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These days, most hotel chains want you to book direct — that is to say that the chain prefers you book through the company website, app or individual hotel website rather than booking through third parties like Expedia, Priceline, Travelocity, Hotels.com, etc. In order to encourage you to book direct, most chains include some sort of “Best Rate Guarantee” that offers to match or beat a qualifying price found elsewhere for the same hotel and dates. We have published a quick-reference guide to the key details of each of the major chain policies, including links to full terms and claim forms. Click through to see that page here:
Best Rate Guarantee Guide
As with all of our Frequent Miler Resources pages, this guide is a work in progress that will be updated and maintained as information changes. Policies change, and we will make every effort to keep the guide up-to-date. That said, if you have a suggestion or tip about an update, please comment here or there.
Reader experiences?
Chains are notorious for finding the smallest differences in order to deny best rate guarantee claims. As noted in the guide above, all details typically need to match — room rate, room type, dates, number of guests, cancellation policy, amenities (like breakfast), etc. It’s not always easy to find a direct comparison on other sites. Some chains are surely more diligent than others in denying claims. I’d be curious to hear about reader experiences — is there a chain that you find particularly difficult with regards to honoring best rate claims? Is there one that consistently stands by its policy in your experience? Comment below.
And don’t forget to click through to see the full Best Rate Guanratee Guide.
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Only tried this once, a couple of weeks ago, with Wyndham. Denied because the rate I booked did not specify one or two beds EVEN THOUGH their own rate was the same higher price for both types. So I cancelled my reservation entirely.
That’s annoying. Definitely the kind of detail often used to deny claims, but annoying nonetheless.
i only tried once–Wyndham–and they dismissed it for a reason that was illogical. They said i needed to have a reservation booked in their system–which I did. This was by email. When I replied by email, i got nothing When I called, the customer service rep said only the best rate guarantee department could help me and they were only accessible by email. When I went to re-submit claim, the terms are only one claim per 30-days. So I just booked with Agoda because it was so much cheaper. This was a special circumstance I was booking for a colleague, but I will resist using Wyndham again.
Thanks for the DP
I recently filed a claim with Hilton since the rate on Expedia was less. Not only did they give me the lower rate, they then gave me 25% off that rate. It was very easy.
Good to know it worked well with Hilton.
I’ve only tried one, with Hyatt and it was very easy. Got the 20% off the Expedia price for the Ziva Los Cabos last year – 4 people for $274 per night. I believe the issue was that Expedia wasn’t adding cost when I added the 2 kids to the room as their price matched the Hyatt 2 person price. It was easy and a great deal
Nice!