It’s tough to get upgraded as a Marriott elite member. There are too many elites chasing too few suites, and many hotels don’t bother with upgrades. Even ‘nightly upgrade awards’ which are supposed to confirm upgrades a few days in advance rarely work, in part because Marriott doesn’t use most available rooms for upgrades – they hold them back hoping they’ll still sell, even at the last minute.
Now Marriott Bonvoy even promises less to its members for what rooms they’ll get as an upgrade, based on a change to the program’s terms and conditions.
- Suites are included in upgrades
- But you’ll no longer necessarily get the ‘best available room’ when you check in.
- An upgrade can include a suite, but your upgrade doesn’t have to be to the best upgrade that’s available.
At Marriott, a room upgrade “includes suites, rooms with desirable views, rooms on high floors, corner rooms, rooms with special amenities or rooms on Executive Floors.” The terms used to say that a hotel had to give Platinum elites and higher the best one of these that’s available. Now they can give you any of these and be compliant.
Here’s the terms and conditions change for elite member upgrades. It’s been broadly noticed that the May update includes Platinum members no longer being excluded from upgrades to suites at Ritz-Carlton properties. However that’s not the most important change in the language. An April 30th snapshot of the Marriott Bonvoy terms and conditions says (emphasis mine),
Complimentary Enhanced Room Upgrade for Platinum Elite Members. Platinum Elite Members and above receive a complimentary upgrade to the best available room, subject to availability upon arrival, for the entire length of stay. Complimentary upgrade includes suites, rooms with desirable views, rooms on high floors, corner rooms, rooms with special amenities or rooms on Executive Floors. At The Ritz-Carlton, suites are only included for Titanium Elite and Ambassador Elite Members and rooms with direct Club access are excluded. Enhanced Room Upgrades are subject to availability and are identified by each Participating Property. The Complimentary Enhanced Room Upgrade for Platinum Elite Members and above is available at all Participating Brands except at StudioRes, Limited Sonder Properties, Marriott Vacation Club, Marriott Grand Residence Club, Sheraton Vacation Club, Westin Vacation Club, The Phoenician Residences, a Luxury Collection Residence Club, Scottsdale, and Ritz-Carlton Reserve.
The current terms now say,
Complimentary Enhanced Room Upgrade for Platinum Elite Members. Platinum Elite Members and above receive a complimentary upgrade, subject to availability upon arrival, for the entire length of stay. Complimentary upgrade includes suites, rooms with desirable views, rooms on high floors, corner rooms, rooms with special amenities or rooms on Executive Floors. At The Ritz-Carlton, rooms with direct Club access are excluded. The Complimentary Enhanced Room Upgrade for Platinum Elite Members and above is available at all Participating Brands except at StudioRes, Limited Sonder Properties, Marriott Vacation Club, Marriott Grand Residence Club, Sheraton Vacation Club, Westin Vacation Club, The Phoenician Residences, a Luxury Collection Residence Club, Scottsdale, and Ritz-Carlton Reserve.
I recently explained that “subject to availability upon arrival” is not actually how suite upgrades work at most Marriott properties. Hotels get a rank-ordered list of the day’s elite member arrivals, telling properties whom should be upgraded, and they generally block rooms for upgrade prior to arrival. It isn’t really that a Platinum member or higher shows up and the hotel checks to see what better rooms are available for the length of their stay to upgrade.
Marriott updates their terms and conditions every month, does not tell members they’ve done it, and doesn’t notify us what’s been changed. If you want to know how your benefits change, you have to set up a detection service to monitor differences in the rules page. The notion that they need to change this language after years suggests to me that Marriott employs too many lawyers needing to justify their jobs, and also that those lawyers aren’t very good (they wrote the original language, too! it’s not like Marriott is being sued left and right over the language that’s being changed!).
When hotels fail to follow the program terms and conditions, Marriott is rarely helpful – just kicking you back to the hotel itself which may do something for you, or just tell you to pound sand. Nonetheless, if you aren’t being given the best available room as an upgrade you no longer have the program terms to point to trying to persuade the hotel that you’re being shortchanged.
It seems to me that when a loyalty program changes its terms they should (1) tell members, (2) including what specifically has changed, and (3) why they’ve done it. Is that so much to ask?
And ultimately Marriott Bonvoy keeps promising less and less, and is just uncompetitive with upgrades. Even IHG confirms upgrades in advance now and out of published inventory (all available suites). In contrast, Marriott changed the name of Suite Upgrade Awards so you no longer expect upgrades to get you into a suite – and think of upgrades as just a higher floor or better view not over the HVAC system.
This should be the final straw for most Marriott elites. Sure, some hotels will still give you a suite but, for all effective purposes, the suite upgrade benefit has been eliminated.
