Hotels have started auctioning off upgrades instead of giving them to elite guests. Regular once a year customers may get the better room instead of a Platinum, and Platinums are being asked to put in their bids, too.
A lifetime Marriott Bonvoy titanium member shares screen shots of the bids they were asked to submit for an upgrade less than 24 hours before their stay at the Delta Hotel in Durham, England. This is the period where they can check in online and they’re supposed to be offered a free room upgrade that’s available at check-in.
Here’s a River View room with a ‘regular’ upgrade price of $45 where this elite member could bid to get to the front of the line for it:
This one bedroom suite has an upgrade price they say is ~ $94, and you can place a bid in any amount if you want a shot at it:
And here’s the pitch – everyone else is doing it, so you’d better get on the auction train or miss out on a better room:
It’s very much like the way that airlines have squeezed upgrades.
- Delta says only about 12% of their first class seats go to upgrades, while 15 years ago, 81% of first class seats went to upgrades, awards and employees.
- That’s because they’ll now sell an upgrade for as little as $26 ($299 for long haul business class!) to a new customer rather than offering it to a $30,000 a year Diamond member.
In fact, airlines pioneered the bidding model with a company called PlusGrade. More aggressive upgrade selling is a short-term revenue win for the hotel, but it’s long-term destruction for the loyalty program.
A chain like Marriott and Hilton is only really valuable to individual hotel owners because they bring customers and loyalty. Customers choose the franchised property because they know the brand name and earn their points and status. But when the benefits of the program diminish – you no longer count on even a better room without bidding – there’s no reason to stay within the brand.
So while these chains have been pacifying owners to keep them happy in the short-term (Marriott’s CEO says they will put “net rooms growth” on his tombstone), that sacrifices the long-term value of the chain itself.
Hotels have an incentive to cheat on the program. But it’s worse when the chain allows it. In fact,
- Hilton adopted an explicit strategy to sell upgrades, including to elites, in lieu of offering real complimentary upgrades.
- Marriott quietly weakened its upgrade language last year. They no longer promise Platinum members and higher an upgrade to the best available room.
Current terms for Platinum Elite and above say members receive a complimentary upgrade subject to availability upon arrival, and that eligible upgrades can include suites, better views, high floors, corner rooms, special amenities, or executive-floor rooms. This is at the discretion of the hotel.
What’s striking about these auctions is that UpsellGuru/UpgradeMyRoom bidding describes their product as a way for guests to personalize the stay while hotels “maximize profit.” And it’s actually framed as a way to help hotels by “eliminating the potential number of free upgrades” while freeing lower room categories (that the guest doing the bidding moves out of) for resale.
Older “Nor1” upgrades have been around for decades. You’ll see offers at some hotels for “eStandby Upgrades” which are fixed-price offers for better rooms. The upgrade bidding at hotels seems new, and I’ve found it reported at several hotels over the past year.
- There’s a Marriott Bonvoy Flyertalk thread specifically on “Marriott ‘Make us an offer for an upgrade’ / ‘Name your price’ bidding offers” from the fall.
started Oct. 30, 2025. - Accor’s Novotel Sydney Airport offered a Platinum member an auction bidding offer, and the hotel replied to a concern that elite upgrades remained complimentary so they could disregard the bidding. But of course this reduces the inventory available for those complimentary upgrades.
- Here’s a Marriott member sharing a bid to upgrade pitch at Edwin Chattanooga where the minimum offer was $100 for a better view and $500 – $1,500 for suites. Something similar has been reported for an Autograph Collection property as well.
- And Hyatt Cancun all-inclusives — Secrets, Ziva, Vivid — reportedly do this kind of pre-arrival bidding for upgrades as well.
The messaging from the Delta property in England is stark: “51 other guests” are bidding for an upgrade on the same arrival night. If you don’t jump in with a bid, you’ll be behind them and lose out!
