I read a few days ago that the terms of Hyatt’s Best Rate Guarantee had changed for the worse to required a reservation before submitting a claim. This confused me, because the Best Rate Guarantee form on Hyatt’s page still asks you “Existing Reservation: Yes/No.” I also swear I had seen the terms to submit a claim form within 24 hours of your booking months ago, yet still had been able to make successful claims without first making a reservation.

The specific terms are: If you find a publicly available and immediately bookable room-only rate on the Internet for a Hyatt hotel (“Competing Rate”) that is lower than the room rate available for the same reservation on http://www.hyatt.com (i.e., same hotel, same type of room, same number of guests, same dates of stay and same length of stay), then within 24 hours of booking the reservation on http://www.hyatt.com, please submit your claim request online via our online claim form.

So why don’t we just ask the Hyatt?

Is it true?

Is it true?

And indeed, Hyatt confirms there has been a recent change. I believe you should still be able to book a flexible rate if there is one, but make a best rate guarantee claim against a nonrefundable rate, as there is nothing in the terms about matching cancellation policies.