ACCOR Best Price Guarantee Is It Real Deal or a Scam?

Lmakibaow on 10/05/2023 - 22:38
Last edited 10/05/2023 - 23:14

I would like to know other people's experience regarding ACCOR best price guarantee (BPG) because I just joined accor plus recently through ozb post and planning to use them end of this year.

Here is my story,

A few days ago, I looked through Accorplus apps to book a 5stars hotel in BALI for 5 nights, and it ended up costing me $1500/5 nights (KING, GARDEN VIEW, NON REFUNDABLE).
for refundable booking cost me -+ $1650
At the same time, i type in google hotel name with the date it just shows $310++ with the other website

I was confident with their accor policy saying BEST PRICE GUARANTEE, therefore I booked the nonrefundable through their apps.

and a few hours later I use google hotel to search price again and it strangely shows $237/night (and now even $207) and it is refundable.

since this is my first time I thought it would be easy to claim this BPG, so I was happy that I can save more than $500 than the original price that I paid

I thought I was lucky because I just read their T&C that i can only claim within 24 hours after i booked my hotel with Accor.
so I submit my claim online expecting that I will be approved as I feel confident that I will eligible for my claim

after 2 nights of waiting, I assume it is ACCOR US who replied (because they reply my email at 2am)

they say I am not eligible for the offer because of 3 conditions
a. screenshot that I shared does not have the time I found the third party option
b. room features are not the same
accor: classic king garden view
3rd party: double/twin room
d. cancellation policy
accor: nonrefundable
3rd party: free cancellation until Sept 28th

As soon as I received this reply email I was speechless and furious.
because it says "It takes only one not identical item to make the request not eligible."

I replied with anger and try to get an explanation (they have no phone call for this bpg and email only) and try to explain that the hotel only has KING/ TWIN

so basically, by all means, double in my booking also considered a king size bed (anyway bed config can be requested on arrival)

anyhow still the CS only replied with an automated template reply email saying that

Dear Mr.

Thank you for reaching out to Accor Plus Customer Service.

The investigation and evaluation of the request is made based on the Accor offer and Third Party offer details, provided by the guest.

The Terms & Conditions of the offer must be matched and so is the Third Party offer in regards to the Accor offer on your booking.

Your request is not eligible to the offer.

For a better follow-up of your file, please indicate the above reference during our possible communications.

we remain at your disposal for any other request.

We look forward to welcoming you again to one of our hotels in the near future.

After careful consideration i gather more proof to fulfill their points a, b, and d. (just the next day)
I replied to their email with new attachments to re-read and consider to honor their policy.

I did not expect I got this such reply which makes me regret that I booked accor in the first place.

Thank you for reaching out to Accor Plus Customer Service.

Please note that this request is now closed.

We kindly invite you to review again the Terms & Conditions for Best Price Guarantee:

https://all.accor.com/information/best-price-guarantee/conditions.en.shtml

Guest can only send us the request with all the pieces of information within 24 hours after the booking confirmation sent by Accor, therefore no new information is admissible after the reply to the request.

As already informed, this request is not eligible for this offer.

we remain at your disposal for any other request. —> Why even bother to put this sentence??

We look forward to welcoming you again to one of our hotels in the near future.

after I make that claim, they reduce the price on the Accor website to a similar price that I claimed

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ACCOR?!

Now I am stuck paying nonrefundable $1500, which I can save $500 by paying for 3rd party and it is free cancellation until Sept

Poll Options expired

  • 1
    REAL DEAL
  • 23
    SCAM
Travel

Related Stores

Accor Hotels Group
Accor Hotels Group

Comments

  • Shoocat on 10/05/2023 - 23:00
    +7

    Not a scam, but also to me illustrates their guarantee isn't worth the paper it isn't printed on (due to being on their website).

    Note to businesses: no point in trumpeting a 'guarantee' that requires the second coming of Christ to satisfy the T&Cs. The result is you offend your customers and undermine the very brand loyalty you are trying to engender.