That monetization of pre-arrival upgrade space means that your expectation of receiving an upgrade as an elite drops, which means the incentive to earn elite status drops.
And by the way the offers look scammy because the email domain it’s sent from isn’t the hotel and with the Booking.com hack, many scammers do know actual planned stay details.
I’d add that this also undercuts Marriott Nightly Upgrade Awards, which may be denied even as a non-status guest wins a cash auction for the room. Nightly Upgrade Awards do not make all eligible rooms of a type eligible for upgrades available for processing – only those that Marriott doesn’t expect the hotel to sell. And now they expect to sell more of those rooms, even at a deep discount.
At the Delta Durham, a one-bedroom suite with “Regular Upgrade Price: GBP 70” and a bid slider starting at GBP 0 is monetizing exactly what the member’s status is supposed to provide for free. Now they’re being asked to bid for it.
That’s insulting at best, I am Diamond Elite Inner Circle at IHG, so far, I have never been asked to bid on my upgrade. I simply book a normal room and 9 out of 10 times I get a suite upgrade and several times I have been given the Presidential suite. I hope they continue to honor the program and not join in on this foolishness. Smh
I just book the room I want. Makes life easy and less stressful!
@D Fray — More like… Bonvoy’d meets SkyPesos…
that’s england what do you expect?
Every time I see this it just irritates me. I have reservations in NYC next week. The NUA offers look to be the same as a regular room.
Marriott has seriously fallen as a brand in taking care of top tier customers.
Got a better comp
Upgrade at a Choice property in Europe than I typically see at Marriotts these days.
@1990
Evidently, but it is just dirty to promise your top tier travelers a free upgrade and then make them bid on it? I don’t spend a lot of time in my hotel room when business traveling and usually don’t really care where I land in the building unless I’m traveling for pleasure. To IHG’s credit, they have treated me exceptionally well over the last 10+ years and when I have booked rooms for my kids and other people, they get the elite treatment at the hotel even if I’m not there. Go figure
Just like airlines selling upgrades. The business model has changed. Accept that fact. If you want to be guaranteed an upgrade pay for it. Quit whining about how loyalty programs used to be or what they “ought to do”. That isn’t the model any more.
The loyalty programs status status are obviously becoming much less valuable. Hotels have the right to manage this any way they want. And elite customers have the right to start worrying about elite status and focusing more on the hotel brands which give you the best value for money. Except for Hyatt where I always get a suite upgrade when available i’ve lost interest in the other loyalty programs
@Retired Gambler
You are correct, if you want a certain class of room or suite you can pay for it and have a sure thing when you check in. I think the point here is that (I assume, not a Marriot member) the program still tells you that you will receive a free upgrade for showing your loyalty to a brand and spending thousands of dollars a year sticking with them so you get the benefits associated with your loyalty. Now, they are asking for you to bid on the upgrade? Maybe I’m missing something here and the bidding is for a “specific” room vs just a simple suite upgrade. Perhaps that is what this is about, but it seems in general loyalty programs of all sorts are rapidly loosing their shine and we should all just be free agents… Probably the case
This company has fallen far away from the Starwood experience that we all thought was best in class. At least a bunch of us did.
They have become a joke
@Dfray – I am lifetime Titanium with Marriott. I fully understand the “upgrade promise” but there are many exceptions (like room not available since wasn’t cleaned, not offering since you book a 3 night stay and while the room is available night it may be sold for follow up nights, etc). I’m also Hilton Diamond and Hyatt Globalist. Frankly I don’t expect a suite upgrade at any of them any more and either pay for it or use a confirmed suite upgrade if I want one.
@Josh – I am Hyatt Globalist and probably get a suite upgrade 1/3-1/2 of the time I stay at a Hyatt. I ask at check in if not confirmed in advance and am usually told none are available. May be the truth or not but I don’t sweat it or get into an argument with a front desk clerk. God I hate people that use the “but I’m a Globalist/Diamond/Titanium” line. None of us are that special! Be grateful when you get an upgrade but never demand or expect it.
