Hilton Best Rate Guarantee

[Cruiser Elite]

Yoz I too had a Best Rate Guarantee via a Ctrip booking knocked back - mine was only 1 night and only AD10 + the USD50 - not sure I will waste any more time chasing it.

 

[Yoz]

Yoz I too had a Best Rate Guarantee via a Ctrip booking knocked back - mine was only 1 night and only AD10 + the USD50 - not sure I will waste any more time chasing it.

What was the reasoning they gave you?

I'm fairly sure Ctrip consider the voucher to be the booking form; which the Hilton BRG people are confusing with a booking voucher.

As for not confirming the booking immediately that too is a bit of a joke. It makes the Best Rate Guarantee potentially useless because as far as I know every website has that just in case the hotel fills while you're processing the order?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

What was the reasoning they gave you?

I'm fairly sure Ctrip consider the voucher to be the booking form; which the Hilton BRG people are confusing with a booking voucher.

As for not confirming the booking immediately that too is a bit of a joke. It makes the Best Rate Guarantee potentially useless because as far as I know every website has that just in case the hotel fills while you're processing the order?

Contents of response from Waldorf here:

Dear Mr. Elite,

Greetings from Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund.

First of all, please accept our sincere apology for not replying to you at early stage. And I will bring it to Hilton GA support team immediately.

Now we are on property to look at the issue you mentioned, we are sorry to inform you that we would not honor best rate guarantee as this is an issue at Ctrip end.

Hotel did not sell any lower rate to Ctrip, which means hotel will not honor this cheaper rate booking from Ctrip because we offer same rate to all OTAs/TPIs all the time.

Dear Mr. Elite, we feel very sorry for the inconvenience caused to you, but please understand that it is out of our control if Ctrip selling lower rate with kinds of packages online.
( you may noticed that the cheaper rate need to prepay online to Ctrip directly, not to hotel)

We value your business very much and we are very glad to offer you a free upgrade to Deluxe River Room for your coming stay as a gesture of good will.

Dear Mr. Elite, we thank you very much for bringing this issue to our attention, and please feel free to contact us should you need any further assistance.

Best regards,

Cindy

 

[Yoz]

Weird. Is that through the BRG or to the hotel directly?

Any idea what to do in regards to my situation? Sorta confused because it looks like the BRG was originally processed by someone who didn't really know what they were doing - sent through the confirmation letter of the same rate; then the same rate less $50 per day - without any correspondence, only to receive a BRG failure letter a day or so later.

If my room was a pay-on-arrival then I would have no problems claiming it.

Can the hotel itself tell how much I've paid for the room originally?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Re: How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

After I saw diff in rates I booked hotel directly on WA site - then filled in BRG claim - heard nothing for a few days. WA contacted me directly with a 'Welcome' letter - I replied that I was pissed off because no response re BRG and also sent them snips of rates from both sites - that is when hotel replied directly to me.

I subsequently send of email to HH BRG and they responded that they would look at it - 2 weeks later - NADA.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Chinese otas disregard hotel agreement rules all the time so its no surprise if any ctrip brgs are rejected.

If you're a status member with the chain you're also less likely to have any BRG approved from some otas because you're already 'locked in' thru loyalty points/benefits.

The best way to handle this is only focus on sites that will get BRG approved and ctrip, while the biggest in the region- is not always the cheapest. For example asiarooms can often be low cost and using it on a BRG claim will have a much higher success rate than ctrip.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

The best way to handle this is only focus on sites that will get BRG approved and ctrip, while the biggest in the region- is not always the cheapest. For example asiarooms can often be low cost and using it on a BRG claim will have a much higher success rate than ctrip.

t_t_r thank you for your thoughts - I am a newbie in this area so I need all the help I can get.

I need to be in SHA for 4nts May 5 to 9 - I am waiting for Citi Prestige Concierge to get back to me with rate for Waldorf Astoria on their Stay 4 / Pay 3 promo - but am searching alternatives whilst waiting. Here is quote from WA web site:



And Asia Rooms:



As you can see - same room - same price - but here is Ctrip price:



Substantially cheaper but cannot hit WA for HH BRG - bummer huh? And Ctrip will discount further 5% as this will e first booking I make via their App.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Bookings via the app won't count for BRG as you're purchasing the rate via a closed user group not available to general public. Its a minor technicality on the BRG rules but is also important because hotels have rate parity agreements across the board and this is why you find all sites are the same cost as the hotel directly.

