Fairmont President's Club - What kind of preferences can we have?

Hi,

I have a small question about the preferences we can add in our FPC profile.

Because I have some (like everytime microwave, empty fridge, everyday wake up call and hot chocolate in room 5-10 min after, large pillow etc..) and during my last stay, i had no issue with theses preferences (except for the pillow).

So, I just want see with you if I ask to much things, or if it's ok for them to ask for that?

like the wakeup call, I can turn on the alarm on my blackberry but I use this service from the hotel.

You have more preferences? or ask for more "stupid" or "little" things?

Hi,

I have a small question about the preferences we can add in our FPC profile.

Because I have some (like everytime microwave, empty fridge, everyday wake up call and hot chocolate in room 5-10 min after, large pillow etc..) and during my last stay, i had no issue with theses preferences (except for the pillow).

So, I just want see with you if I ask to much things, or if it's ok for them to ask for that?

like the wakeup call, I can turn on the alarm on my blackberry but I use this service from the hotel.

You have more preferences? or ask for more "stupid" or "little" things?

I generally try to keep it as simple as possible. The more special requests you enter, the more time is needed to prepare your room and the reduced flexibility may result in fewer upgrades.

At least from my experience I can say that I don´t have any special requests regarding the room in my profile and I´ve often received a comp. upgrade. Not having any special requests certainly makes it easier to upgrade me vs. somebody requesting 4 rectangual pillows, 5 round pillows, seven large towels etc...

Not to sound mean, but I think your requests are a little too demanding:

- microwave: many hotels don´t offer them at all
- empty fridge: asking for an addtional mini fridge on extended stays is perfectly fine IMO, but asking for the actual minibar to be emptied likely is a pain for the hotel
- wake-up call and chocolate: perfectly fine IMO, I guess you´re charged $10-$15 for this privilige through in-room dining each day?

Oh I dont ask 4 types of pillow! Is just I know they have large and small pillows, so in case, I want large pillow because I'm better with large pillow!

The the fridge, is simply the mini-bar empty and microwave because I like cheap microwave food sometimes! (I know at someplace we have to pay it daily).

For the morning call, I never had a charge for this (is a charge usually?) and for my hot chocolate, I dont eat a lot in the morning, so just someting to drink before the shower. And I paid my chocolate 7-10$.

So, not that bad.

For the upgrade, how have lot of preference can change someting? When you go to check-in, your key and room are selected and printed on your FPC slip, so if they want to upgrade you, they can do in advance, no?

But now, i look like a stupid guy who ask to much :td: and when I think about that, is maybe true... And I dont like :S

Oh I dont ask 4 types of pillow! Is just I know they have large and small pillows, so in case, I want large pillow because I'm better with large pillow!

The the fridge, is simply the mini-bar empty and microwave because I like cheap microwave food sometimes! (I know at someplace we have to pay it daily).

For the morning call, I never had a charge for this (is a charge usually?) and for my hot chocolate, I dont eat a lot in the morning, so just someting to drink before the shower. And I paid my chocolate 7-10$.

So, not that bad.

For the upgrade, how have lot of preference can change someting? When you go to check-in, your key and room are selected and printed on your FPC slip, so if they want to upgrade you, they can do in advance, no?

But now, i look like a stupid guy who ask to much :td: and when I think about that, is maybe true... And I dont like :S

These questions aren't stupid at all in my mind.. no questions asked on FT is stupid, and I don't believe Jasper2009 is saying that any members of FT is for asking.. his opinion is that its' a bit demanding in his books.

Fairmonts are set up to maximize revenue so having a large oversized fridge and a microwave would definitely be nice when on vacation, but not the highest priority list of Fairmont as they want you to use their restaurant services. The Fairmont Orchid does not have this in their rooms, but Fairmont Kea Lani I'm happy to report does, and the Kea Lani has a stereo system as well.. very different from other Fairmonts.

I would agree, having a couple of kids, and a full family.. its hard to dress up everyone every morning to attend breakfast. Would be nice to get a fridge and microwave. A friend of ours who are part of the Fairmont Orchid Ali'i club, told me that she asked for a oversized fridge in her ten night stay overlapping ours. Fairmont honored this request and threw in a down duvet without request.. and its' the highlight of her stay, as only the gold floor gets this standard apparently. I told her, just request the down duvet on your profile, and they'll know that you love this feature. She says really? I said, if they don't know, they can't help you.

Talked to staff at the Orchid, and there was a request to transfer coconut syrup from one room to the next. Fairmont gets really odd requests, and they aim to please when they can.

My advice to you is to record electronically onto your profile what you want.. Asking doesn't hurt.. all they can do is say no. And, I would also call up Platinum concierge and list off what preferences you want at all hotels on a go forward basis.. including the fridge and microwave. Doesn't hurt to ask.

Oh I dont ask 4 types of pillow! Is just I know they have large and small pillows, so in case, I want large pillow because I'm better with large pillow!

The the fridge, is simply the mini-bar empty and microwave because I like cheap microwave food sometimes! (I know at someplace we have to pay it daily).

For the morning call, I never had a charge for this (is a charge usually?) and for my hot chocolate, I dont eat a lot in the morning, so just someting to drink before the shower. And I paid my chocolate 7-10$.

So, not that bad.

For the upgrade, how have lot of preference can change someting? When you go to check-in, your key and room are selected and printed on your FPC slip, so if they want to upgrade you, they can do in advance, no?

But now, i look like a stupid guy who ask to much :td: and when I think about that, is maybe true... And I dont like :S

Sorry for the delayed reply: I´m currently travelling and don´t have internet access each day.

