News and notes from around the interweb:
- Many years ago when Sheraton started putting post-it notes on key packets at check-in saying “You’ve been upgraded!” I realized this simple truth: when a hotel has to tell you that you’ve been upgraded, and especially when they use a routinized process to do so, then you have not actually been upgraded.
Of course if you’re entitled to an upgrade, don’t take ‘nothing is available’ from the check-in desk as the final word. Pull up a new reservation for the length of your stay on their mobile app, and see what kinds of rooms they are still selling. If there’s an upgrade-eligible room for sale, that means by definition that it is ‘available’. (The hotel might say it’s ‘not clean yet’ at which point you should have the option to wait for housekeeping.)
- I guess the only thing worse than wall-mounted bulk toiletries is not wall-mounted bulk toiletries? [Whether the bottle is there or not, I’ve often seen housekeeping not bother refilling the bottles… and checked into the same room after a week to find the same empty bottle still empty. Is it better for the bottle to be empty or for there to be no bottle at all?]
Sheraton Berlin Grand Hotel Esplanade
byu/_Simon_14 inmarriott - Titanium was showing as ‘Platinum Premier’ which was the old Marriott Rewards level above Platinum, as well.
Platinum premier elite the new Ambassador?
byu/sothisisathing1 inmarriott - Not allowed, and what is so good about live FM radio that you’d need to do this anyway?
Listening to FM on an airplane ✈️… does anyone else do this? pic.twitter.com/uWTIQdGocd
— Andrew (@AndrewK8EL) July 27, 2024
- New Thailand digital nomad visa up to 5 year validity, 180 day stays at a time and no tax on foreign-source income.
- Qatar Airways Student Club provides a status tier upgrade upon graduation
- Inside the old abandoned Athens airport
Same old theme from Gary. You do realize that outside of Hyatt Globalist no program is REQUIRED to upgrade you. It is always space available or up to the discretion of the hotel. Please don’t be a Karen and pull up the reservation at the front desk to demand an upgrade. For all you know the hotel has it is their system they can almost certainly get someone to pay for an upgrade to that room or expect to sell it based on historical data. Also, the front desk clerk is rarely enable to make that decision on their own and if you ask to speak with a manager you are DEFINITELY a Karen!
BTW lifetime Titanium and Hilton Diamond who is appreciative when I get an upgrade but also don’t demand or expect it. Those that do, especially in today’s business climate, are selfish entitled individuals.
I’d love an upgrade every time too…but corporate inventory isn’t real time. If a particular room category is important. Book it.
If the advertised room type available for sale through a direct channel with the hotel brand isn’t available for allocation when booked, that means one thing: the hotel is fleecing its customers by willfully over-promising and under-delivering. Much the same when a hotel refuses to upgrade and claims to have upgraded a customer whose rate plan and/or program status entitles them to a complimentary upgrade to a room type available for sale at check-in time or thereafter on day of check-in but is denied such a marketed upgrade unless and until either paying up additional funds for the upgrade and/or spending additional funds to directly book the available rooms in the higher category while at the check-in desk.
@ AC — Not true. Hotels are required to upgrade Globalists to a standard suite if avaiable when you arrive.
@AC, not quite true. It’s definitely not “selfish” or “entitled” to ask respectfully for what the program promises you in return for your business.
Marriott advertises upgrades to “Select Suites” as a benefit for Platinum members and above, though they don’t define what exactly a “select suite” is; one assumes it would be defined similarly to a “standard suite” at Hyatt, i.e. a typical one-bedroom suite.
The exact quote from the Marriott T&C is: “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, […]. At The Ritz-Carlton, suites are only included for Titanium Elite and Ambassador Elite Members and rooms with direct Club access are excluded.”
Yes, it then says “Enhanced Room Upgrades are subject to availability and are identified by each Participating Property,” but this doesn’t mean they can just say “sorry, we don’t upgrade our elites to suites at all.” It means each hotel identifies what their “best available” room is based on current availability, up to a standard (“select”) one-bedroom suite. Perhaps for a particular stay, a high-floor ocean-view non-suite is more desirable than a low-floor city-view standard suite; that clause gives the hotel discretion to upgrade them to the more-desirable room rather than the less-desirable suite. But if the guest arrives and states that they’d rather have the suite, they should be given that option.
