as part of my changed-up Thanksgiving plans to go to Iceland instead of Chile, i have to overnight in Paris on the way back thanks to the scarcity of flights (award flights, to make matters worse) and connections. i found a Marriott* by CDG using comparison tool HotelsCombined (thanks Points Summary for the tip!) for much less on one site than the rest.
* i’m interested in checking out more international Marriotts as an elite (thanks to RewardsPlus) because i had a really good experience at the one in Zürich during the Star Alliance MegaDo
on Marriott.com, the price shown was much more, but i guess to make a Best Rate Guarantee claim you have to make a reservation first, so i booked a refundable room. the lowest price?
That’s roughly $410! *faint*
with Marriott’s Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) (i think most hotel chains have them as ways to get you to book through them), you get 25% off whatever lower price you find than what they themselves offer, which would make this a steal. i was afraid that cheap site, Getaroom.com, was sketch or somehow ineligible, but i saw that Frequent Flyer University used a Getaroom.com sample, so i felt slightly more confident. i submitted the form and it took nearly 12 hours (morning to evening) to get a reply (which went to gmail spam), but they accepted it!
We have reviewed your claim and have made the following modification to your reservation:
Rate: 57.33 Euro
Reservation Confirmation Number: xxxxxxxxxThe room rate listed above reflects your nightly room rate, before tax, and an additional 25% discount for submitting a successful claim according to the terms of Marriott’s Look No Further(SM) Best Rate Guarantee.
Thank you for choosing Marriott.
Or $77.62!
thanks to the BRG discount, i not only got the cheap rate, but 25% off of the cheap rate, for a total savings of $338!
not bad for a first time, eh?
The Marriott BRG (or LNF) is probably the best BRG in the industry now. It reacts fast and presents no excuses. Much better than Hyatt or Hilton. I have a 90% approval rate. The only thing that could be improved is the prohibition on ‘voucher sites’ for non-US properties.