School of SPG By Eat Drink Stay Dubai / February 23, 2017 Share12TweetPinShare315 SharesSchool of SPG 8 – Starwood Preferred Guest Best Rate GuaranteeOne of the best benefits of the Starwood Preferred Guest program is its fantastic Best Rate Guarantee.In a nutshell, the Best Rate Guarantee allows you to price-match (lower) rates from third-party hotel booking websites to rooms booked through Starwood Preferred Guest. Best Rate Guarantee allows you to price-match (lower) rates from third-party hotel booking websites to rooms booked through Starwood Preferred Guest.Click To Tweet What the Best Rate Guarantee offers For 2017, IF you book a SPG hotel through SPG, and then discover a cheaper rate elsewhere within 24 hours, you can register a claim under the Best Rate Guarantee.Once approved, SPG will then:-match the competing rateALSO give you a 20% discount OR 2, 000 StarpointsFull terms are available here and the claim form is available hereA real-life example – Los Angeles Downtown Sheraton1) Find a hotelMy first time lodging a Best Rate Guarantee (BRG) claim was in 2013, when I was looking to stay at Los Angeles Downtown Sheraton (now the Sheraton Grand Los Angeles). Check your hotel – or proposed SPG Partner Hotel (e.g. if it’s a Design hotel) – is participating by using this list.2) Book a room with SPGEnsure the room you are looking to price match is a commonly available room on third-party hotel booking sites. In this case, a King Deluxe at the Sheraton was listed for $189 on the SPG app.Ensure your SPG booking is made AT LEAST 24 hours before check-in time (48 hours if you're matching a non-English website).3) Find a Competing RateOn Hipmunk.com, the same room was available for $133.96 – this is the ‘Competing Rate’. 4) Document BOTH rates are available AT THE SAME TIMEThis is where screenshots will save you a LOT of work. If you haven't an app for screenshots, either take photographs of the screens showing BOTH booking websites (including rate and availability) or download one.To be successful making a claim, you need to show the Competing Rate (and same room) was available at the time of booking. Screenshots work well as they can be emailed with the claim.5) Complete a claim form onlineFor speed, completeness and efficiency, it's best to follow-up immediately by emailing your screenshots to [email protected]. As you've already filed a BRG claim, you should also include your claim reference number.6) ApprovalOnce your claim is approved, you will need to email back to [email protected] with your confirmation number. You will also need to decide if you wish to take the discount or the Starpoints. In this case, I took the discount so I received a 10% discount off $133.96, so final price was $120.56 – a saving of $68.44.How to hack the Starwood Preferred Guest Best Rate GuaranteeThe BRG works on several levels:-It allows you to stay in SPG hotels, earning Starpoints, Elite qualification and receiving SPG benefits, at lowest possible online rates.Rather than take the 20% discount, you could settle for a price match and earn 2,000 Starpoints every stay. Clearly, it's a very quick way to top-up your Starpoints to put towards a flight or award night. Rather than take the 20% discount, you could settle for a price match and earn 2,000 Starpoints every stayClick To TweetTo maximise your chances, ensure:-allow enough time for processing (at least 24 hours before check-in, or 48 hours if using a Competing Rate from a non-English website).ensure you check all possible third-party websites to get the lowest possible rates.choose to compete on standard rooms, rather than suites or upgraded rooms, as they're more likely to be available for comparison online.This is part of a series of articles on how to maximise Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) – our favourite hotel loyalty program. Do you have any queries or questions about SPG? Feel free to drop us a comment below and we’ll try to answer it for you 🙂 Join the newsletter Subscribe to get our latest content by email.Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription. There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again. First Name Email Address We use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer. Subscribe Powered by ConvertKit RelatedShare12TweetPinShare315 Shares