Platinum shouldn’t get upgrades. When they give it away with a credit card the tier has been devalued too much. Not sure what people expected as anyone with a brain could see this coming. Same as large sign up bonuses wouldn’t cause devaluation of awards.
Simple supply and demand in both cases. You can’t suspend the laws of economics simply because it is points and miles.
@Nick Thomas – you do understand that people who read blogs like this are a very small percentage of Marriott customers and even most of those who swear they will no longer stay at Marriott do. Bottom line they will be just fine and won’t miss any of the people who do leave. Frankly many of those are “but I’m a Platinum” entitled guests who are usually more trouble than they are worth.
There are far too many platinums for suite upgrades for Platinums to be a regular thing, so while the change in terms may be more informative as to what Platinums can actually expect, I doubt it will have much practical effect – the platinums weren’t getting suite upgrades anyway.
The stealth change I hate is I didn’t realize for a year that they changed it so you only get credit for multiple rooms if they have the same check-in and check-out dates and I probably dropped from Ambassador over it.
I am at the top of the food chain being an exclusive Platinum vip elite member thanks to my hefty annual credit card American Express fee
Not once have I received the presidential suite?What’s wrong with these people?
I give them at least 12 nights a year.They need to bow more for my business 😉
May just go back to Holiday Inn where I am a true elite God
Don’t they know who I am?
I’m sure everyone justifying this based on the number of platinums realize this also impacts titantiums and ambassadors. It would be one thing if Marriott updated the benefits to keep required suite upgrades for ambassadors but they didn’t.
Marriott’s brand loyalty program imploded with the advent of David Flueck as Senior VP of Brand Loyalty, which is hard to believe, given Flueck’s prior role as architect of the superior, Starwood Preferred Guest Program. The other thing that happened is that Marriott International changed the syntax, and who they consider their customer to be; M.I.’s Customer of Today are their hotel owners, not their hotel guests. Marriott’s guests, never mind their most recognized Bonvoy members, have been reduced to “nuisance” status by Marriott International.
All Marriott Bonvoy members who stay at least 10 qualifying nights in a calendar year automatically achieve an Elite status, that suggests approximately 23 to 45 million Marriott Bonvoy elite members globally.
It’s a race to the bottom with these hotel loyalty programs , especially Hilton and Marriott in the US. It for now is better overseas
I have given up even asking, as a lifetime titanium, my only expectation is that the reservation is honored with a room with a bed. Everything else is optional and if I get it, then I am pleased.
I’m platinum at Accor, titanium at GHA, and platinum elite (sometimes diamond) at IHG (all from stays). I expect nothing from this, but enjoy when it gives me something. These programs give too high a status to those having/using their CC, above those who actually use the product (but I suspect I’d change my mind with a view of the data). Me, I get too much credit for staying at their less expensive properties. I find my sanity is best served by being happy if I get anything and expecting nothing.
This is really more of the same from Marriott. Even if in the T&C, not all hotels honor it so it’s doubtful the changes to the T&C will have much impact. The Bonvoy hotels are a portfolio of excellent hotels and ones that are not. I have gotten a lot of mileage as a Bonvoy Plat in southeast Asia. What we need is a list of Bonvoy honor roll hotels, and a list of hotels which fall short and avoid based on benefit recognition and fulfillment. Maybe lists could be maintained in Flyertalk. Perhaps View from the Wing could post such lists 🙂 Unfortunately we cannot count on the Bonvoy program itself to carry much weight. There are still plenty of hotels however that make the Bonvoy program benefits worthwhile.
I see virtually no reason to pursue status with Marriott at this point.
Gary, you have always stressed gathering points in transferable accounts like Chase Ultimate Rewards. I busted my ass to get to Starwood Platinum for Life and it was incredibly worthwhile. The takeover by Marriott saw the benefits disappear. At this point, it’s easier to use my Chase UR points to book a Hyatt. I often call the hotel and ask what they would charge me as a daily fee to upgrade to a suite and it is something we often do. But truly, I no longer feel any loyalty at all to Marriott because of the way they treat u now. I think of how hard I worked to gain that status and then realize that people can buy it with a $650 credit card. The benefit has become so diluted as to be meaningless. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. Getting older and traveling less. Glad for my many memories, many of which you helped me realize!
I’m with @Blue. It’s kind of impressive how much Marriott hates engaged loyalty members. Accordingly I tend to go with other brands despite my Lifetime Platinum status.
The MARRIOTT Bonvoy PONZI SCHEME
EQUALS THE Elite status illusion
Get status and find out its near empty and worthless
Next sucker to fall into their web?
I’ve almost always got upgraded to suite and even if I hadn’t gotten upgraded I would’ve still been loyal to Marriott