@Dfray – on comment about “free agent” I agree completely. I’m now retired after around 40 years of extensive travel (close to 8 million butt in seat miles total). The good news is I’m lifetime Platinum on DL and AA (with 2.5-3 million miles each), lifetime Silver with UA, Lifetime Titanium with Marriott and currently Hilton Diamond and Hyatt Globalist (through stays and spend). Also, Caesars Seven Stars so get everything comped if I stay at their properties. Between all this I am truly a free agent. Haven’t been on the hamster wheel in many years and enjoy it a lot.
Baha… Marriott lifetime elites getting screwed over at a…Delta hotel. You can’t make this up.
Delta is as Delta does.
Loyalty programs have been devalued to the point, I advised my new engineers that they largely not bother. ~50 years ago, Republic sent me hand written letters once a quarter. Now they are part of Delta, who provides me with a status email monthly. Republic cared more about me than Delta does and knew more. I have lifetime status, I no longer even expect to be thanked for my loyalty.
The same with Marriott. With several thousand nights in their hotels, I seldom get a “thank you for loyalty” and well cleaned rooms are just not offered. The last stay was in a room that had a wall that had the elevators on the other side of it.
Nope, mostly not worth the hassle any more.
So, Gary what did Marriott Corporate say when you asked them about this?
@D Fray — Agreed on IHG (and free-agency)… IHG actually improved (@Gene gets it, too), while Marriott and Hyatt have gotten worse. Then there’s Hilton’s FNC via the Aspire card is still good (for now, because as long as it’s a standard award, it works anywhere and everywhere, so there’s still outsized value to be had there.) Finally, it’s not much of a US-thing, but Accor is alright (better overseas, like in Australia, oddly, though I’ve been unlucky with Fairmonts–avoid the one at SJU).
One of my former favorite non-US regional hotel programs began offering to sell me upgrades during the online booking and checking in process. As it increased efforts to do so despite my having top-tier status in the hotel program and entitled to upgrades to best available room (suites included) as a status benefit, the worse the loyalty program got and the more quickly the program worsened in various ways. The pattern continues with other hotel loyalty programs too, and the pattern will be worse and more extreme with the major US hotel loyalty programs as the owners/management are in a never-ending drive to try to boost both the profits and profit margins of the loyalty program on a year-over-year basis.
@ 1990 — Just say no to Marriott.
@Gene — Ok, Nancy… “Just say no.” (That should solve EVERYTHING… /s)
@Retired Gambler
Yes, I get it, I have been working for decades, traveling for work for the past 15 years or so, I don’t have quite the experience/miles/points you have, but certainly enough to understand the game. For whatever reason, I went the IHG path on my stays and what is currently a pretty robust enhancement for its top tier loyalists will probably slowly go the way of the others. I’m pretty near to pulling the retirement card, so I’ll probably use all my points and miles for a few vacations I’ve been putting off. Other than that, I would encourage new business travelers to go “free agent” and not get on the points/loyalty hamster wheel…. Not worth it these days, especially with the airlines, it’s a total joke. Cheers
@1990
I only have two branded travel cards Atmos (Alaska) and United. Main reason is, two of my 3 kids live in Oregon near Portland and Naperville near Chicago. I primarily use the cards for enhanced seating and free bags, the free bags alone pay for the annual fee in a single trip and I pile on the business spend to bump the points accumulation. I personally find it exhausting trying to keep up with all the new cards and the offerings. I also frequently use my AMEX cards for travel.
I can’t help but smile after reading all the comments from the everyone is equal crowd bellyaching about how they are not being recognized for their self proclaimed “eliteness” at spending their employer’s money. Put your own money where your ego driven mouth is and pay for your own upgrade. You really need to take a couple of big steps back and try to realize how pompous you all come off as.