Similarly, I learned something interesting a while back about Hilton’s published Diamond benefits on their website. They actually state: “If we have a better room available, it’s yours – up to a 1-bedroom suite.” This is of course NOT backed up by the T&C, which only state: “Upgrades for Diamond Hilton Honors Members **may** include upgrades up to “junior”, “standard” or “one-bedroom” suites. Upgrades exclude executive suites, villas and specialty accommodations/floors/towers … subject to the discretion of the hotel” (emphasis added on “may”). (As an aside: isn’t an “executive suite” basically a standard 1-bedroom suite anyway? It’s not exactly a presidential/VIP suite… But I digress.)
Anyhow, I wonder how a Hilton front desk agent (or manager) would react if (politely) shown that “it’s yours – up to a 1-bedroom suite” language from their website, particularly for a franchised property in the US. I doubt that’s actually binding on the hotel in any way, so they could just cop out and point to the T&C only saying “MAY include.” They’d clearly be violating the spirit of the benefit anyway, but perhaps not the letter.
(Of course, IHG doesn’t guarantee suite upgrades at all, outside of their “Confirmable Suite Upgrade” awards you earn for staying a certain number of nights a year.)
In the 80’s as a kid, long before the internet, Airshow, and before warnings to keep your electronic devices off, I would listen to FM radio on my Walkman when flying over cities so that I knew where we were.
@Gary – Who said that listening to FM on a plane is not allowed? AFAIK, it is allowed. There’s no transmission from the listening device.
@GUWonder, not necessarily:
It’s actually happened 3 times in recent travels that I’ve seen the website/app offering available suites when in reality none were available (twice at Hyatts, once at a Marriott).
The first time it happened (Hyatt), the manager actually showed me the availability numbers on their system (proactively – I wasn’t being a bother, she just wanted me to know she was telling the truth, which I appreciate). They were at -2: they were already overbooked by 2 suites, yet corporate’s system was still selling them. She was perplexed why that was the case and very apologetic. I feel like I can tell when someone’s BSing me, and I believe she was being honest that (a) they were all booked and (b) it wasn’t their intention to oversell them.
The second time (Marriott), the front desk agent told me they were already occupied by a wedding party (there was indeed a wedding group in-house), but she thanked me for letting her know and assured me she’d get that resolved, since clearly they didn’t have any more suites to give people.
The third time (Hyatt Place), they were completely sold out according to the manager, yet still showing regular rooms AND a one-bedroom suite as available (this was right before the eclipse, so a lot of people traveling). The manager was clearly a little overwhelmed, but asked me if I could show him where I was able to see availability; I pulled up the app and showed him that all 3 room types showed as available. Once again, he thanked me in earnest and said he’d get that taken care of, since they had no more rooms to give out, let alone suites.
…That’s not counting the brand-new Hyatt Place I stayed at last December, where I’d booked a suite, but I arrived and was told they aren’t actually finished building the suites yet(!). Incredibly, they tried to stick me in a standard room half the size of what I’d booked…with no price adjustment offered, nor any points or compensation at all. (After I pointed out that that wasn’t right, they adjusted a whopping $10 off… I finally got the rest of the price difference between standard rooms and suites adjusted off at checkout, but nothing beyond that.) I’d also booked a “grand opening” rate that included a free appetizer, which they seemed clueless about… actually, they seemed kinda clueless all around (except the bartender who was great). Anyway, I informed them that the suites were STILL showing as available when I checked out, and they promised they’d get that taken care of. I kept checking back over the next several days out of curiosity, and they never did.
I guess the tl;dr is that hotels seem to quite often have discrepancies between their real inventory and what the app/website shows, which they might not even be aware of, let alone be allowing intentionally. I try to be understanding in those situations, especially for newer hotels or if they seem overwhelmed, and give the benefit of the doubt.