  • Eeples on 10/05/2023 - 23:25
    +2

    IMO the 3rd reason they gave is a scam.

    They should imo match their non-refundable with refundable offers by 3rd parties.

    Ps. $300/night in Bali is a nonsense price.

  • Rukiata on 11/05/2023 - 09:20

    just do a charge back

    • makibaow on 11/05/2023 - 10:33

      Rang CC ans they say cannot, the only option for CC is to raise dispute after the amount shows on the statement.

  • Tech5 on 11/05/2023 - 09:28
    +1

    Not a scam, I have gotten the guarantee before.

    That being said, it is difficult and there are hoops to jump through- you need to read it carefully. It needs to be a 100% match. And that means down to the number of people staying in the room. I was denied once because I booked 2 people into a room in Accor and accidently only selected one person on a third party website (even though price didn't change)

    • makibaow on 11/05/2023 - 10:32

      Because they are not trying to be customer service who are willing to make customer happy, they try to make all excuses based on technicality and wording..

      I assume if you want to claim PBG, you have to be intentional to claim it before hand..so you are prepared..lol

  • capslock on 11/05/2023 - 09:55

    This is the downside to using loyalty clubs like Accor Plus. You feel obligated to book through this channel even if it is not the best value.

    Hotel price guarantees usually only work if every detail is 100% the same which means it won't work almost all of the time.

  • deme on 11/05/2023 - 10:02

    TL;DR

    • makibaow on 11/05/2023 - 10:36

      Apologised for my bedtime story😄

  • bloom on 11/05/2023 - 18:22
    +1

    How dare you compare a refundable deal vs their superior non-refundable offer 😂

  • cocomelon on 11/05/2023 - 18:28
    +2

    Thought only hilton does this, at least with hilton you can submit BRG without any bookings, so if they approved you get the discounted pricing, if they dont just book the cheapest pricing you find in google

  • Hargen on 15/05/2023 - 17:17

    I have learnt never to book a non-refundable booking unless it is inside the flexible booking cancellation window (e.g. a day or two before), hotel room price tends to get cheaper the closer to the date (if it is not peak) and with flexible booking you can always cancel and rebook.

  • cmolloy on 17/05/2023 - 19:34

    Does anyone know how much cheaper the price has to be? I found a hotel that is 50c cheaper and I'm unsure because I saw something in their terms saying it has to be at least 5% cheaper but it's under the currency conversion header so not sure…

    • makibaow on 17/05/2023 - 19:56

      5%..but again, they will say lots of things based on technicallity to reject your claim..lol

  • Sammykat on 30/03/2024 - 19:08

    Just wondering if theres any more recent experiences with the B P G? I was looking at a (non refundable) reserbation for a Sofitel - ALL was 311 Agpda (same room non refundable) Non ref ) was 210 !!! It serms like a risk to trust the BPG….but the payoff wou kid be $50 and gold benefits/points if it was accepted…

    • HomebrewFC on 03/04/2024 - 15:22

      I'm currently sitting on one for Mecure Tokyo Haneda Airport ($153 on Traveloka vs $172 Accor Plus). I'll report back when I hear from them.

      • HomebrewFC on 05/04/2024 - 10:34

        Can confirm it's a scam. They pulled up no date and time on the screenshot. Submitted a new image for them and they still denied it as the original photo didn't have it displayed.

        They also waited to just after my 24hr window lapsed to respond in order to give no chance of a re-submission. However, they replied immediate to my follow up email. So shady, has really put my off using Accor given the fact that we're talking about ~$50 here for a customer who spends thousands a year at their hotels.

        • Sammykat on 14/04/2024 - 01:11

          Thanks for letting me know. Much apprec i ated! Sadly…from what Ive read in a few spots..not worth the risk unless you're bpoking a refundable rate…sad in a way - its a 'policy' that could be very iuseful tp Accor/ALL as a marketing tool…if it was used ethically…

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join