Sad news: Hilton’s Price Match Guarantee (more commonly known as Best Rate Guarantee or BRG) was quietly nerfed yesterday.
We wrote a guide about this last year and praised Hilton’s BRG for being relatively straightforward. There weren’t too many restrictions, you could simply get 25% off the third-party rate, and perhaps most importantly, it covered quite a few Small Luxury Hotels of the World properties.
One particularly user-friendly feature was that you didn’t even need to make a reservation first. You could submit the claim directly, and only make the booking after the claim had been approved.
Unfortunately, the rules have now changed, according to their website:
Can I submit a claim before booking?
No. You must have an existing direct booking with Hilton before submitting a claim to price match that reservation.
From now on, you have to make a direct Hilton reservation first and only then submit the BRG claim.
It’s not just an extra step. The real problem is prepaid, non-refundable rates. Previously, you could submit the BRG claim first and only book once it was approved. Now you have to make the booking upfront. If the claim is rejected, you’re potentially stuck with a non-refundable reservation at the original price.
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