, and the full-strength coffee packet was present. And hey the toilet actually flushed properly.

The standard hotel room at Sheraton Denver Tech measures out at about 305 square feet. A high ceiling can compensate for a smaller room. There are fifteen 10^th floor atrium rooms with a wall of windows and where one-third of the room has an 11 ft. high ceiling. These rooms are more desirable and open than the other 247 hotel rooms.

 

 

 

My main complaint on second stay at Denver Tech Center that we did not notice before is the paper thin walls. The voices I had been hearing and wondering if the noise was from the parking lot became clearer as we sat in a quiet room. There were at least three people next door and I could actually understand 70% of the words being spoken in the next room. The people did not seem to be speaking abnormally loud, but the words were fairly clear through the wall.

All you tech industry people discussing secure business matters should be aware that conversations can be heard and much of what you say, particularly when speaking in a slightly higher than normal speaking voice is clearly audible to your neighbors.

The room hotel guide lists the restaurant as Browser’s Bistro when it is Redfire, so the hotel room guide is even out of date.

 

 

37 inch Philips TV and couch and the windows of Floor 10 are the highlights of the hotel. Lounge is nice for computer access and morning breakfast although the color ink had not been replaced between my two stays and I still could not print out hotel driving directions on the lounge printer.

The 10^th floor room is great on the north facing side of hotel because a portion of the ceiling is 11’ high.

I just kept telling myself that two nights only cost $150 all-in and I earned a free hotel night that will be worth at least double that amount and over 5,000 Starpoints (4,000 Best Rate Guarantee points and 1,000 platinum amenity points). 

Hotel stays are a matter of chance:

It was highly improbable to have so many issues occur during our stay. The heavily smoked out room of 832 was not present in 1026 three nights later. The missing coffee in 832 was fully stocked in 1026. The toilet that did not flush correctly for several hours was working again by morning and there was no toilet flushing issue on our second stay. The fitness center door that was broken on Thursday was working on Sunday. The noise of Saturday night was not an audible concern on Wednesday night.

 

Before leaving the Denver Tech Center area I toured several other hotels.  There is the Marriott Denver Tech Center, Hyatt Regency Tech Center, and DoubleTree Tech Center within a couple miles of the Sheraton. I enjoyed my past stay at the Four Points Denver Southeast and would recommend that hotel for people loyal to Starwood and needing this part of Denver. If you just want a Starwood Hotel in the Denver area and downtown is too expensive, then I recommend the Sheraton Denver West for the best value.

 

 

 

Hyatt Summerfield Suites is next to the Sheraton Denver Tech Center. I would stay there next time given all other factors being equal. The rooms were recently remodeled and looked great and they are much larger with better furnishings than the Sheraton Denver Tech Center.

I am a leisure traveler by years of training. When I spent over 100 nights a year in hotels as a business traveler in the early 90s, I accumulated plenty of miles and points, but dates ruled my travel instead of price. The fundamental difference between leisure and business travel is the focus on price. When no reimbursement is coming for your hotel expenses there is incentive to find lower room rates.

The next few months offer an unprecedented opportunity to earn free nights with Starwood and InterContinental Hotels Group. Many of my travel strategies are better suited for a flexible leisure traveler rather than a time-schedule-dependent business traveler. A leisure traveler planning to book multiple stays can save some significant cash by studying hotel rates over a period of time, a day or two or even a week or two before booking hotels. You only know you have scored a good hotel rate after you have seen enough room rate variation to determine what is a low rate for the particular hotel.

How I search hotel rates when planning a major leisure trip (and for Starwood Promotion):

1.    Set up a spreadsheet of hotels and dates for your destination. Here is a portion of my San Francisco Bay Area spreadsheet.

2.    Maintain notes of rate changes. Some hotels change rates up or down several times a week. (Red triangles in some cells are comment boxes with rate change notes.)

3.    Check the hotel website and a meta-search engine like Kayak.com periodically, once a day or every couple days. Look for discrepancies.

 

Spreadsheet for Starwood Hotel Rates in San Francisco Bay Area-May 1-7, 2009

San Francisco search area on StarwoodHotels.com displays 21 Starwood properties. The aloft Santa Clara hotel is listed but that hotel is not scheduled to open until 2011.

My basic planning strategy when organizing a trip is to make a spreadsheet of rates for my travel dates and follow hotel rates for several days or even weeks when planning an international trip or promotion fulfillment.

This chart is much larger than most rate charts I create due to the Starwood promotion and my ability to travel anywhere in the Bay Area for hotels. Normally I would have far fewer hotels in a more limited geographic area and fewer dates to check. The process is not so daunting when dealing with a three night stay in Seattle.

Setting up the chart takes time and then it is just a matter of performing periodic rate searches on StarwoodHotels.com to note changes in room rates. All the red triangle cells have a comment note showing rate changes and date. I can track the rate changes over a couple of weeks and note patterns for days when rates change, and the range of rates.

