I did get free nights: 2 from Ramada in Vancouver, Canada (separate reservations), and 1 in Days Inn Anchorage, Alaska last July. Initially, the reps tried to brush me off but I insisted that I met the requirements and got approved. Male rep was helpful, woman - very polite but makes excuses to deny claims.

Alaska hotel prices were very high - so that price guarantee was very helpful. In Vancouver - hotel was fine but not in the center. I could have gotten a good rate through Priceline. Both times everything went smoothly - in Anchorage I showed the print out for free night, and in Vancouver - no questions asked, everything was in the computer.

So don't give up and try to be persistent and polite of course.

Forgot to mention: as mentioned below by encorehere- if the hotel advertises its rate in foreign currency then you have to find lower rate in the same currency. This is described on the website for low price guarantee.

PS I also got BRG from Hilton in Anchorage - but they sent you $50 AMEX GC after your stay, so I cancelled Hilton and stayed for free in Ramada and Days Inn. Room rate was about $200 in Anchorage!

I booked Ramada Huntington in Victoria BC on Ramada's site then find expedia has lower rate so send request to Ramada that evening, the reply was quite quick, I received reply the next morning said I will receive my first night stay free. Thanks.

One note for fellow FATers' reference, based on the email Ramada sent me, because Ramada Huntington is a Canadian property, the matching site need to show the price in canadian dollar too, I did not know and the site I submite was the Expedia US site, that lady was very nice and found lower rate information in the Expedia Canadian site for me.

Good Info, ALL

Summerfield Suites by Wyndham has a best webrate guarantee that gives you the first night free (even on one night stays) if you find a lower rate on another website. There are some dates where Expedia has a lower rate than the hotel's own website.

Summerfield Suites offer free breakfast and most of them offer free parking. They also generally receive very good reviews.

This is an incredible deal for a one stay night and depending on rate and location, may even be a very good deal for a two night stay.

Okay, I'm new to all of this and was wondering...i was looking at days inn and found a price that is .01 difference - will this fly? thanks for your help in this!

awesome thread, thanks OP

I'm doing it for Flamingo in Vegas

We got a free night from Ramada and stayed only one night. We thought that it would be totally free, but they charged tax (11% of original rate)! Can they charge tax? We have stayed Days inn before and it was really free that time.

Are you sure you can use those Premium Pounds certificates on discount rates? I thought Marriott would make you take these certificates only off the Full Rack Rate of the room? If you can use them on discount rates, I think I will go get a boatload of them off flea-bay. This is what the certificates say in fine print:

Reservation Information: Reservations MUST be made in advance by DIRECTLY calling 1-800-899-7235 from the United States or 0800 221 222 from the United Kingdom. From any other country either dial 44 20 7012 7878 or visit Marriott.com for hotel numbers. Recipients should advise the reservations agent that they are using a Premium Pounds Couponsm

Beware of Wyndham's policy. First of all, you have to book the webrate which you cannot get out of, (when I found out I was scammed, I called my CC and they said they cannot reverse the charges and the stay is for a month in the future) I found a cheaper night at hotelclub.com and said they denied the match! Said its a voucher supposedly..WTF? I said it is a rate I can book on the web that is not a Priceline type reservation...they didn't care.

They also say they will get back to you within 24 hours of submitting the cheaper hotel and it was more than 48 hours...the catch there is I was not able to submit another rate from another site because it has to be done with 24 hours of making reservation.

Classic bait and switch, deceptive advertising and I bet there isn't one site that they have matched! Now I am stuck at $161 a night for a hotel that isn't even worth it. I complained VIA planetfeedback immediately but doubt I will ever get a response and it's been over 2 weeks.