Excuse me Sir but I am a Diamond
one of the very few in the world to hold such elite vip status @ Hilton
I wish Marriott would do something about its elite tiers. I was a platinum premier back in the day. I’ve been an ambassador every program year since August 2018, when what was later named Bonvoy launched to replace SPG, Marriott Rewards, and Ritz-Carlton Rewards. There are no tangible benefits above and beyond third-tier platinum and second-tier titanium. Platinum should NOT have lounge access. Maybe a couple lounge passes that can be used, similar to Hyatt’s second-tier status. It’s also crazy that spending for ambassador doesn’t rollover. There is literally no benefit to staying with Marriott once you re-qualify. At least Hyatt and IHG attempt to keep you with them by adding additional choice benefits.
@Chris W: Remember, the globalist suite upgrade benefit DOES NOT apply to Hyatt Place.
@AC — Yes, same old Gary, but but then you just regurgitate his same usual nonsense. When will you ever stop drinking the same old stale kool-aid?! There is only one program that has put it in writing that it REQUIRES hotels to upgrade its elite members 72 hours prior to check-in, and it is NOT World of Hyatt:
Any questions? Now, can you put up a statement, any statement, where World of Hyatt requires hotels to upgrade Globalists?
We’ll be waiting to be enlightened with bated breath…
@FNT Delta Diamond: True, valid point. At the one that ended up being totally sold out, I was basically just asking as a favor, but they certainly wouldn’t have had to upgrade me even if it was available (even if I was still a Globalist – though I actually dropped to Explorist last year due to less travel anyway). …Though at the other Hyatt Place I mentioned from last December, I’d actually booked a suite outright and still couldn’t get one, lol. Was just using those as examples of discrepancies between actual hotel inventory and availability shown on the corporate website/app.
@DCS, you’re right. Thank goodness we can rely on Hilton to “upgrade” their Diamond members 72 hours in advance…from “1 king bed with sofabed” to “1 king bed with shower.” 🙂 (Hey, what if I needed that sofa bed?)
Gary’s correct: if you have to be told you’ve been upgraded, you haven’t been upgraded.
I remember you telling me there’s no such thing as a “guarantee” that’s contingent on availability. I’m glad to see you acknowledging otherwise, even if it’s only in the context of Hilton (with a very loose definition of “upgrade” that notably doesn’t have to include suites). (“…eligible to receive a *guaranteed* room upgrade 72 hours prior to their arrival *based on hotel availability*…”)
Meanwhile, not to beat a dead horse, but both Hyatt and Marriott guarantee upgrades to the best available room at check-in including standard suites (or “select suites” in Marriott’s language) for their upper elites (Globalist and Platinum-or-higher, respectively). Hyatt even guarantees Explorists the best room available at check-in excluding suites and club-access rooms. The program doesn’t have to explicitly state “hotels cannot opt out of providing this benefit” – that’s a given for all benefits unless explicitly stated otherwise. If a Hyatt or Marriott of an upgrade-eligible brand has a better room available at check-in up to a standard 1-bedroom suite and refuses to upgrade an eligible elite member, they’re in violation of the program T&C, plain and simple. Respectfully, this is clear to everyone…except you. No one’s drinking any Kool-Aid, we just comprehend the published benefits/T&C of each program.
@Gary, Why wouldn’t listening to FM Radio be allowed? As far as I can tell, he’s only receiving a signal, not transmitting anything, so as long as he’s wearing headphones, what gives?
My guess is that many of your readers listen to FM on airplanes. Not the FM Andrew showed, but still 😉
The Destination Thailand Visa has just been rolled out but the details of extensions and costs for those extensions are still murky. The current cost is a bit less than $280 (10,000 Baht) but that may be only good for the first 6 months with the same amount being needed to extend it another 6 months. The cost may still be ok due to not having to waste time and money going to another country every so often or paying someone to get your passport properly stamped. Getting a lot of visas and stamps in your passport could cause it to run out of room even with getting extra pages attached.
Nonsensical statement that I can debunk right here by providing screen captures of my being informed of upgrades to suites, again and again, including just a few days ago at the brand new Conrad Orchard Singapore…
Like I said, please stop drinking the kool-aid and use your heads for a change. Here’s WoH so-called “guarantee”
See? There is no “guarantee”. Hotels have sole discretion to determine what is “best room” and whether or not it is available for offering as an upgrade, just like they do at Marriott, IHG, and Hilton, whose T&C all the say exactly the same thing. To keep perpetuating the canard that there is a program that guarantees or requires hotels to upgrade elite members to suites is simply stupid, but, hey, everyone has the right to be stupid!
