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BRG is a way of getting compensation for finding a cheaper rate then the one offered by the hotel website.  Compensation varies greatly by the hotel brand policy. It can be in the one following: first night free, gift cards, matched rate with an additional percent discount as well as bonus points.

Hotel brand/ site compensation policy
Please note: most will match the rate plus give compensation.
Choice hotel : $50 VISA gift card plus rate matched (US residents) OR first night free plus rate matched (non-US residents). It goes by the address you write on the reservation so if you Write down an Israel (or anywhere non U.S) address, you're good
Ihg: rate matched plus 5x points for the reservation
Best Western: rate matched plus 100$ BW travel card
Marriott: 25% off matched rate or 5,000 Marriott points
Hyatt: 20% off matched rate or 5,000 Hyatt points
Hilton: 25% off matched rate
Wyndham: rate matched plus 3,000 Wyndham points



How to find a brg claim
Search for the hotel and dates of your choice and then the fun begins.
Hotel price comparison web sites are great way of finding BRGs. Some of the following work very well:

TripAdvisor.com
Hotelscombined.com
Trivago.com
Wego.com

If you want some tutorial articles about how BRGs work, how to find them, how to match them, and all the details, go to http://brgdeals.blogspot.com/ and read the articles.

The site run by a guy named David, and he also finds BRGs and posts them there. So If you don't want to start making one yourself, just go to his site, search for the city you need and see if there are any current BRGs available. You can also be spontaneous and look at his most recent finds (he posts new ones almost daily), although you may have not planned a trip, but if you can get it free (or discounted) hey why not.

How to claim a brg
You do need to book the hotel first and then file a BRG claim.  Just search the hotels/ third party site for a best rate gaurantee policy and you should be able to find a link to a brg claim form. Be aware that room and conditions need to be a perfect match.
As they often find ways to wiggle out of this policy it's not advised to book a non refundable room unless you would have stayed there regardless.


Redeeming brgs
No  diff as to the form of compensation ( discount or free night) redeeming Is all the same. Your reservation will look like a standard reservation except it will be either discounted or show a 00.00 balance. Most hotel receptionists aren't familiar with brgs and automatically assume that it's a points stay.


Why I love choice brgs
Choice hotels include brands like quality inn, comfort inn, rodeway and of course the ascend collection. They are fairly easy when it comes to approving claims as long as you stick to the following:
- 1 claim per household per 30 days
- price match before taxes (ymmv on this one)
- your claim is submitted / approved 72 hours before your scheduled stay
However even within those policy's there are plenty of loop
Holes.



When Posting a brg please use the following Example format:

BRG claim for: Choice Hotels
Hotel Name: comfort suites
Hotel Add: 320 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL, US, 60601
Room Type: Queen Suite
Room Rate:197
Better rate found: Hotelscombined.com
Better Rate: 127
« Last edited by a mirrer on August 05, 2019, 01:23:12 PM »

Author Topic: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee  (Read 432430 times)

Offline Emkay

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1800 on: June 07, 2015, 10:19:02 AM »
I hate to protect IHG here because I have experienced first hand their less then adequate customer service.
HOWEVER, I have sent in close to 100 requests and have never had a BRG claim lost or ignored.

I have been denied for ridicules reasons, approved when I should have been denied and gotten all sorts of answers that left me scratching my head in bewilderment but I have ALWAYS received an answer within a day (give or take a few hours).
My last two claims took over a week and one was over a month before I just cancelled

Offline shimino1

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1801 on: June 07, 2015, 10:23:25 AM »
My last two claims took over a week and one was over a month before I just cancelled
You must not have hit submit or something.
IHG BRG is live and well......

Offline Emkay

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1802 on: June 07, 2015, 10:23:44 AM »
Its not rocket science people!!!
If I had a dollar for every time someone told me: "I had a good claim and got denied" just to have me look over thier request and point out the discrepancy...

Just follow the T&C to the letter!!!
I have yet to see a claim denied when everything matched up exactly!

P.S: it doesn't make a difference if its a cheep or expensive room. I've gotten approved for 750$ and 850$ suites and have been denied for 80$ basic rooms.
No need to get feisty as you are definitely the minority. My last claim matched the T&C exactly and was denied for a nonexistent reason and it was a week later.  I actually spoke to a manager who told my me that it sounds like I should have gotten approved and he will get back to me ( of course he never did )

Offline Emkay

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1803 on: June 07, 2015, 10:26:26 AM »
You must not have hit submit or something.
IHG BRG is live and well......
I'm not sure why you are so defensive about it. They acknowledged that they received it and just continued pushing it off. 

