The Best Rate Guarantee blog writes the up changes to the TripRewards Best Rate Guarantee program. Some are reasonable, some less so, though naturally none make the program stronger for consumers trying to use it.
As many here know, the Best Rate Guarantee program by TripRewards (now Wyndham yadda yadda) has been the strongest among the hotel chains. Find a lower rate, get a night free at the property, and not too many hassles involved.
Now they say the lower rate needs to be at least 25 cents less (no more $69.99 rates beating their $70 price). Fair enough, but it was a good trick for sure! The rooms are now non-transferrable. Perfectly fair. But they’ll now limit you to one a month (of course if you travel with a spouse or friend it amounts to two a month). They want to limit their exposure, of course, but do they guarantee their site has the lowest rate or not? They still offer the strongest guarantee among the chains, but they’re making it ever so slightly less lucrative. No more hotel hopping to live rent free, that’s for sure! And they’ve added a new clause where they can cancel rooms which had valid claims in the event of fraud or abuse, which preusmably they get to define, I don’t like the ambiguity here – it just strikes me as a weasel clause.
All that said, I’ve never use their Best Rate Guarantee because I tend not to like to stay in Ramada and Days Inn properties. But that’s just me. It’s a great value for those who do, and the Best Rate Guarantee Blog is a great place to learn more as well as uncover opportunities for those great stays. (Though it’s unclear to me that the changes in rules are being driven by that blog as they claim, as opposed to places like Flyertalk, but I’m willing to go with it.)
Really, what’s done is done. There have been over 6,000 Best Rate Guarantee posts of some form or another on message boards, brg sites (like my own), and in general travel blog chatter, not to mention the numbers of people reading those posts (likely millions). I know that the Best Rate Guarantee Blog will be the likely scapegoat for a while, since it is arguably the largest brg niche site on the internet (and arguably, the most-read and frequented), and with that, carries the most responsibility – no one is denying that. It’s an unfortunate situation, but I’d rather share information before keeping it greedily to myself, only to have the guarantee die out, as it would inevitably, eventually anyways.
I’m truly glad to have helped people find BRGs where they need them, and I’ll continue to endeavor to do so, along with my staff. Now that you only get 12 free rooms per year, having choices is something that will be absolutely necessary.
If I wasn’t a recent graduate (in my early 20’s) who has been running this blog as my full-time job since leaving school, I’d likely take your stance – that these hotel chains are largely inhabitable anyways, even for free. But, I for one have appreciated how much money I’ve saved on travel expenses – money I was spending anyways. I’ve been able to save for the future, for the first time in my life, thanks to this guarantee.
I’m happy to announce that you may recieve 9 BRG free nights per month, due to a loophole in the T&C’s that doesn’t specify the chain. Thus, you may recieve one free Ramada BRG, one free Days Inn BRG, one free Wingate by Wyndham BRG and so forth – good news for us frugal travelers!