There is a nuance: One program that comes closest guaranteeing upgrades in reality is Hilton Honors with their globally automated room upgrades scheme, which works as advertised except that there is no guarantee that one will get a suite upgrade. It’s what is shown in the Reddit post at the top. At that Hilton property in Canada, of all places, a “King with a Shower” is classified automatically by a computer as a “higher room” than a “King with a Sofa bed”, likely based on nightly rate, therefore it is considered an upgrade.
Dcs you always have a hard time reading don’t you. Best room means the best room if the king view mountain room doesn’t cost more then the standard suite, then the property can try telling you that’s its higher but when you call corporate telling them what the hotel is saying it isn’t gonna fly unlike Hilton or marriott where the corporate policy is whatever the hotel says is the rule. and btw you don’t have something called suite upgrades which Guarantees a suite the day you book it do you?
You mean just like I had a hard time reading and understanding that the “Hyatt point was the single most valuable hotel loyalty points currency” — a claim that has virtually disappeared from travel blogosphere?
I have no reading comprehension problem because on most contentious issues I am usually the one who “gets it”. You, on the other hand, have a comprehension problem because, like everyone else, your reading is as selective as that of self-anointed “travel gurus” or “thought leader in travel” pushing what are demonstrably bogus claims.
That’s where you get it wrong. “Best room” has a specific definition that is spelled out: “The best room available will be determined by the applicable hotel or resort in its sole discretion and may vary from stay-to-stay. The “best room” may, but will not necessarily be, of a room type/category higher than that booked by the Member“. I did not make up the definition, either. It is straight, verbatim, out of the World of Hyatt terms and conditions. In short, “best room” is whatever each property says it is. It “may, but will not necessarily be, of a room type/category higher than that booked by the Member”, and it is not a ‘guaranteed’ suite. That is true in every single hotel loyalty program. To believe otherwise is to be irremediably stupid, naïve, and gullible because your own experience tells you that there is no program out there that “guarantees” or “requires” hotels to offer suite upgrades.
Get your head out of where the “sun don’t shine” and get enlightened!
@DCS:
“Nonsensical statement that I can debunk right here by providing screen captures of my being informed of upgrades to suites, again and again, including just a few days ago at the brand new Conrad Orchard Singapore…”
(in response to my statement, “Gary’s correct: if you have to be told you’ve been upgraded, you haven’t been upgraded.”)
Are you telling me you wouldn’t have known you were upgraded if you hadn’t been told you were upgraded? That’s what that statement means. Something tells me you would have walked into your suite and realized, “Woah, this is certainly nicer than the room type I booked!” Whereas the person who was ‘upgraded’ to a “king with shower” might have felt downgraded, if anything (if they needed the sofa bed and the new room didn’t have one).
Also, no one, myself included, is saying that it’s a “guaranteed suite” — because sometimes, a (standard) suite just isn’t available, or genuinely might be less desirable than the best non-suite room. (See my example above: “Perhaps for a particular stay, a high-floor ocean-view non-suite is more desirable than a low-floor city-view standard suite; that clause gives the hotel discretion to upgrade them to the more-desirable room rather than the less-desirable suite. But if the guest arrives and states that they’d rather have the suite, they should be given that option.”)
Rather, it’s a guarantee that you WILL be upgraded to the best AVAILABLE room at check-in – including standard suites. If a hotel (of an upgrade-eligible Hyatt or Marriott brand) has a better room available at check-in, up to a standard (or “select”) suite, they may not deny an eligible elite an upgrade to that room/suite, whereas Hilton (and IHG) may, by their T&C. *That’s* the point.
Look, @Chris W., that is not very smart. The reason you would even ask that question is that instead of finding out how things work in real life, you keep drinking @Gary’s state kool-aid that distorts reality.
