Hilton Hotels “Our Best Rates Guaranteed” – or not? - opinions sought!

robertlondon

Hilton Hotels “Our Best Rates Guaranteed” – or not?

Hello fellow MoneySavingExperts!

If anyone has a spare 10 minutes, I’d be grateful for your opinion…
It’s about testing out Hilton’s best rate guaranteed.

I recently booked a twin room deluxe B&B for 1 night at the Hilton Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden through Hilton.com. The total price came to £252.86

Hilton Hotels have a best rate guarantee…

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Our Best Rates. Guaranteed.

Just book through any Hilton Family website, Hilton Reservations Customer Centre or hotel directly.

We promise that if you find a lower rate through any other booking channel, we'll match that rate you found plus:

For Hotels outside the USA, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico (other than the Caribe Hilton and Hilton Ponce), we will adjust your bill by US$50 (or local currency equivalent).

No matter where your destination is, if you have found a better rate through another booking channel, Submit a claim and our guest assistance team will determine eligibility and contact you.

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So I looked at the moneysavingexpert email and discovered the Hotels.com £10 off per night offer through MoneySavingExpert.com

When I added the code HC3SxMSE10NIGHT to the hotels.com page booking the same room on the same date, the total price came out at £251.33 – which is cheaper!

I informed Hiltom.com within 24 hours of receiving my confirmation using their online “Submit a Claim” form.

The response I received was

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Thank you for contacting Our Best Rates Guaranteed. Unfortunately I was not able to approve your claim. The code you provided gives me the below error message.

Currency is invalid for this coupon.

Unfortunately I was not able to approve your claim.

Best regards,
Jolene

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So I checked it again and of course it still worked… so I asked her to recheck it.

Her reason to reject my claim then changed to:

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Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately I am still not able to approve your claim.

The code you entered needs to be available on hotels.com where anyone from the general public can use this code. To get the code you had to research the information on another website.

I apologize that I am still not able to approve your claim. I did double check the information I am providing you with my supervisor.

Thank you again for taking the time to fill out the claim.

Best regards,
Jolene

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Personally I don’t think this is fair because:

• Both websites (hotels.com and moneysavingexpertcom) are open to the general public
• It took just as much “research” to find hotels.com as it did to find moneysavingexpertcom
• The moneysavingexpert weekly email goes out to 3 million (hardly “research”!)

I think she’s basing her refusal on the terms and conditions: (I’ve highlighted the paragraph I think she’s trying to use)

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Complete Terms and Conditions

Terms & Conditions for Hotels outside the USA, Canada, Mexico, & Puerto Rico (except the Caribe Hilton & Ponce Hilton)

When you next make a room booking, we guarantee that you will always be offered the best possible rates providing you book through our website, through Hilton Reservations & Customer Care or direct with our hotels. In fact, we are so confident with our best rate guarantee, that in the unlikely event you do find a cheaper rate elsewhere within 24 hours of your booking, we will, once we verify your claim, not only match the lower the rate but we will also adjust your bill by an additional US $50 (or local currency equivalent), subject to the following terms and conditions:
·You must have a confirmed retail reservation made:
oOn any of the Hilton Family websites (hilton.com, conradhotels.com, doubletree.com, embassysuites.com, hamptoninn.com, hiltongardeninn.com, homewoodsuites.com, hiltonhhonors.com, hiltonfamily.com, hiltonworldwide.com, waldorfastoriacollection.com and hgvc.com, hilton.co.uk, hilton.co.jp, hilton.de);
oThrough Hilton Reservations & Customer Care,
oDirectly at a hotel; or
oThrough an IATA accredited retail travel agent professional ("Travel Agent") booking through a Hilton family channel or the following Global Distribution Systems (Amadeus, Apollo/Galileo, Worldspan and SABRE).
·You or your Travel Agent on your behalf must complete and submit a claim form to Hiltons claim department in accordance with the claim forms instruction, or you must call 00 800 888 44 888 and follow the telephone representatives instructions to process the claim. Your claim must be received within 24 hours of the time the original reservation was confirmed and at least 72 hours prior to arrival at the hotel.
·The Same Accommodations must be available for purchase at the time your claim is submitted.
·Only one claim may be submitted and is eligible for each stay. For purposes of Our Best Rates. Guaranteed., a stay shall be defined as the total number of consecutive nights spent by the same guest, guests, or subset thereof, at the same participating hotel, without regard to whether a guest checks out and checks back into the participating hotel again.
·Hilton International reserves the right to modify or cancel this offer and the terms and conditions at any time in its sole discretion.
·Our Best Rates. Guaranteed. OFFER DOES NOT APPLY to the following:
·Hilton Family hotels inside the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico
·Reservations booked through a non-Hilton Family booking channel or a non-designated GDS, third party websites or any other channels.
·Rates available on "opaque" websites where the hotel brand and specific hotel are not known until the booking is made (e.g., Priceline.com, Hotwire.com).
·Hotel packages (e.g., Romance, Park & Fly, Theatre Breaks) or travel packages which may include hotel, airfare, car rental, food and beverage offers or other similar packages or amenities.
·Discount or negotiated rates not available to the general public, including but not limited to the following rates: membership (e.g., Saga), corporate, government, promotional, unpublished, Senior HHonors®, employee, offline wholesale/FIT, pre-paid rates which may include a voucher (including electronic vouchers), group or other specially negotiated rates.
·Reservations made within 72 hours of day of arrival.
·Taxes, gratuities, service charges, early departure fees, or other fees and incidental charges.
·Rate disparities due to fluctuations, rounding, or differences in the currency exchange rates are excluded from the offer.
·Only one claim may be submitted and is eligible for each stay. For purposes of Our Best Rates. Guaranteed., a stay shall be defined as the total number of consecutive nights spent by the same guest, guests, or subset thereof, at the same participating hotel, without regard to whether a guest checks out and checks back into the participating hotel again.

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…But I think my discount code is available to the general public!
I think adding in “research” as exclusion criteria is unfair.

I know it’s only a matter of a few £s but (…like any pedant…) IT'S THE PRINCIPLE!!! :mad:


I'm interested in what anyone else thinks...

GlennTheBaker

Gnerally speaking, any of the hotel companies' 'Best Rate Guarantees' cannot be invoked when using a discount code on a competitor site.

I have also read stories on the FlyerTalk.com forums that Hilton pretty much NEVER approve claims under their BRG - always finding ways to get out of it. Marriott, on the other hand, are excellent when it comes to such things and I've saved a fortune using their BRG.