Hilton HHonors - 50% Off Weekend Certificate

I am a HH Gold, and was planning on using a 50% off certificate (SC1) for an upcoming trip to the New Orleans Riverside Hilton on March 10-12. I made the reserveration using the 'higher' eligible rate ($369). When I called to reconfirm & request the possibility of an upgrade to the Towers and/or a river view, I was told that by using any certificate I won't be able to upgrade--no matter what my status is. Does that sound correct?? Considering all the great things I've read here about the Towers, I was really hoping for it. If there is no possibility, I may just change and stay at a Starwood, where as a Platinum--even on a free stay I'd get the upgrade.
Any thoughts???

Did you speak to the hotel directly or the HH reservation? We were able to upgrade once when we used award cert, so I think it depends on the hotel and also the availability at the time you check in. You can't get upgrade in advance, so if you want to use the cert, you have to take the chance to see if there's availability when you check-in. Good luck.

I was talking with the hotel directly, and I mentioned I knew it was based on availablily. But she seemed to think this was not something that was usually allowed when using a certificate. If that's the case, I may not use it, and just book a cheaper rate and hope for availablity at check in.