Some hotels in San Francisco like The Palace, Le Meridien, Westin Market Street, and Westin St. Francis have a room rate range of around $200 between the lowest rate nights and the highest rate nights. This means you may be able to book the room for $110 one night and another night the lowest rate will be $310. Choosing nights carefully for the best rates is a luxury leisure travelers have as a consumer strategy.

Finding Best Rate Guarantee Claims

·         Build a rate spreadsheet for your desired hotels and dates using StarwoodHotels.com rates (or whatever hotels you are tracking).

·         Check Kayak.com or some other meta-search engine for hotel rates.

·         Filter the rates for just Starwood Hotels (or whatever hotels you are tracking).

·         Look for discrepancies in price and room category. Sometimes a higher category room will have a better rate at an Online Travel Agency (OTA) like Hotels.com or Orbitz.com than you find at the hotel branded websites.

·         Submit a Best Rate Guarantee claim when you find a discrepancy. Starwood has an online claim form. Simply fill out the form listing the hotel, dates, and room type. List Starwood hotels lowest rate from a regular search which is usually some type of nonrefundable rate.

·          I have been finding discrepancies for more than 50% of the hotel nights I have booked this year. I think there is a lot of juggling with hotel rates in this economic climate.

My basic hotel booking rules:

·         Always try and book a refundable room, at least up to the day before arrival, in case I need to cancel. 

·         Once I have decided on a hotel or a small group of hotels, I check out the specific hotel website for special offer rates. There are sometimes incredible promotional deals for free meals or parking at the same low price or even lower.  Typically I will only find these on the hotel’s own website. (Sheraton Denver West had a special offer rate of $89 available on a Thursday night when the lowest rate I had found was $141 using AAA rate.)

·         I narrow my hotel selection to a small list of two or three hotels to examine rates closely for better room rate offers. It can take hours to check 20 hotel websites, find special offers, check sample rates for my projected hotel stay dates and compare to other rate options. Key is to balance search time with actual savings. Several hours to save $10 night on a room is not worthwhile. Saving $500 on a Hawaiian resort is worthwhile.

·         A $300 per night room is unlikely to be $109 on some other site. It happens, but rarely. Expect rate fluctuations of 10-25% over the course of a week or two in hotel rates on the hotel’s own sites. Knowing when to buy is a skill. Studying hotel rates typically allows me to book upper-upscale hotel rooms at rates around 50% of the average room rate for the hotel.

	Hotel	Rate Booked	Lowest Rate found for date	Highest Rate seen for same date I booked	Highest Rate seen for hotel during same  Week	Rate difference between what I paid and highest rate of week.
1	Four Points SFO	$79 BRG	$89	$119	$129	$50
2	Westin Market Street	$110 BRG	$99	$239	$239	$129
3	Westin SFO	$81.75 AAA	$79 NR	$99	$199	$117
4	Westin St. Francis	$107 AAA	$107	$179	$269	$162
5	Palace Hotel	$104 Starpicks	$104	$149	$249	$145
6	W Silicon Valley	$89 AAA	$79	$89	$189	$100
7	Le Meridien	$111 Starpicks	$111	$139	$349	$138
8	Four Points SFO	$73 BRG	$75	$75	$129	$56
9	Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf	$90 BRG	$118	$125	$199	$109
10	Sheraton Denver Tech Center	$74 BRG	$74	$98	$129	$55
11	Sheraton Denver West	$89 Hotel Special Offer	$89	$144	$144	$55
12	Westin Westminster	$111 AAA	$111	$124	$179	$68
13	Westin Tabor	$129	$129	$129	$289	$160
14	Sheraton Denver Downtown	$79	$79	$79	$139	$60
		$1,327	$1,343	$1,787	$2,831	$1,404

 

Rate Booked: These are the rates booked for my Starwood Hotel stays.

Lowest Rates: My $1,327 is actually $16 less than the lowest rates I found on StarwoodHotels.com. Several Best Rate Guarantee claims allowed me to pay a lower total rate than the lowest found on the Starwood hotel websites.  Two BRG claims were rates lower than found on Starwood Hotels.

Highest Rate for My Hotel Stay Dates: The rate I paid for my dates of booked hotel stays could have been as much as $450 more, 33% higher if I had booked the same type hotel room for the same date on a different day of my searches. I watched rates over a couple of weeks and booked during rate changes. Studying hotel rates over a couple of weeks allowed me to save $450 and earn 12,000 additional points from Best Rate Guarantee claims.

Highest Rate of Week: The problem for business travelers is the exorbitant hotel rates during conferences and events. My hotel spending for 14 stays could have actually been twice the amount I paid if I had needed to stay on different dates at the same hotel during the same week.

The same hotels could have been as high as $2,831 if I had booked different dates during the same week. I paid less than 50% on average over 14 nights at $1,327 compared to the highest room rates of $2,831.

Rate Difference: I saved $1,404 compared to the highest rates at the hotel during the same week of my stays.

I stayed at the Westin Market Street on a Saturday night for $110 on a Best rate Guarantee claim. The week before I could have booked the hotel on StarwoodHotels.com for $99. If I had needed Friday night the hotel would have cost $239.

 

Westin Market Street, San Francisco, Corner Suite 3306 – $110 rate