Are we playing this game again? Today, I received this response from Choice regarding my most recent claim:
"The Best Internet Rate Guarantee program terms & conditions state
that the rate located on a competing website must match the rate
terms/restrictions that you made at www.choicehotels.com including the cancellation policy. The competing website information you
submitted is for a different cancellation policy. The competing website
requires guests to cancel the reservation by February 28.2013 . The
reservation you made at www.choicehotels.com is cancellable up to 4PM on the day of your arrival."
The funny thing is, this is the exact claim I attempted (successfully, I might add) just a month ago! I guess my "free cancellation" rate on Otel.com became a non-cancelable rate by just 24 hours! (Oh, my head is spinning!)
I've been hearing about rejections becoming more frequent. Reasons given seem to vary, and some are pretty lame. For those of you new to all of this, Choice did for a time strictly enforce matching cancel policies. Then, without explanation, they stopped that enforcement.
Is anybody else getting the run-around lately? (for whatever reason).. now's your chance to voice your experiences!
12 comments:
With all my rejections, I just decided to stick with Expedia!
I'm kicking myself right now! My booking was for next Monday. Had it been for a later date, I probably would've been approved! The other site would have still had a cancelable rate.
We all need to read that fine print, myself included!
They rejected my claim about 2 weeks ago.
Choice told me it has to be the same room type.
I booked a Queen suite and found a Queen suite on the competitor website (expedia) in this case.
I replied to the rejection, got an answer an hour later.
The difference is Choicehotel offers 2 tv sets, Expedia only one.
Hmm, I did not read anything about the amount of TV's in the suite. Not on Choice Hotels and not on Expedia.
Marion: That's exactly what I meant - they sometimes give rather "lame" excuses. If you feel wronged, just re-submit the same claim. It may get approved the second time around (assuming a different agent reviews it).
Any more rejections due to cancellation restrictions lately?
I received another (2 in a row) now.
Thank you for your interest in participating in our Best Internet Rate Guarantee program. ,
The Best Internet Rate Guarantee program terms & conditions state that the rate located on a competing website must match the rate terms/restrictions that you made at www.choicehotels.com including the cancellation policy. The competing website information you submitted is for a different cancellation policy. The competing website shows the reservation cannot be cancelled after 12 Noon March 5, 2013 without forfeiting 100 percent of the fees paid. The reservation you made at www.choicehotels.com is cancellable up to 4 PM on the day of arrival without penalty.
The reservation and cancellation policy must be the same on the competing website as the reservation you made at www.choicehotels.com.
By the way, I think this one was my fault .. AGAIN! I needed something for this Saturday night (today is Wednesday) and I booked/filed in haste without considering the cancel policy matching. That's what I get for just "assuming" all would be okay! In the past, I'd always book about a month in advance and had no problems being approved - the last 2 BRGs were for stays about 72 hours from the current date (maybe not a good idea).
So the lesson here is: make sure that the competing website's cancel deadline HAS NOT already passed at the time of your booking/claim submission. If it has passed, it is considered non-refundable whereas the booking you just made is cancellable/refundable.
So basically, shame on me! I should have known better!
I had a recent experience with Choice Hotels where everything was the same; the room type, rate, date, cancelation policy, etc. I thought for sure I had them this time with a valid claim. They came back with a denial because the Choice Hotel website says that there was a pet rate of $5/night whereas the Priceline.com lower rate, which matched everything else, did not mention the pet rate. Because of this they denied my claim. I called and spoke with a Mike K and tried to argue my point, but to no avail. Alas though, my next claim at a different hotel in the same city was validated.
Can you please clarify. Are they saying the cancellation policies aren't the same because of the date/day you have to cancel by, or because the time is different by a few hours? I did luck out with an approval this week that had a slightly different cancellation policy. I did notice that after making several claims over a week or two that they got more picky. So I started to physically submit my claims at different locations, so I would have a variety of IP addresses. (I would go to Panera, Starbucks, etc)
-DJ (Same as anonymous of March 5)
No worries. Initially, I thought they were back to strictly matching cancellation policies (exact times and dates). As it turns out, I don't think anything has changed. My rejections happened because I claimed dates that were only 3 days away (72 hours out). My competitor site, Otel.com's cancel deadline had passed (by one day) making that rate they viewed "NONREFUNDABLE" technically. Choice's rate could still be canceled up until day of check in, making it REFUNDABLE. They viewed this as not the same, understandably. As long as both Choice's and the competitor sites cancel deadlines have not passed, you'll be okay.
But yes, they are getting pickier for sure! Don't be too surprised if Choice sends out a rejection response with a pretty flimsy excuse attached!
Bottom line is: I don't believe matching in terms of specific cancel times and dates are being enforced much, if at all - just matching of free cancellation vs. free cancellation.
Thanks David for the clarification of cancelable vs non-cancelable. @Andrew B. That Pet rate deal is ridiculous... Were you bringing a pet with you.
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