Most ‘how to get upgraded’ stories are filled with half-truths, falsehoods, and urban legends. That’s especially true for airlines, but it’s also true for hotels, too.
If you have elite status with a hotel chain, you may be upgraded automatically, or you might receive an upgrade by asking if one is available. Sometimes hotels are overbooked and they have to upgrade someone, as well, so asking even without status can’t hurt. Or just be nice. Make small talk with the check-in agent. And ask whether a [certain type of room] might be available.
Some guests contact the hotel ahead of time and play the special occasion card. That sometimes does work, in a way it doesn’t generally with an airline. And in Las Vegas (and sometimes elsewhere) the $20 trick, slipping some cash at the desk, can make all the difference. A $100 tip at check-in at Bellagio once yielded a suite there with five bathrooms.
But here’s something that works, more often than not, that anyone can do: if you’re disappointed by the room you receive, once you’ve seen it, let the front desk know. Express your disappointment at something concrete – whether it’s the cleanliness of the room, or the view, or some combination of actors – and ask the front desk if they could do better for you.
[H]otels want to make sure their guests are comfortable and happy, so if your first impression of your room is lackluster or you notice something wrong upon check-in, go down and let them know before you unpack. The front desk staff is likely to go the extra mile to give you something that elevates your experience.
I wrote about using this technique successfully at the Park Hyatt Sydney.
A hotel might be sold out, in which case they may not be able to move you. If your complaint is about cleanliness, you might get another of the same room type or you might receive something better as an apology. But if you’ve been disappointed, and go through the hassle of moving, a hotel will often be willing to upgrade you to a better room. Something to keep in mind.
While this is great for no-status guests, it’s lousy for elites who find the single available suite has been given away to a guest who smeared poo on the towels or something like that.
I don’t love the idea of thinking of this as a “strategy.” That would seem to encourage people to manufacture problems or to create headaches for hotel staff over the most minimal of problems. This should be reserved for people who actually have a genuine issue with the room (for example, walking into a room that has obviously not been cleaned is a time to pull in hotel staff for something like this.)
I have always found that a specific and reasonable concrete request works well. For example, “the view in the room is beautiful, but we would prefer a room with more space, even if it has no view.” I have a family member who is a concierge at a Disney property, and she agrees that a simple and concrete request is usually easy to handle.
The old $20 trick works in many places besides Vegas
Please call the $20 bribe by its name: a BRIBE. There’s nothing tricky about bribing.
Why not just say how to be a Karen for beginners?! And always ask to speak to the manager!
I used to enjoy reading the travel blogs, but now just find them to be click bait titles and mistakes in writing. Not spelling mistakes, but “a combination of actors”. Obviously they meant a combination of factors.
What a way to encourage poor behaviour. A new low — even for you. Impressive
Back in 2017 I was in San Jose CA for a conference and staying at the Hyatt Place across the street from the convention center. The room I was given smelled terrible think musty/mildewy so I went to the desk and told them the problem and was given a less crappy room. Just wanted to switch to a clean room, and the room given didn’t smell but was noisy AF. I believe it was sold out and a property like that there’s only so much they can do upgrade wise, not that I was expecting an upgrade.
On a side note San Jose needs much better hotels given its Silicon Valley proximity and all the major companies there. When I returned for the same conference two years later I stayed at the much nicer AC but nonetheless the options there are pretty sub par.
Better name for the arficle would be how to get hardworking housekeepers in trouble by indirectly encouraging people to find something wrong with their room to score an upgrade.