Hilton HHonors - Room type changed online - did I miss the upgrade?

I'm HH Gold. I have a room booked at the Hilton Palacio del Rio in San Antonio beginning Thursday night. Although I'm coming in for a conference, I booked at the hilton.com rate of $259 (ouch) since I missed the block of conference rate rooms. The conference is using pretty much every hotel in town, and the Hilton is NOT the headquarters, so I had hope that they didn't give out lots of the exec. rooms as comps and that they had booked lots of rooms at the conference rates, increasing my chances of an upgrade.

My room type online had said "room assigned at checkin" until today, and it now says "1 king". (not 1 king, executive). Does the fact that it changed mean the hotel assigned me a regular room, or might this still change at checkin?

Seeing as the whole city is booked up, I'd think the only chance of getting an upgrade is prior contact with a manager at the hotel. I heartily recommend calling ahead to speak with someone -- though two days may just be too short notice.

In a similar situation I booked a 1 week stay at Portland DT Lloyd Center this past summer, and happened to coincide with the National Square Dance Convention (http://www.54nsdc.com/) who as a group had booked every single suite in the hotel (that's over a dozen suites).

But I called ahead -- a good few weeks in advance -- and spoke with the Director of Rooms who spoke with the Sales Manager who spoke with the head square dancer who said they could give up 1 suite after all. So I kept my cheap AAA rate for a small queen room and was pre-confirmed in my poolside suite, all this as a Gold.

Good properties take good care of their VIPs, though sometimes you do have to ask for help. I don't understand why some people on FT seem to be reluctant to ask for something and then become indignant when they don't receive it (I'm not including you in this group, milepig -- it's just a general comment).

Was upgraded at checkin, as I suspected I might be. Even though the city is full, I think very few of the quests are frequent travellers with much status, increasing my odds.

A funny sideline though, this thread made me check the current rates, and the best available had dropped from $259 to $199 - a quick call to the HH desk saved me $240 plus tax over 4 nights. It never hurts to check later when you think a rate is high!

You are certainly doing all the right things... ^ I've seen price drops like that, and modified my reso accordingly. And I think you are right about conferees - I do one regular tradeshow that alternates now between LAS and MCO (but has used IAH and MSY,) most of the attendees have dirt status, and are treated accordingly. As long as I get my booking early enough, include my usual notation (status, whatever I'm asking for such as late arrival hold,) and sometimes make advance contact, my upgrades come through with no problem.

Was upgraded at checkin, as I suspected I might be. Even though the city is full, I think very few of the quests are frequent travellers with much status, increasing my odds.

A funny sideline though, this thread made me check the current rates, and the best available had dropped from $259 to $199 - a quick call to the HH desk saved me $240 plus tax over 4 nights. It never hurts to check later when you think a rate is high!