For you edification: Hilton Honors has anew, imaginative and globally automated room upgrade scheme that upgrades HH Gold, Diamond and LT Diamond members up to 72 hours before check-in. The scheme is reminiscent of airline cabin upgrades: room upgrades clear close to check-in and are prioritized by elite status (LT Diamond > Diamond > Gold).
Because it is not obvious to you, the reason the upgrade notification emails are important is that they tell elite members starting at 72 hours before check-in whether (a) they have been upgraded, (b) to go online to check in, find out the type of upgrade one got and select one’s upgraded room, and (c) get a digital key activated (if available). Well, below are the exactly steps, cut and pasted from my recent notification email. Whenever, as a HH elite, I have received the email, it has always meant that my automated room upgrade had come through and it was time to find out whether I got a suite…up 3 days before check-in!
So, as you can see, Hilton Honors’ upgrade system is technologically much more advanced than any other program’s. More than just checking in, I would like to know up to 3 days before I check in whether I got upgraded to a suite, and not find out when I get to the hotel !!! That is why @Gary’s statement that you mindlessly regurgitated is nonsensical.
For all those reasons, you nee to stop drinking the kool-aid and think for yourself (like learn how things really work), instead parroting claims that make you an ignoramus.
Stop deluding yourself. There is no guarantee. Hotels always decide, in every program. Gary made up the claim, first about Starwood elites, and then migrated it to WoH elites after the demise of SPG, whose hotels were were accused of “playing games with availability”…
2012 — I am Sick of Arguing for Starwood Upgrades. (Travelcodex)
2013 — Platinum SPG, best room upgrade: please change the language.(Flyertalk)
2014 — Starwood Platinum Suite Upgrades: Why Does It Have To Be A Fight? (OMAAT)
2015 — Destroying Loyalty: Starwood’s Lies & Expectation Management.(Gamification)
…an accusation that is now being leveled again WoH.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” — Albert Einstein parable.
Parting Shot
@Chris W. — to cure yourself of your delusion that “It’s a guarantee that you WILL be upgraded to the best AVAILABLE room at check-in”, I suggest you write 1000 times by hand the following clear and concise statement from the official World of Hyatt terms and conditions on room upgrades so that it would sink in once and for all:
There are no guarantees, buddy.You will be upgraded to the room that the hotel tells you is the “best available”, which may not even be different from the room you booked. Stop drinking the kool-aid and you’ll get over it.
DCS, I do wish you’d try arguing in good faith, without the ad hominems and without twisting language — of hotel program T&C’s as well as other commenters — to mean something other than what it actually, plainly means.
On the statement, “if you have to be told you’ve been upgraded, you haven’t been upgraded”: you’re interpreting that to be about something completely different. The meaning, clear to everyone else, is that if you wouldn’t have known you were upgraded (upon seeing the room, or at least the room type) without being told you were, then it is not a real upgrade. Nothing to do with being informed 72 hours in advance. The original context was literally “when Sheraton started putting post-it notes on key packets at check-in saying ‘You’ve been upgraded!'” (direct quote from the post). You would KNOW you were upgraded upon either (a) seeing your suite or (b) being told you were assigned to a suite of a particular type – no one would have to *tell* you it’s an “upgrade.”
On the upgrade policy thing: If the hotel says a room is the “best available” and it clearly isn’t, then they’re (like you) not operating in good faith — and corporate can correct that.
If the hotel has no better rooms available (as confirmed by searching for availability on the site/app, provided there’s no genuine discrepancy in inventory), then *of course* it won’t be different from the room you booked. No one said it would be in such cases. In that case, the best AVAILABLE room IS the type you booked.
At this point, you just keep saying the same irrelevant things and ignoring the forest for the trees. I think other readers can determine for themselves which of us are interpreting things correctly and in good faith.
I have no time to waste arguing with someone who believes 2+2=5, and continues to argue that he is right after having been provided incontrovertible evidence that he is wrong.
You can keep your head in the sand and go on believing what you wish. I know for sure that you do not get the “best room available” every time you check in at a Hyatt hotel and so do you. I will never address you on this issue again because I would simply be repeating things that I have now said over and over again, which just seem to go in one ear and come out of the other without encountering any gray matter along the way.
G’day.