This week’s Compensation Clinic is about Marriott’s complete joke of a “Best Rate Guarantee” and how badly the program is administered these days, either denied outright or not responded to in time.
As I previously covered, I filed a BRG for a stay at the Sheraton Hong Kong well in advance, and Marriott (or the service provider they tasked) never processed it, so I eventually canceled the reservation and filed a complaint.
While in the distant past these Best Rate Guarantee programs were administered at least somewhat honestly and the hotel chain would approve legitimate claims, this is a long-gone practice and nowadays it’s just a waste of time trying to file a guarantee claim.
The Marriott Best Rate Guarantee site with all conditions can be found here.
This is the front page:
You have to file the claim within 24 hours of booking, and according to the page, they should contact you within the next 24 hours with a decision on your claim and/or adjust the rate accordingly.
I covered this in early October, when I started my trip and wanted to stay at the Sheraton Hong Kong for a day before continuing my trip:
Whine Wednesday: Marriott’s Best Rate Disappointment Guarantee
Three months ago Marriott changed the T&C, saying that there will be no updates per email anymore and it would simply show as adjusted on the site. I obviously checked my reservation and nothing was touched.
After 3 days, I emailed both addresses listed (BestRateGuarantee@marriott.com) and waited. Again, nothing.
After five days and there was still no reply, I contacted Marriott Customer Care and received the following (nonsense) answer:
Dear Mr. Sebastian,
Thank you for contacting Marriott Bonvoy® and we appreciate your loyalty as a Lifetime Platinum member.
Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in getting back to you. We are experiencing an unexpectedly high volume of emails, and we are working as quickly as possible to give every email the care and attention it deserves. We completely understand that your time is valuable, and we are truly sorry for keeping you waiting.
We sincerely apologize for the delay in the review of your Best Rate Guarantee claim. We understand your concern, especially as your departure date is approaching and you have not yet received an update regarding the request you submitted more than three days ago.
We have documented your concerns regarding the comparable rate identified on Agoda and your request for the applicable Best Rate Guarantee benefit. Your case will be reviewed by the appropriate team, and we will provide an update as soon as possible.
We appreciate your patience and understand the importance of resolving this matter promptly, particularly as you are hoping to stay at the Sheraton again. Please accept our apologies for any frustration or inconvenience caused by the delay.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We value your continued loyalty and look forward to assisting further.
Best Regards,
Gitanjali N.
Marriott Bonvoy® Customer Care
Needless to say, nobody got in touch. I ended up canceling the reservation at the Sheraton Hong Kong 2 days before arrival based on the cancellation policy and rebooked my stay at the nearby Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui, where I got a rate that was 320 HKD different than the lowest available public rate at Sheraton.
I forwarded my complaint to the Office of Consumer Affairs and eventually a Supervisor from the Best Rate Guarantee Escalations Team replied with this email:
Thank you for your interest in Marriott’s Best Rate Guarantee program. I hope my message finds you well.
My name is xxxx and I am a Supervisor with the Best Rate Guarantee department. Your concerns were brought to my attention for further review and response as your initial response was regarding the Best Rate Guarantee claim you submitted. Allow me to clarify.
As shared in our published and agreed upon program Terms and Conditions, you may use your Marriott reservation number to view your claim status on the BRG site within 24 hours of filing your claim using this link:
https://brgclaimsubmission.fornova.com/marriott
Steps to Locate the Best Rate Guarantee Claim Form and how to view your results:
Go to Marriott | OUR BEST RATE. GUARANTEED
Click ‘Sign in to Claim’ (listed in 2 spots on this page)
Click ‘Submit a Claim’
Complete the ‘General Information’ to submit your claim, or click on the link that says ‘Already have a claim? View the result of your claim here ->’
If viewing the status of your claim, you will need to complete the requested information
Please note that not all claims need additional review, and in such cases, no follow-up email will be sent. If you have questions about the message you received or your claim, please email us at BestRateGuarantee@marriott.com and include the hotel name, stay dates, and confirmation number or case number. Our designated BRG team will be happy to assist you.
I have reviewed the information regarding your claim submission and found that your claim status results were posted online within 24 hours of claim submission. My records show that your claim was denied as the comparison rate on Agoda, was not lower than the Marriott rate verified at the time your claim was processed. Here is what was verified for the same booking conditions as confirmed on your Marriott reservation.
Marriott.com: 1,330 HKD excluding taxes and fees
Agoda.com: 1,400 HKD excluding taxes and fees
As a lower rate could not be verified, your claim was correctly denied in accordance with our program guidelines. I regret we could not approve your claim for this particular stay.
In reviewing the below correspondence since October 2, 2026, I sincerely apologize you were not connected with our team directly and the inconveniences encountered as a result. In an effort to further assist, I have taken the opportunity to credit your Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Platinum Elite account with the 25,000 reward points. While these post instantly, there might be a delay in viewing these online. Rest assured, these have been credited. I have also taken the opportunity to share this with the appropriate Management team for further review and coaching.
A friendly tip should you choose to participate in the Best Rate Guarantee program in the future: if your claim status has not been updated after 24 hours of claim submission, please email our team directly for further assistance. This will ensure that your questions/concerns are handled by the correct team in a timely manner. The BRG team and myself, handle all inquiries via email only.
You can review our Marriott Best Rate Guarantee program terms and conditions here: https://www.marriott.com/online-hotel-booking.mi
We appreciate your loyalty to Marriott and thank you for giving us the opportunity to review your concerns.
Warm regards,
I replied that Marriott’s representation of this case is a total LIE; nothing was ever visibly updated, and the rates did not match either.
At the time of my submission, everything was correctly entered, and Agoda was 250 HKD less in total with identical conditions for the reservation. Maybe they shouldn’t take several weeks to answer a query and that, as a result of their inaction, I had to cancel my Sheraton Hong Kong stay and instead stay at the Hyatt Regency next door for 320 HKD above the lowest Marriott (Sheraton) rate I was able to verify.
This wasn’t the only Marriott property with a cheaper rate I discovered; The Mira was even cheaper and had a much bigger difference to the official Marriott rate, but I’m not a big fan of that property.
Initially, I requested compensation of 320,00 HKD in Cash and 10,000 Bonvoy points, but Marriott eventually credited 25,000 Bonvoy points to my account.
It’s a real shame companies can’t properly follow up on these “Guarantees” anymore and just list them on their sites to look good for marketing purposes.
Marriott isn’t alone in this, by the way. In recent years, these BRG programs have all become useless. The good old days when you could almost always get a legitimate BRG claim approved are over. No matter what brand and chain.
Thanks to lifetime status, I’m not actively running after chains anymore and rather go for Best Price these days. The times that I’m playing these games in order to get stays/nights at any price are over for me.
Conclusion
I rarely file Best Rate Guarantees anymore because they are mostly without teeth and rarely get approved. Over time (compared to many years ago), hotels now have more control over these discounted rates on OTA’s and try to always have the lowest rate on their own sites. Not so in this case, though.
This time around, the rate differences on various OTAs, such as Agoda, were so big that it made sense to try to get a claim approved. In the end, I paid less at the Hyatt and had an excellent stay there. No Marriott points, though.
Marriott’s modus operandi seems to be that when a customer has a valid claim for a change, they don’t react at all and ignore it. Don’t approve it, don’t deny it. Simply let it sit and never get back to the customer. In my case, I canceled and walked away from the reservation, but how many guests will just stay anyway? I bet a lot. Eventually, Marriott compensated me with 25,000 points because I had to stay at a competing property (Hyatt) where I didn’t earn any Marriott stay credit or points.