Offline shimino1

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1804 on: June 07, 2015, 10:35:10 AM »
My last claim matched the T&C exactly and was denied for a nonexistent reason and it was a week later.
I would love to see screen shots.
-Not being sarcastic

Offline shimino1

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1805 on: June 07, 2015, 10:36:04 AM »
I'm not sure why you are so defensive about it. They acknowledged that they received it and just continued pushing it off.
I dont know all the details but based on my experience it just sounds strange.

Offline Emkay

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1806 on: June 07, 2015, 10:36:13 AM »
I would love to see screen shots.
-Not being sarcastic
I will gladly send you. And then I will request a video of you eating your hat

Offline Emkay

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1807 on: June 07, 2015, 10:36:44 AM »
I dont know all the details but based on my experience it just sounds strange.
I know a bunch of people this happened to

Offline shimino1

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1808 on: June 07, 2015, 10:39:46 AM »
I will gladly send you. And then I will request a video of you eating your hat
I dont wear one. I hope eating my kipa has the same effect.  ;D

Offline shimino1

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1809 on: June 07, 2015, 10:45:11 AM »
I know a bunch of people this happened to
I cant argue with their experiences but maybe there is some sort of beginner mistake that a lot of people are making. I't would help if IHG started sending out conformation emails or displaying a case # after submitting a claim.
 
Regardless, I can show you dozens of requests that were all answered within a day.

Offline Yehuda25

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1810 on: June 07, 2015, 11:21:49 AM »
No need to get feisty as you are definitely the minority. My last claim matched the T&C exactly and was denied for a nonexistent reason and it was a week later.  I actually spoke to a manager who told my me that it sounds like I should have gotten approved and he will get back to me ( of course he never did )
+1 similar experience by me.
“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”


― Aristotle

Offline shimino1

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1811 on: June 07, 2015, 12:13:22 PM »
+1 similar experience by me.
What ever happend with your Brg night credit card dispute?

Offline Yehuda25

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1812 on: June 07, 2015, 04:06:06 PM »
What ever happend with your Brg night credit card dispute?
B"H I found someone sympathetic in corporate who wrote me a check, the reason why she did it was because the hotel was being not nice to her as well ;D
“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”


― Aristotle

Offline yitrap

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1813 on: June 07, 2015, 05:50:08 PM »
I dont wear one. I hope eating my kipa has the same effect.  ;D
Please post that for everyone's viewing pleasure

Offline B.D.Da'ehu

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1814 on: June 07, 2015, 06:15:14 PM »
I cant argue with their experiences but maybe there is some sort of beginner mistake that a lot of people are making. I't would help if IHG started sending out conformation emails or displaying a case # after submitting a claim.
 
Regardless, I can show you dozens of requests that were all answered within a day.
Hey, we all deserve to hate on ihg a bit, if only as a form of compensating for the innumerable denials we (all?) undoubtedly got from them  ;).

Offline shiframeir

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1815 on: June 07, 2015, 09:28:13 PM »
I know a bunch of people this happened to
add me to the list. i've won a couple, but have had plenty denied for reasons not understandable to english speakers (and after emailing back and forth several times for clarification, i just gave up).

Offline shimino1

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1816 on: June 08, 2015, 11:30:12 PM »
When they say "No changes can be made after free night is awarded or night will be cancelled" they sure mean it.
Just had a free night cancelled after I changed the guests from 1 to 2 post approval.

Beware!

Offline Yehuda25

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1817 on: June 08, 2015, 11:52:05 PM »
When they say "No changes can be made after free night is awarded or night will be cancelled" they sure mean it.
Just had a free night cancelled after I changed the guests from 1 to 2 post approval.

Beware!
Yup, classic. Why didnt you just show up with 2 guests?
“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”


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Offline B.D.Da'ehu

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1818 on: June 09, 2015, 12:35:43 AM »
When they say "No changes can be made after free night is awarded or night will be cancelled" they sure mean it.
Just had a free night cancelled after I changed the guests from 1 to 2 post approval.

Beware!
When I booked a room only in my name and wanted to give it to my brother, I called the hotel the day before my stay and told them I might be late and my brother will be there earlier, and they added his name so that he can check in. Always call the hotel directly. They usually think it's a points or priceline reservation and they never make problems.

Offline Yehuda25

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Re: Free hotels/Best rate guarantee
« Reply #1819 on: June 09, 2015, 12:48:53 AM »
When I booked a room only in my name and wanted to give it to my brother, I called the hotel the day before my stay and told them I might be late and my brother will be there earlier, and they added his name so that he can check in. Always call the hotel directly. They usually think it's a points or priceline reservation and they never make problems.
Definitely a better option.
“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”


― Aristotle