Hotel chains don’t necessarily promote this, but it can be a great travel hack for saving on stays.
Many groups offer what they might label a “Best Price Guarantee”, a “Lowest Price Guarantee”, or a “Price Match Guarantee”.
These hotel price guarantees entice trip planners to book directly with the hotel website rather than through third-party websites.
They scream – “You will get the best prices on our website, so don’t bother booking your room elsewhere”.
However, the best prices aren’t always found on a hotel’s website – and if you find a cheaper rate, you can leverage these programs to save plenty on your next booking.
Here is everything you need to know about hotel best price guarantees.

How does a hotel price guarantee work?

These programs generally offer an additional discount, points or benefits if you find the same room at a lower price on a third-party website.
You can search the hotel’s website to see its best rate on a given room and then search a comparison website like Trivago or Google Hotels to see if you can find the same room cheaper.
If you book the room on the hotel website, you can then submit a claim that you found a lower rate elsewhere and request a refund or discount.
Just note that the booking conditions usually have to be the same.
For instance, a hotel group might not accept your Price Beat Guarantee claim if the third-party website offers a non-refundable rate and the hotel website offers a refundable rate.
By booking direct — even if you use the Best Price Guarantee — you will also earn points if you are a member of the group’s loyalty program and receive any status benefits you might have.
So, in some cases, it can be twice as nice to book directly!

Do hotel Best Price Guarantee programs actually work?

Yes, they do!
We’ve successfully used some of these programs, saving us hundreds of dollars.
On a recent trip to Hawaii, we planned to stay a week at the Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki Beach.
We noticed that Booking.com’s mobile website offered a rate of $20 per night lower than Hilton’s own website.
We contacted Hilton and asked them to match the rate under their Price Match Guarantee – and they did.
They came back to us saying the matched rate would be $204.46 per night (before taxes and fees), but after the additional 25% discount, it would be $153.35 per night (before taxes and fees).
So, the original rate of $224 per night (before taxes and fees) on the Hilton website quickly became $153.35 per night (before taxes and fees) using the Price Match Guarantee.
This resulted in savings of almost $500 across the week.
Talk about a great travel hack!

Which hotel groups offer Best Price Guarantees?

Many major groups offer a hotel price guarantee, including:

ACCOR
Accor’s Best Price Guarantee gives you a big discount when you book directly if you find a lower room rate elsewhere.
If you book a room on an Accor website and then find a lower price elsewhere within 24 hours of booking, Accor will match the lower rate and then provide an extra discount of 25% on the third-party booking channel rate (except for Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel, where you’ll receive a 10% discount).
Accor has more than 360 hotels in Australia under brands like Sofitel, Pullman, Mercure, Novotel, Mantra and Ibis, as well as many more three-star, four-star and five-star properties worldwide.

CHOICE HOTELS
Choice Hotels’ Lowest Price Guarantee means that if you find a lower publicly available price for the same room within 24 hours of booking on the hotel’s website, you can submit a claim, which could see you receive the first night of your stay for free.
Choice Hotels has a sizable footprint across Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region, among over 7000 locations worldwide.

HILTON
A leading worldwide brand, Hilton offers a Price Match Guarantee.
If you find a lower rate than the official Hilton booking channel before you book or within 24 hours after you make a reservation, you can submit a claim, and Hilton will take an additional 25% off the room rate for each night of your stay.
Hilton has a growing number of properties in Australia and has hotels under 22 different brands worldwide.

HYATT
Hyatt provides you with a choice of rewards if you find a cheaper rate on a third-party hotel booking website under The Best Rate Guaranteed program. Find a more affordable rate and submit a claim form within 24 hours of booking a room on Hyatt’s website and you could receive an additional 20% off the room rate or 5,000 World of Hyatt bonus points.
Hyatt has well-known hotel brands across Australia and the world, including Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Place.

IHG
With IHG’s Best Price Guarantee, you won’t get a discount on your stay, but you can get a stack of bonus points in the chain’s loyalty program.
If you find a lower price for a room on a third-party website, IHG will match it and give you five times the IHG One Rewards Points that you would have otherwise earned on your stay — up to a maximum of 40,000 points.
IHG has properties around Australia and the world, including those under the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza, and Holiday Inn brands.

MARRIOTT
Marriott offers a Best Rate Guarantee, which allows you to file a claim within 24 hours of making a reservation if you find a lower room rate elsewhere.
If the claim is approved, Marriott will give you an additional 25% discount on your room (20% for Design Hotels branded properties) or 5000 Marriott Bonvoy points.
Marriott International is the largest hotel company in the world, with more than 8,500 properties across 36 brands, including Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, W Hotels, Westin, Sheraton and LeMeridien.

Summary

Many hotel chains offer programs with names like "Best Price Guarantee" or "Lowest Price Guarantee" to entice customers to book directly on their website. These programs typically offer discounts or other benefits if you find a cheaper rate for the same room on a third-party website.

Written By: Chris
Updated: October 2024

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We like Hilton’s program, given it allows you to have the third-party price beaten before you book. This means you don’t have to sweat on whether your claim will be approved.
The price match guarantees offered by some hotel chains allow you to get the absolute best prices on bookings, whether you are looking for a cheap three-star hotel or a luxury five-star resort. However, you do need to find a cheaper rate to use these programs – which isn’t always easy or possible. That said, sometimes you can get lucky.
Hotel comparison websites like Trivago or Google Hotels can help you find the cheapest third-party prices for a hotel room, which you may be able to match if they meet the terms and conditions of each hotel group’s program. Mobile sites for third-party hotel booking providers can also offer cheaper rates than desktop sites, so they can also be worth a try.
Sydney hotels can be expensive, but you could try using a price match guarantee to save money on your stay. This could result in over 25 per cent savings if you can find a lower price than the hotel’s website.
It can be pricey to stay in hotels in Melbourne, but if you are looking to stay with a major hotel brand you could save at least 25 per cent by using a price beat guarantee. Melbourne has loads of Accor, Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and IHG properties which offer these programs.
You could save hundreds of dollars on your next hotel stay in Brisbane by making use of a hotel price match guarantee. If you find a cheaper price on a third-party booking website, some hotels will beat it by 20 or 25 per cent. This can be a great travel hack in some situations.