These folks who say “suck it up that’s the way the world works now” is EXACTLY the reason why hotels keeps rolling back the benefits they promised or marketed to the public. These are the same folks who complain the gov’t stinks but then they don’t vote to begin with.
Just as importantly, I don’t give a d@mn what anyone says or thinks. If I see a suite available prior to checkin and they say they can’t offer it to me, as a Globalist I want an explanation before they try to plop me on the 4th floor on a 20 floor hotel and call it an “upgraded room” when it’s the room I booked to begin with. These benefits are earned, not given out of kindness or charity.
You will only get what you ask for (or call them out on), so I highly recommend anyone with elite stauts continue to demand what they are promised.
We here at Bonvoyed Marriott are simply street Whores
Despite your thousand plus nights we will take the highest bidding John/punter for the night
Then we will drop our drawers for you and give it up.
Get Hooked with Bonvoy!Thank You for your loyalty suckers
Like we need yet another reason to not stay Marriott?Need a list?
Seriously went from 100 nights a year to about 5 annually.
@D Fray — Please tell me you got a Summit (huge fan of what BofA and Alaska have done with it; 3x points on all foreign transactions; 3x on rent up to $50K via BILT is an awesome way towards $60K spend earning 100K global certificate). Speaking of PNW, lookin forward to whatever AS does with their new flagship lounge (would be nice if the card passes include access…)
This is a textbook study in what a lack of competition does to a market.
If you book a high-end stay in a major US , odds are your dollars are flowing to one of three corporate entities, Marriott (St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton, Luxury Collection), Hyatt (Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Thompson) or Hilton (Waldorf Astoria, Conrad).
In contrast, Asia is a hyper-competitive, multi-layered ecosystem where the entry barrier for luxury is relentlessly high. When a global chain opens a luxury property in an Asian hub like Bangkok or Hong Kong, they aren’t just competing against the usual suspects. They are forced to share the block with brands like Mandarin Oriental,The Peninsula, Rosewood, Capella, Aman, and Regent. Not to mention some rapidly expanding domestic luxury brands backed by massive real estate conglomerates that view the hotel as a flagship trophy asset rather than a mere profit center.
In a market saturated with options, a hotel cannot survive on loyalty points alone. If a property slips on its hard product or service delivery for even a quarter, a sparkling new competitor down the street will gladly absorb their affluent clientele.
But in the US, genuine competition was systematically bought out and absorbed into mega-chains. With fewer rivals to fear, these conglomerates can continuously chip away at service standards and elite benefits without consequence. I know this auction happened in Europe but still anyone who has stayed a hotel of the same chain in US and in Asia can tell the difference.
@John L
A lot of these ‘just accept it’ comments feel like corporate bots engineered to normalize worst-case scenarios. It’s a classic tactic: make customers who expect actual value look like entitled complainers so everyone else just falls in line.
Like Hilton with NOR1. Not a fan.
@BBT — 100%, anyone cucking for Marriott (or any of these multi-billion-dollar for-profit multinational corporations) is either a useful idiot, paid shill, bot, or troll.
@BBT
This is what a monopoly looks like with some of the most sought after brands
SPG to Bonvoyed
Marriott wasn’t nearly as predatory as they are today prior to the Starwood merger buyout
I spent three years of my life staying in Marriott properties with the expectation that Marriott would honor their promises. Marriott made a business decision to not honor thieir commitments. I made a business decision to avoid Marriott flagged brand in the future unless the price/value/location works for me. No more “ just book me at a Marriott.”
@Gary – Have you considered migrating to a third-party platform like Disqus/OpenWeb/Coral for the comment section? It would be much more interesting to be able to upvote comments, not to mention very helpful to have the ability to edit our own comments whenever we make an error.
This happened to me, in New York recently near Penn Station – this is not just an England thing.
Also last night at another hotel (an Element), when there were suites available, they refused to upgrade me to a suite and implied that it’s something they don’t do even for Titanium members (like me).