Price Guarantee is Rubbish! Another ANGRY customer.

[motlking]

Hey guys,

I booked accommodation (3 rooms) at Novotel Bangkok On Siam Square on the 9th of January and requested a price match -10% via the online form all on accorhotels.com. I wait a few days no reply let alone confirmation. My brother also booked a room and submitted an online form at the same time, same story.


I call all numbers on the accorhotels website for Australian contacts and get the run around. Most tell me to contact reservations which I do and they say its not their department and they have no idea of whether or not I have submitted the form online. They say wait another couple of days, which I do. Still nothing. I call again, and they say someone will call me back. No call back, no email.

I called again the next day and they say someone from "upper management" will call me back. Surprise surprise no call back. So next day more aggitated I call back and they asked if I have a screenshot of the price at that time. I said no (dumb I know, but I assumed such a big organisation could handle checking a price match especially being in the business, knowing prices flutcuate! - not to mention there is no instructions on accorhotels.com saying that this is a requirement!). Again I am told I will get a call from "upper management", this time within 1-2 hours. 4 hours later suprise nothing. I am given the number for "Guest Relations" in sydney only to be told they only direct you to other departments WTF!! :evil:

The best they say they can do is get back to me in 48hours (doubt it!) and requested I send through a screenshot of the price (which has changed but is still cheaper than the current rate on accorhotels.com).

Anyway I am leaving for asia tomorrow with no resolution on my accomodation, Accor is the worst I have dealth with, I would avoid if at all possible.

p.s. I paid with a NAB Visa which I have considered a chargeback for but they say it will take a while and there is no guarantee they will cancel the transactions so now I am stuck with double booking a hotel or getting overcharged on a hotel! ahhh

 

[Alanslegal]

Welcome to AFF motlking and its unfortunate you had to have a negative first post.

Anyway, as your experience, the ACCOR price beat guarantee is a farce in my opinion and you can google or go to FlyerTalk and read up all the negative experiences with their price beat guarantee program.

My last claim back in around April 2011 took 11 days (if I recall correctly) for them to get back to me, and then in that instance, it was knocked back! Rates could could go up or down in a few hours, let alone 11 days, so by the time they get around to reviewing the claim - the competitng rate may have long disappeared. Some other posters elsewhere noted 21 or more days for their claim to be reviewed :!:

Anyway, I still think the best BRG program is run by Starwood ... I know its only a measley 10% off the competitor rate (or 2,000 SPG points) but at least they get back to me generally 3-24 hours of my claim being sent and usually it is approved ie. they're pretty flexible!

Swissotel's 50% BRG promise (off the first night) is great if you have one night stays! Sometimes they take a few days to get back to you but the results are definitely worth it, in my experience anyway.

Marriott's 25% off is good too, but they have made me jump hoops so I've skipped staying at them and ACCOR for the time being.

 

[esquire]

Welcome to AFF motlking and its unfortunate you had to have a negative first post.

Anyway, as your experience, the ACCOR price beat guarantee is a farce in my opinion and you can google or go to FlyerTalk and read up all the negative experiences with their price beat guarantee program.

My last claim back in around April 2011 took 11 days (if I recall correctly) for them to get back to me, and then in that instance, it was knocked back! Rates could could go up or down in a few hours, let alone 11 days, so by the time they get around to reviewing the claim - the competitng rate may have long disappeared. Some other posters elsewhere noted 21 or more days for their claim to be reviewed :!:

Anyway, I still think the best BRG program is run by Starwood ... I know its only a measley 10% off the competitor rate (or 2,000 SPG points) but at least they get back to me generally 3-24 hours of my claim being sent and usually it is approved ie. they're pretty flexible!

Swissotel's 50% BRG promise (off the first night) is great if you have one night stays! Sometimes they take a few days to get back to you but the results are definitely worth it, in my experience anyway.

Marriott's 25% off is good too, but they have made me jump hoops so I've skipped staying at them and ACCOR for the time being.

Hyatt has by far the best price guarantee - done over the phone - they log on to the website you are viewing at the time- if it meets the criteria - hey presto - they will book it then - with the 20% off (for the entire booking!).

Have done it with Hilton once as well.

Like you tried Accor and Starwood - got the run around - gave up in the end (which is probably their entire goal).

 

[Alanslegal]

Hyatt has by far the best price guarantee - done over the phone - they log on to the website you are viewing at the time- if it meets the criteria - hey presto - they will book it then - with the 20% off (for the entire booking!).

Sounds good. I haven't tried Hyatt's guarantee so guess I'll have to give it a go sometime

 

[straitman]

motlking
If you can actually get a useful email address out of the accor system, you could always point them toward this thread.