Deal of the Day

September 26, 2011 - FrugalTravelGuy

Earn up to 1,000 US Air milesby using your MasterCard. Book by Nov. 14, Travel by Nov. 30. US Air MCs earn 1,000 bonus miles, regular MC earn 500 bonus miles.Earn double points or free nights at Hilton with their new promotion. 1 Free Night after 4 Stays or 10 nights OR double points on all stays. You must choose one offer and cannot switch. Valid between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31

INK Bold Business with Ultimate Rewards 50,000 Points First Year Fee Waived

Anonymous

I put in two claims. The first one was for a refundable "standard room" at a Crowne Plaza. Although there were rooms available with specific beds, both ichotelsgroup.com and the other site listed a "standard room" with no beds specified, and the 3rd party site was cheaper. The claim was accepted.

My second claim was for an Intercontinental hotel. Since I wanted to use a refundable rate, I tried to do a match against the "best flexible with breakfast", which could theoretically match against another refundable rate with breakfast (same terms and amenities). Although I did find a lower refundable rate with breakfast at a 3rd party site, I got the following email:

"Per the terms of the program, your reservation needs to be booked with the lowest best available rate on an InterContinental Hotels Group website. As there is a lower rate available for this hotel on our website which is under the Luxury weekends at *** nightly rate it does not initially qualify for the Lowest Rate Guarantee."

Indeed, the Luxury Weekends rate is a prepaid rate with breakfast on ichotelsgroup.com. So, I'd have to book/match that one. Of course, then the 3rd party site which *is* refundable wouldn't be a valid match (you can't match a refundable rate on a 3rd party site to a non-refundable rate at ichotelsgroup.com). It seems like hotels are starting to figure this game out!
oneeyejack

toy story is THE ride to beat. you'll have lots of fun on that!
Unknown

I have found rates that beat Expedia at AA.com several times.
Anonymous

This might be a dumb question, but exactly what is meant by "rate restrictions"?

I'm on the north side of 60 and I still love Disney World, especially going with grandkids!! You'll love it even more when you can take Carter! Enjoy!!
Anonymous

Rick, do you know if you can use booking.com to compare rates as well?
FrugalTravelGuy

anon you can use any us based booking site
ElijahN

I booked a night in Monterey, CA after finding a lower rate on Kayak for the same room, same non-refundable rate. As it was past the time I could call I submitted the form and was surprised to get a response with an hour.

The agent is claiming that since I didn't book the lowest rate PERIOD I am not eligible for the guarantee- even though I did book the lowest rate FOR A NON-REFUNDABLE ROOM. Re-reading the language I find that it's kind of vague:

"A guest must book the lowest available hotel room price through the Best Available price search – for the type of accommodations sought – in order to qualify for the Best Price Guarantee."

I read "type of accommodations sought" categorically, as in Best Flexible, Advance Purchase, etc.

Am I right in thinking that this claim should be honored?

Thank you.
Carissa

I just booked a refundable rate at a Holiday Inn and filed a claim for a cheaper rate I found using Kayak. When I called, they said they couldn't honor because it wasn't the cheapest rate on their site — they had advanced purchase rates that were cheaper — but even those were still more expensive than the rate I found. I told her that the cancellation policies were the same (both refundable) and she said they don't compare cancellation policies — only lowest rate to lowest rate. So, I asked her to switch my reservation to the advanced purchase and then file a claim — she took care of that on the phone and said my claim was approved. Kind of silly that I had to switch my reservation before she would process the claim since there was no way they could beat the rate, but it worked…

Deal of the Day

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