A Trick for Cheap Hotel Rooms – Best Price Guarantees

thetravelingmillennial

8 years ago

I discovered this trick over New Year’s Eve when I traveled to New York. I ultimately stayed at a Hyatt property (it was amazing!) but I’ll review that later. I first want to pass along useful information that I learned in the process…how to score an additional discount on your room rate.

There are several major hotel chains–Starwood, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, and IGH– and each has its own Best Price Guarantee. On a basic level, the Best Price Guarantee encourages you to buy a hotel room directly through the hotel’s website so the hotel does not have to pay a commission to a third-party site (Expedia, Orbitz, etc.). In return, the hotel guarantees that its site has the cheapest price, which is a gamble because there’s a decent chance that you can find the room cheaper elsewhere.

Policies

I included screenshots of major hotels’ Best Price Guarantee policies but you’ll definitely want to look up the current policy online before attempting this trick.

Starwood-Sheraton, St. Regis, Westin,Four Points, W Hotels, and others.(http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/whybookhere/terms.html)

It’s interesting that Starwood offers points or 20%. You’d want points (valued at about $40) for rooms under $200 per stay and you’d want the 20% off for rooms over $200 per stay. Note that $200 is for the entire stay, not per night. Here’s an excerpt of the policy:

In the unlikely event that a lower rate at a Starwood Hotel or an SPG Partner Hotel is made available on a non-Starwood website or non-Starwood mobile application (the “Competing Rate”), upon its receipt of a claim that satisfies these Best Rate Guarantee terms and conditions (the “BRG Terms”), Starwood will honor that Competing Rate and provide the individual that submitted the valid claim one of the following rewards: (1) an additional 20% discount off the Competing Rate per room per night; or (2) 2,000 Starwood Preferred Guest® Starpoints® per room per stay.

-For a claim to be eligible under the Best Rate Guarantee, it must be submitted through the claim submittal webform available here.

-A claim must be submitted within 24 hours after making a confirmed reservation through a Starwood Website, and at least 24 hours (48 hours for non-English Starwood Websites) before the standard check-in time at the applicable Starwood Hotel or SPG Partner Hotel.

-A claim form may be rejected by Starwood if it is incomplete, is submitted in an unsupported language, or concerns a non-Starwood website or mobile application that is in an unsupported language.

-Only one claim may be submitted in connection with any confirmed reservation. The name on the submitted claim form for such claim must match the name on the relevant confirmed reservation.

For the Competing Rate to be valid at a Starwood Hotel, it must be a currently available lower published room rate available online or on a mobile application for the same Starwood Hotel, the same dates, the same number of guests, the same room type, with a similar view and room size, and include similar or additional value-added amenities (e.g., free breakfast). For the Competing Rate to be valid at an SPG Partner Hotel, it must be a currently available published room rate available online or on a mobile application for the same SPG Partner Hotel and the same dates that is lower than the lowest rate available on the Starwood Websites, regardless any other factors including the number of guests, room type, view, room size or amenities,

-For purposes of comparing the Competing Rate and the rate available on the Starwood Websites, only the Competing Rate and the rate available on the Starwood Websites that are each available at the time the applicable claim is processed will be considered by Starwood. Starwood will compare the total room cost of a stay, and multiple claims for a stay consisting of two or more nights in the same week at the same hotel or hotels) in the same geographic location (e.g. city) may be treated as one claim for one stay, even if booked through more than one reservation.

-Starwood will convert any Competing Rate offered in a different currency than the rate made available through the Starwood Websites, and may deny claims where it determines that the difference between the rates is due to exchange rate fluctuations.

-Booking fees, extra adult fees, fees for children, rollaway charges will be included in the rate comparison for Starwood Hotels and booking fees will be included in the rate comparison for SPG Partner Hotels. Taxes, gratuities, or any mandatory charges that may apply at Starwood Hotels or SPG Partner Hotels (e.g., resort charges) will be excluded from the rate comparison.

-The estimated value of value-added amenities (e.g., free breakfast, tickets, gas coupons) offered as part of a Competing Rate will be excluded from the rate comparison (unless such amenities are also included in the applicable rate being offered on the Starwood Websites for Starwood Hotels only), and will not be provided by Starwood when honoring a lower rate (unless such amenities are also included in the applicable rate being offered on the Starwood Websites for Starwood Hotels only).

-Starwood may deny claims where the difference between the Competing Rate and the rate on the Starwood Website is less than one percent; provided that Starwood will not use the fact that the difference between the Competing Rate and the rate on the Starwood Website is less than one percent to deny such claims if the cancellation policy for the Competing Rate is more favorable to the guest than the cancellation policy for the rate on the Starwood Website.