The BRG Deals Blog

Has this happened to you? If you've BRG'd hotels long enough, than it's inevitable to happen to you at some point in time! It just happened to one of my readers the other day. She sought out some advice on how to handle the situation .. and I'll tell you basically what I told her. In my experience, this doesn't happen often. Most of the time, the check-in clerk will either accept the $0 rate without questioning it, or they may question the rate simply because they don't understand how you got it! This was the case with my last BRG at the Quality Inn in Temecula, CA. My free night was accepted, but the female clerk seemed confused. She said: "I see you had some trouble at the (nearby) Comfort Inn and they sent you to us".. (Huh?) My response to her was: "Uhhh .. yes ma'am!" (I would've agreed with anything to have avoided a problematic check-in!) Going along with her understanding of it seemed much easier than telling her how I

Here's our top ten list of the biggest mistakes newbies make when filing Choice claims, resulting in rejections, and causing some to lose faith with the whole process altogether: 10: Neglect to match up room types exactly. The wordage must be exactly the same. If one site calls the room "Business Room" and the other doesn't, your claim will most likely be denied. If one says smoking and the other says non-smoking, this also won't be a match. The bedding and room description must be exactly the same. This isn't hard to do once you get the hang of what you are looking for. First, look at the beds, then, compare the overall room description. Look for similar wording that means the same thing - this is OK. But, if one noticeably stands out from another, there is a good chance it is not BRG-able. 9. Expect that a room type with the same description, but with multiple instances on the Choice Hotels site, will be approved. If Choice offers

Matching is very important with any Best Price Guarantee. Matching is generally defined as being an "apples-to-apples" comparison of your itinerary to the itinerary offered by the competing booking site. First: The Room Types Once a customer service agent has located the lower bookable rate you found on a competing travel site, his or her next task will be to attempt to verify that the room type on the other site is actually identical to the itinerary you just booked. Bedding will be looked at first, perhaps smoking/non-smoking will be looked at next (for a match). If your booking is for "2 Double Beds", for example, it cannot be compared to a lower-priced "Double Room". Why? Because a "Double Room" could easily be 1 double bed, or it could refer to a standard room for 2 adults. We just don't know - and neither would your claim agent know! "2 Doubles" is specific, whereas "Double Room" is not. Next: The Room De

A little history ... For those of you not familiar with my blogging history, I started out posting "BRG deals" as a contributor on the now retired  "The Best Rate Guarantee Blog" , along with another gentleman residing in Calgary, Canada (he founded and ran that blog - eventually bringing me on board as a full-time partner). In those days, we highlighted BRG opportunities that were found for all of the Wyndham-brand chain hotels (a free night deal similar to the Choice/IHG programs). Shortly after the Wyndham BRG program fell by the wayside, I took over, finding myself doing the vast majority of the posting. I transitioned to Expedia BRG deals, and later Choice. At this point (April 2009 I believe), the Wyndham BRG downgraded from a free night deal to a "10% off the lower rate found" non-deal! Due to all of my hard work and my blog partner's interest in pursuing other projects, I was given a 75% ownership in the blog. At this point in time, with