TFCanswers, They didn't upgrade my room, what is the status for?
One of the questions I receive most often, indeed one of the complaints I receive most often is related to the failure to upgrade [...]
Marriott
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One of the questions I receive most often, indeed one of the complaints I receive most often Is related to the failure to upgrade room. I tried to devote an article in which I was explaining how upgrades work in different chains, but yet I still get so many questions and read so many discussions about it on the different groups.
There are probably people with higher status than you
The first thing an occasional traveler, especially one who takes advantage of the status "guaranteed" by American Express Platinum, must understand is that in the hotel, most likely, there are guests with a higher status. In the Hilton world there is only one level above Gold, while in the Marriott world there are as many as 3 levels above that offered to Platinum holders.
This means that the few/most rooms available to "upgradable" guests will be allocated based on status, remaining availability, and even check-in/out time.
A practical example
In recent days I "stole" a photo of the "Club" rooms in the restaurant of Le Meridien in Bangkok where I was staying. A 5-star property with 288 rooms and suites. As you can see just under 1/5 of the hotel rooms were booked by Club Level guests, that is, customers who have booked a room with lounge access, or more likely guests with Platinum status or higher.
This means that a guest with Gold status today had to tag along with as many as 63 other reservations from more "important" customers of him. In my case, room 2424, not only with Titanium Elite status I had "only" possible Ambassadors in front of me, but I had also redeemed an SNA, residual of my 2023 endowment.
The point, however, is that it is not just "today" that matters, but the entire stay. So if you stay a night or a week, the hotel software takes into account all the outstanding bookings, the fill rate, and then calculates which and how many upgrades to give, because the hotel can't do that for two nights and then tell the guest, "I'll change your room to an inferior one," and it doesn't even work to self propose the downgrade also because the housekeeping costs would increase disproportionately for the hotel.
Upgrade also means high floor
In the elevator of this hotel, as in many others around the world, the "noble" floors of the structure are identified, and it is evident by comparing the list above, with the hotel floor plan, many Club guests ended up in "non-Club" rooms. This means that probably 1/3 of the guests with Platinum status or higher received no upgrade or were promoted Low floor to high floor.
This is normal and as always upgrades are offered based on availability And so it's not written in stone that you get promoted in Suite, in fact the opposite as you can tell from these photos there are "loyal" guests who have stayed on the 8th floor, while others have been elevated up to the 24th. Not to mention that if an elite user uses the guaranteed 4 p.m. check-out, the vacated room will not be available until 5:00 p.m. to the new guest, that's why sometimes it's better to check in late to have a better chance of being promoted.
I hope that this new installment of TFC responds be helpful to you in better understanding the upgrade game, leave me your experiences in the comments or drop by our secret group on FB.
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