Le Club Accorhotels - Chances of room upgrades for the following hotels...

Hello, yes me again – I have gone from lurker to forum spacehog.
I am wondering what you think my chances are of upgrades for the rooms I have booked recently - if there is availability (as listed below).
The Aclub policy seems to indicate that an upgrade WILL be given if requested and the next higher room is available; however a few people in this forum have written that they were denied upgrades on request, even with room availability which is a concern.

-Sofitel Silom: Overnight booked here for the first of two nights after I arrive in Thailand, before heading to VietNam. I am booked into a Luxury Room, and I am guessing this should be a fairly straight forward upgrade to a Luxury Club room if available. Would it be cheeky for me to request executive club access, if all Luxury Club rooms are already booked?

-Pullman Kingpower: The night after the Sofitel I am at the Pullman. I have booked an Executive room as I did not want to miss out on the executive club here after reading forum members comments about it. Hopefully there is an executive suite that I can be upgraded to, though it is not such a big deal.

- Vie Hotel Bangkok: 3 nights booked in a grand deluxe. This upgrade would be quite a step up - to a duplex 2 bedroom suite. It would be especially nice, as Vie Hotel has accidentally put through room charges for two flexible bookings changed while I was planning this hotel stay (one was a date change, the other was a change to an extra night and a prepaid rate). This upgrade would completely make me forget about their mistake and make me glad that I have decided to splurge on Accor hotels this trip, rather than the OK, <$30 ones I stay in usually in SE Asia, and secure my loyalty even further. Does anyone happen to know how many duplex suites there are in this property?

I would also appreciate opinions/ advice on the best rooms to book for Accor hotels in Hanoi (I am thinking Metropole Legend and Hotel d’lopera) – and whether these are actually worth splurging on if I am only going to be in Hanoi for less than a full day either way. I am also looking at possibly spending a night in Mercure Danang if anyone has any anecdotes (followed by a couple of weeks in the same <$30 amazing Hoi An hotel I stayed at last time I was there – it isn’t cheating on Accor, as they don’t have any properties there); and probably another few days at an Accor beach resort property.

With all this, and the points I have already racked up in the last month, I should be well on my way towards keeping elite status for next year.

I've found if you are gold, you usually just get one category of an upgrade. If you are platinum, you seem to have a better chance of getting a suite upgrade. This is all based on availability. This is generally what I have seen based on my experience between gold and platinum.

I've been frequently upgraded at Sofitel Silom. For Hanoi, definitely go to the Metropole : wonderful hotel (even if no upgrade ;))

I took some very wise advice from a senior member (thank you TheShis^) and emailed all of the hotels that I already have a room booked at, as well as those in which I am looking at staying, asking about possible upgrades and Platinum benefits including lounge access. I have to say, I am very pleased that I did (thanks TheShis again for this advice), as well as with most of the hotels' responses.

I will summarise the responses:

Sofitel Silom - a very concise and polite (professional rather than warm or inviting) email informing me that I will be upgraded to a "Luxury room Club Sofitel with full benefit" subject to availability.

Hotel VIE - a more friendly email with a little more detail. There is no upgrade to a higher room available (I probably should have checked this before booking the Grand Deluxe - I may have booked a cheaper room that could be upgraded, just so I would feel more VIP for being upgraded :D). I will get a 'same room type' upgrade to an 81sqm Grand Deluxe Suite - as there are also 76sqm versions for the same price. Other benefits include "welcome gift, welcome drink and VIP guest" (I may have to find out exactly what VIP guest entails in another email to them, hehe). Overall, despite finding out that there was not going to be a room type upgrade and knowing that there is no club lounge; I am still impressed the most by VIE from the three hotels I have already booked and paid for. If their face-to-face service is as friendly as their email service, I am sure that it is going to be an amazing three days spent there.

Pullman Kingpower - professional rather than friendly email again (to the point of feeling a little impersonal - though more in a 'starched waiter' style rather than 'disinterested bureaucrat' way). Information was also a little harder to coax than the other two hotels. I asked specifically in the first email that with an Executive room, would I qualify for an upgrade, and if so what it would be. I received confirmation that as a platinum member I would receive an upgrade if available as well as late checkout; after a couple of more email exchanges (that included me politely asking what the upgrade would be to), I gave up on getting confirmation of room type upgrade and any further information. I may try emailing again if work slows down a little before Christmas.

For the hotels I am next looking to book in Hanoi, Hotel d l'Opera was extremely welcoming and helpful (maybe it is MGallery 'electronic communication training'... or maybe just luck of the draw). I received two emails, one from reservations and one from guest relations. The first email explained that if I were to book the l'Opera Grand Deluxe Room, I will be upgraded to the l'Opera Suite, but without access to VIP Lounge. If I book the l'Opera Suite, I will be upgraded to the l'Opera Grand Suite "including access to VIP Lounge". I was informed that additionally, being a platinum meant that I would be regarded as a "level VIP 4 at our hotel with room set up with Red Wine, Standard Flower and Aroung the persimon [sic]" and will receive a late checkout. The other email confirmed most of this, and also included that the room would include chocolates and a choice of two newspapers. This second email, written by a Hotel de l'Opera guest relations officer, was by far the best-written correspondence I have received from a hotel anywhere in the world. The syntax and grammar was near perfect, it was welcoming whilst professional and concise.

Sofitel Metropole Legend - again, the Sofitel could learn a little from their MGallery counterpart for electronic communication (for grammar and tone). To gain access to the lounge, a stay is needed in the Grand Premium room or in a suite. The Grand Luxury room can be upgraded to the Grand Premium room, and will include club privileges; however, the language used in the email made it seem that this was unlikely to occur. A .jpg of Grand Premium rooms and suites benefits was attached as well.

Good to know the MGallery VIE is going out of its way to welcome elite guests as I am booked in there in January on my grand tour of Accor in Thailand. As for the Sofitel Silom I hedge my bets to get an upgrade from the suite I booked (they must have a Grand suite they are not telling me about;))

From my last 5 stays with Sofitel Silom, they never fail to upgrade me 1/2 class higher which include my stay 2 days ago.

3 stay with Pullman Kingpower, 1 class upgrade without failure.

1 stay with Vie Bangkok - miserable booked Grand Deluxe was denied Platinum benefit of upgrade to the next category Duplex Suite 2 King Beds according to their website and Accor reservation. Reason given was due to the room are too expensive so they cannot upgrade not because of the availability.

Pullman Kingpower - after a couple of more email exchanges (that included me politely asking what the upgrade would be to), I gave up on getting confirmation of room type upgrade and any further information. I may try emailing again if work slows down a little before Christmas.

I hereby pronounce you'll be upgraded to the Executive Suite with a complimentray plate of petit fours :D

I hereby pronounce you'll be upgraded to the Executive Suite with a complimentray plate of petit fours :D

RJ, I was more hoping to get them to confirm that :p. I believe having a print-out of exactly what has been offered as a minimum upgrade is a very useful thing (though I will retain my flexibility to be upgraded to more than what is offered in pre-arrival email :D).

Funnily enough, my exact question on the third email I sent was "does this mean that on availability I will be upgraded to an Executive Suite?"

Not that crazy about the exec suite though. Not a proper working table in sight (that's usually important for me). But I suppose it'll be nice to get upgraded.