Hilton Honors now allow members to submit Price Match Guarantee claims online before making a reservation.
What is Price Match Guarantee?
Price Match Guarantee (PMG) is Hilton’s guarantee to members that they are always paying the lowest price possible when booking through official channels like hilton.com or directly with the hotel.
If members find a lower rate elsewhere (e.g. Agoda, Expedia), they can submit a PMG claim to receive 25% off their reservation.
Travel hackers, like myself, say “challenge accepted” and actively look for these lower rates elsewhere to lower accommodation costs!
What has changed with Hilton’s PMG?
Previously, members could submit a claim online after making a reservation.
The disadvantage of this is that if you are trying to do a PMG claim against a non-refundable booking, you’ll be stuck with that reservation if the claim gets rejected.
To get around this, members who want to file a claim against a non-refundable booking could do it over the phone through Hilton’s hotline.
However, doing a PMG claim over the phone is exhausting! I’ve probably made about 30 claims in recent times and had calls that lasted over an hour. That is because, most phone agents would wrongfully deny the claim and you would have to “educate” them on their own terms and conditions before getting an approval.
However, my hard work dealing with incompetent Hilton phone agents sometimes come with outrageous, accidental benefits. For example, I once stayed 7 nights at Conrad Koh Samui for just THB 510 (US$15) per night because the phone agent did not convert Thai Baht to US Dollar correctly. That’s a 96% discount!
You can now file a claim BEFORE making a reservation
With this positive change, you can now file an online PMG claim before making a reservation.
To file a claim without a reservation, all you have to do is fill up the details of the rate that you see elsewhere and on hilton.com.
Bottom line
Price Match Guarantee (or Best Rate Guarantee) is a huge part of my travel-planning and has largely reduced my hotel spending in the past few years.
This is a great time-saving option IF the PMG agents are well-versed with the terms and conditions. I’ll share my experience on it when I get the chance in future!