Unfortunately I think in this case its either get diamond benefits/points or the discount.

This is how hotels lock you in by booking direct.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Re: How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

I am under no illusions of ever getting BRG over the line v Ctrip so will move on from that.

I have no doubts I will still get the Diamond benefits even if I do book via Ctrip. I have exchanged numerous emails with WA staff over last week - one senior staff has requested I contact her direct for future bookings - if Citi Prestige with their 4/3 deal cannot better the offer I will give her a crack after I inform her of the Ctrip price and see how I fare.

I am not wed to Hilton - I always shop on price after I determine location I want - Le Meridien still has best location in SH and even after their Fawlty Towrrs effort last time I still might stay there.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Re: How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

I am under no illusions of ever getting BRG over the line v Ctrip so will move on from that.

I have no doubts I will still get the Diamond benefits even if I do book via Ctrip. I have exchanged numerous emails with WA staff over last week - one senior staff has requested I contact her direct for future bookings - if Citi Prestige with their 4/3 deal cannot better the offer I will give her a crack after I inform her of the Ctrip price and see how I fare.

I am not wed to Hilton - I always shop on price after I determine location I want - Le Meridien still has best location in SH and even after their Fawlty Towrrs effort last time I still might stay there.

To give you an idea of the margins we're talking - Citi Prestige should be able to give you at least 3-6% off whatever hilton.com shows. Any run of the mill travel agent will have standard commission agreements of around 8-10%. Split the commission with them as a discount for you and everyone wins. You do run the risk of not receiving any loyalty recognition (obviously this depends on your relationship with the property manager, their yield when you check in, RevPAR, if its a biz/leisure destination and other factors).

The hotel isn't commercially allowed to give you a better rate or they break agreements with suppliers and this opens them up to litigation, sales channels being cut off and all kinds of horrible things. This is why the hotel will never undercut their own website pricing and why when you go to trivago/other meta sites you see the hotel is the same price no matter where you book.

You might also notice these meta-search sites like trivago never list the rates available directly through the hotel website... gives you an idea of where you should book through!

 

[Daver6]

Re: How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

Booked Hilton Sandton for ZAR2345. Then found it on hoteltravel.com for ZAR1826.78. They matched and deducted another US$50 off, bringing the one night stay down to ZAR1244.78.

Easy to submit and response in about four days. Not bad coming in at almost half the original rate.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Re: How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

The hotel isn't commercially allowed to give you a better rate .................. This is why the hotel will never undercut their own website pricing

But seems they can and do - price for 3nts Waldorf Astoria May 5 to 8 from their web site:



Emailed them and asked for a deal this morn - quoted CNY1,950+ - was noted in email as Diamond member am eligible for late check-out which I asked for - think I might just take them up on their offer.

 

[Yoz]

Re: How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

Library lounge? Was never even aware that hotels have library lounges...

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Re: How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

Yes unfortunately - no Exec Lounge at WA - real bummer

 

[thechung]

Re: How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

To add another data point, I booked 7 nights at Hilton Queenstown for NZD$219 flexible rate and travelocity had it for USD$110 with same details. Got a positive response within 12hrs with additional USD$50 deducted from total.

Pain free experience considering previous posts although I had screenshots ready to dispute if things went pear-shaped.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Re: How do Hilton treat you as an Elite?

To add another data point, I booked 7 nights at Hilton Queenstown for NZD$219 flexible rate and travelocity had it for USD$110 with same details. Got a positive response within 12hrs with additional USD$50 deducted from total.

Pain free experience considering previous posts although I had screenshots ready to dispute if things went pear-shaped.

Great result!!!

Unfortunately this will all come to an end in the future as rate parity is being killed all around the world. This means hotels will always be cheaper than any OTA.

 

[Buzzard]

Whenever I do a price match I always mention that I have a screen shot if required. So far never had a problem with the guarantee.

 

[yoyo]

I booked Hilton Garden Inn at LAX for $139 plus tax. Found it on a website called reservetravel.com for $139 with breakfast so I made a new booking with breakfast and submitted the brg claim. In about 12 hours I got approval, they have reduced the price down to $89.99. I have also registered for the triple point promotion:
https://www.hiltonhhonors.com/3627_09012015/Landing/Register