Best Rate Guarantee Hotel Loyalty 2013-Q4 promotions Hyatt Gold Passport Hyatt Hotels

Is Denver the BRG Capital of the USA?

Another trip to Denver and another set of approved Best Rate Guarantee claims for discounted hotel room nights. In the past few years I think that I have scored about 20 nights of Best Rate Guarantee claims in Denver out of 25 hotel nights booked.

Hyatt has the easiest and quickest Best Rate Guarantee policy approval process among the major hotel chains. Nearly all hotel chains require the guest to book a hotel stay through the hotel chain’s websites and then within 24 hours the guest can file a Best Rate Guarantee claim if a lower rate is found on a competitive online travel agency website like Expedia.com, hotels.com, and others.

Hyatt Hotels and Starwood Hotels are the only two hotel chains allowing a guest to submit a Best Rate Guarantee claim prior to booking a room. Hyatt will process a claim over the phone instantly to verify the rate discrepancy for the same room type. Starwood requires an online form and approval can take up to 24 hours. I have had several Starwood Hotels BRG claims denied when the rate changed on the online travel agency site during the 24 hour approval period.

Denver has a new Hyatt Place hotel.

The former Loews Hotel Denver opens tomorrow October 2, 2013 as the Hyatt Place Denver Cherry Creek.

Hyatt Place Denver Hotels.com

Hotels.com and many of the major OTA sites list a Grand Opening Special rate for Hyatt Place Denver Cherry Creek.

Hyatt Denver Hotels.com

Hotels.com – Hyatt Place Denver Cherry Creek Tuesday, October 15 – Thursday, October 17.

  • King Room $105 prepaid, nonrefundable, Grand Opening Special
  • King Room $110 day of arrival cancellation with no penalty.

Hyatt’s own booking sites do not list this grand opening special rate.

Hyatt 161 rate

Hyatt.com Hyatt Place Denver Cherry Creek Oct 15-17, 2013

  • King Room $161 prepaid, nonrefundable
  • King Room $169 day of arrival cancellation with no penalty.

Hyatt Approved Best Rate Guarantee 20% Lower Adjusted Rates

  • King Room $84 prepaid, nonrefundable (saves $77 per night on Hyatt.com rate). Savings is actually more since 14% tax also saved on room rate savings.
  • King Room $88 day of arrival cancellation with no penalty, (saves $81 per night on Hyatt.com rate).
  • Basically these Best Rate Guarantee rates are about 50% off the hotel rates shown on Hyatt.com.

Hotel Best Rate Guarantee policies

Choice = first night free and match lower rate.

Club Carlson = 25% off lower rate.

Hilton = $50 and match lower rate.

Hyatt = 20% off lower rate.

IHG = first night free and match lower rate.

Marriott = 25% off lower rate.

Starwood = 10% off lower rate or 2,000 Starpoints and match lower rate.

Typically I book about 50% of my paid room nights using Best Rate Guarantee claims. The best part is Best Rate Guarantee approved claims still receive points, promotion credit, elite credit and elite benefits on the paid portion of these stays.

Related: Loyalty Traveler post, August 22 – Hyatt promotion Sep 9-Nov 30 earns 50,000 bonus points after 20 nights.

 

Ric Garrido of Monterey, California is writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler.

Loyalty Traveler shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. Check out my page of collated current hotel promotions.

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5 Comments

  • toomanybooks October 1, 2013

    Great post Ric, thank very much.

    To be sure I understand, you always get your points, elite amenities, stay credit, etc., with every hotel chain on a BRG-type stay? No hoops to jump through?

  • Ric Garrido October 1, 2013

    @toomanybooks – I have always received the normal benefits and points for BRG stays with the exception of IHG and Choice free nights. Since the rate is reduced to $0, then these free nights do not count for promotions.

    Reduced rates from approved BRG claims do count for promotions with Club Carlson, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Starwood.

    IHG and Choice BRG stays will also count for promotions if your stay is longer than one night and there is a paid night for the second night of the stay. After the free first night the rate for Choice and IHG is the lower rate found on the OTA site.

  • toomanybooks October 1, 2013

    Thanks, Ric.

  • Tommy Z December 18, 2013

    Do these BRG’s apply to all the brands within a hotel chain? For example, does the Hilton BRG apply to Embassy Suites?

  • Ric Garrido December 19, 2013

    @Tommy Z – Yes. BRG policy applies to all brands in the hotel chain. Hilton BRG applies to all their hotel brands.

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