I did NOT mean to suggest you or your requests are stupid. I was just saying that asking for a microwave and the minibar to be emptied each time may be a little (over-)demanding, or to put it differently, you may have more requests than some other FPC members.

If the hotels are able to honor your requests, great! ^

And yes, wake-up calls are always free, I was taking about the hot chocolate which costs money (nothing wrong about that request, many people request wake-up calls and coffee/tea/whatever in the morning)

I was just trying to give you another perspective on special requests. There´s nothing wrong about having special requests, I was just pointing out that not having too many requests makes things easier for the hotel (incl. changing your room at short notice)...

There are many aspects that influence comp. upgrades, but I´ll give you an example:

1) guest A (not you) requests three different kinds of pillows, furniture to be moved, a microwave, an empty fridge, room on a particular floor etc. => room needs to be prepared far in advance / guest causes a lot of work
2) guest B doesn´t have any special requests, is happy with whatever room he gets

Who would you upgrade if a better room became available?
(I guess we´ll both agree that guest B will likely get the upgrade)

As mentioned above, there are many aspects that influence upgrades, but I´m sure not having any/many room-specific requests helps. Here´s something that happened to me today:

- I had booked the lowest room category, no special requests
- arrived late at night and was told I had been upgraded to the highest room (non-suite) category (= 3 category upgrade) :)

I´ll never know for sure why I got treated this well today, but it´s surely appreciated.

I´m pretty sure if I was a grumpy Plat with ten special requests in my profile this wouldn´t have happened.;)

We all may have our opinions how upgrades work.. but there is no formula by which hotel management decides that I have seen over the years. So its an art that is subject to confirmation.. Any Fairmont Managers here on the forum that can comment?

I think upgrades are one of the issues management/staff are extremely reluctant to give any detailed info about.

What I do know about the upgrade procedure is that most upgrades fall into one of the following four categories:

1) upgrade at time of booking

- Premier/Plat members using room/suite upgrade certs
- travel agents negotiating an upgrade or sometimes confirmed at time of booking when booking through Virtuoso/AMEX FHR etc.

2) upgrade a few days before arrival

- hotel upgrades a few guests due to "preferred status" etc. (ranking/scoring*)
- hotel has overbooked a particular room category and upgrades some guests to higher room categories

In both instances the upgrade will most likely show up in the res. online

3) upgrade on the day of arrival

Most hotels will have a meeting in the morning to briefly discuss important guests, # of Premier/Plat members, # of total guests/occupancy, special events etc.

e.g. Plats who stays at that hotel regularly may get an upgrade; couple on honeymoon booked through a Virtuoso agent may get an upgrade etc.

4) upgrade at check-in

- many rates include an "upgrade upon availability at check-in" (Virtuoso / AMEX FHR etc.)
- front desk often also has some discretion to upgrade guests at check-in, especially if occupancy is low

Regarding 2) and 3) most hotels will have a policy how to determine who gets upgraded:

a) some hotels will do it manually, e.g. "Plat member X is staying with us again for the tenth time this year, make sure to give him a better room"
b) some hotels have an internal "preferred guest" list (customers who stay at the hotel often get upgraded (autpomatically) most of the time if there´s availability)
c) some hotels use a pretty elaborate software that ranks the "elite members" based on multiple factors as:

- status (Premier/Platinum)
- total # of stays/nights in that year
- number of stays/nights at that hotel
- rate (the more expensive the better)
- rate type (e.g. BAR rate > expedia rate)
- subjective entries (e.g. GM/staff can influence ranking of a particular guest)

I don´t know whether any Fairmont hotel use such software, but I´m pretty sure most/all hotels will have a standard operating procedure on how to deal upgrades.

@Jasper: I hope you enjoy your vacation!
for the empty fridge and microwave, I dont see why is a big deal! If I dont want empty fridge, one guy need to control my mini-bar each day during my stay to refil it with 7$ coke etc., with empty fridge, dont need! So, they just need to "work more" before I get the room.

For the Hot Chocolate, I think they can be "happy" because they know they can charge me for 10$ per day for a hot chocolate, and again, I dont need to call to ask for that etc. It's simply automatic.

After I think you are right for the upgrade, but because no one really knows how work upgrade... We are not sure! Dont I'm lucky, because I'm not a grumpy Premier member! :p

I will see for my next stay at Le Montreux Palace wich room I get, they know me, knows my pref. and know I LOVE this hotel so I will see if I get a better room or not!

After I know, usually I try to find the cheapest rate, use F&F code and complain if I dont get my local newspaper behind the door, but I think, if they give me the possibility to pay less and get more, why not!

It's maybe the swiss attitude I don't know!

There's many upgrades possible.. I was only addressing the surprise upgrades at check-in.. sorry for the confusion.

I'm confused more than last year, because last year Kea Lani was strict with what you book is what you get.. and yes, I was upset with that, and have some posts on FT saying that Kea Lani valued members of the general public more than their Platinum Members.

This year, Orchid played it by the book again, but I got my Ocean Front Suite Guaranteed, so that was great.. that is to know what I'm going to get before I arrived. I think we were spoiled at the Orchid, cause 1,477 sq ft Ocean Front is a lot larger than the 840 sq ft Deluxe Ocean View at the Kea Lani.. we are being careful how we move around our suite at the Kea Lani as there is about half the space. We're happy to be here in paradise though.

But, Kea Lani surprised us with a surprise upgrade at check-in yesterday, on top of the guaranteed upgraded booking we received.. and the welcome was lovely.. so different feel compared to last year.. and a different message sent to us, because last year the reservation manager made it clear no further upgrades.. and we received our Ocean View in good order last year. Put me on the list as being confused how upgrades at check-in work.^

Put me on the happy list with Kea Lani again this year.. will have to come back out for a couple weeks sometime.