honda654

... lots of lessons learning on my recent stays at the Capetown Doubletree and Hilton Durban.

1) Advance purchase disqualifies you from moving your stay from one account to another. (I had originally booked it under my husband's Gold account. By the time we stayed, I was Diamond. Both of us were staying in the same room.) Even the Diamond desk wouldn't let me transfer the stay over to my account.

2) I was denied an upgrade at the Capetown Doubletree because I had used mobile check in. They said I had "selected" my room and therefore they couldn't change it. I told them had I known that, I would have never used mobile check in. It was over my husband's birthday too, but they wouldn't budge.

3) I hate the policy of only getting elite night stays/credits for the first room. (We had two rooms at both hotels). SPG doesn't do this. It discourages me from picking Hilton when I'm staying with people without loyalty programs.

I can't speak to Diamond Suite upgrades either since the Hilton Durban was refurbishing their suites floor while we were there.

All in all, the only benefits of Diamond I have seen thus far is the points bonus, and the Executive Lounge access. Going forward, I'll probably just get the Gold that comes with the Amex Platinum or one of the Hilton cards for the free breakfast and move on.

PayItForward

(1) Really sucks on this but I am surprised that the property could not do anything. Just a guess, it could have been a safe guard to prevent properties from crediting stays on the sly for reservations without a HHonors account?

(2) This has been debated. Some claims they still get upgraded despite OLCI while others share your experience. Because of this uncertainty, I do not OLCI unless I already got a room type I wanted or it is a case I will be arriving very late and I do not want to be walked.

(3) I thought only SPG allows credit of up to 3 rooms. I might be wrong but I am not aware if any other programs allow multiple room credits.

TravelLawyer

Your post title is misleading. It doesn't sound like an OLCI issue at all.

From you first complaint - prepaid rooms have rate rules. Rate rules state that no changes or cancellations. You took the benefit of lower rate prices for the inconvenience of the hotel getting predictability. That's true of most prepaid rooms at all hotel chains unless they make a special exception for you. You should not expect hotels to break rate rules for you.

Second, checking in online doesn't preclude you from getting an upgrade. I assume because you checked in under your husband's gold status (since that's what your reservation was under) was why you didn't "get" diamond benefits. The account you booked it under doesn't qualify. I use online check in sometimes and I receive upgrades when I arrive.

And your third complaint - spg is the only chain that allows multiple bookings. But if you and your husband had accounts, you could have booked one under each of you? Not sure if your second room was for children or dependents.

Also, if you wanted a chance to score a free suite upgrade, don't choose a hotel where the suites are under renovations. Not sure how that's a Hilton diamond issue. But in any case, it wouldn't have mattered anyway because you booked under your husband's gold account - again, not entitled to a suite upgrade anyway.

All of your issues with Hilton diamond status seems to be user error. But if you can get better benefits elsewhere, by all means take it.

arlflyer

Yet many, many people have quoted agents, across multiple continents, citing the same line as the OP heard - that once OLCI occurred, the room was set in stone. While it may not be a forward-facing rule that this is to be the case, where are these agents, who presumably aren't talking to each other, getting this idea? It's coming from somewhere - managers, poorly-written training materials, Hilton corporate, or the software system - some sort of pop-up or such that's showing that the guest did OLCI and is dissuading the agent from changing the room. So, while it might not be the case that checking in online formally precludes a change of room, something is causing these agents to believe it to be so. And I doubt it's mere laziness.

jeffandnicole

It's also never guaranteed one will get a room upgrade. People simply assume they deserve one, regardless of a host of factors out of their control.

If the suites floor was being renovated, I wonder what kind of upgrade would've been available anyway. And since the OP booked 2 rooms from what I gather, were the 2 rooms connecting, and would an upgraded room have still been connecting.

arlflyer

The line usually quoted by posters, including this OP, is "I can't change your room". That would extend beyond upgrades to any and all changes. No one ever said anything about guaranteed upgrades.

jeffandnicole

It probably sounds better than "I can't upgrade you". Because we all know they can change the room if they wanted to. Heck, I did OCLI and wound up with a room on a lower floor of a city highrise than what I booked.

TravelLawyer

I don't know about others. I can only speak of my own experience. On the occasions that I do OLCI, I have been upgraded to a suite. I've also checked into a specific room number, only to be in a different room number altogether (if no upgrades were available). So upgrades and room changes do happen after OLCI - but I don't know the mechanics of it or how it's done. I have yet to be told that there are no upgrades available BECAUSE I used OLCI.

ptownca

My experience has also varied. In properties where I am a regular, I have done OLCI and then gotten a nice upgrade on arrival.

Tonight, I checked in for the first time at the Hilton in Times Square and held off using it when I looked at the available rooms online and by the time I arrived, I got a nice upgrade to the 43rd floor. YYMV.

As for the OP, definitely user error IMO. Prepaid rooms do come with additional conditions.

nacho

Mr. used OLCI once and when he used it he gets no upgrade (didn't do it other times and got upgrades) - it's a hotel outside the US where I found FDC don't have much power - they are like robots - told what to do and have no authority in upgrading anyone unless they pay up.

dave1013

My experience when using OLCI is that one screen in the process has a statement thanking me for checking-in online and assuring me that in so doing, I have not forfeited the chance to be upgraded.

I should really print that page out each time I OLCI so that when I get the "Sorry, you already selected your room" line, I can provide evidence to the contrary.

docbert

A few nights ago I missed an upgrade because I DIDN'T use OLCI.

I had booked a standard accessible room (for some reason, the only room at that hotel that gets our corporate rate, so was ~$100 cheaper than a normal room) with a comment that I didn't need the accessible room. I checked the morning of the stay, and it had been changed to a non-accessible corner room. If I'd used OLCI then I would have got that room - but I didn't.

At check-in (around 9pm), I found I'd been moved back to a normal room, not on the corner, and a little bit smaller than the corner rooms.

Not a real issue, and it was a quick stay so I didn't really care, but it does show than OLCI can work both ways when it comes to upgrades...

jhalapin

I generally don't use OLCI until the FD has pre-assigned my room (upgrade).

Hilton Honors Ambassador

Hi all,

I passed your thoughts along to some folks on the Digital Team. Sounds like they are very much aware of the issues surrounding upgrades/digital check-in and are in the process of improving practices at hotels.

Let me know if I can forward any other questions about digital check-in/Digital Key to the team!

Thank you!
Lauren

Michael19887

Thanks Lauren! I like the technology, but I hate sacrificing what is the most important diamond benefit to me (upgrades) as a result of it. Also, I find myself calling the front desk the stay of a visit at hotels that I don't visit as frequently to ask if they upgrade elites who use eCheck in. The added time there offsets any time savings from the digital check-in. Also for the record, every hotel that I have asked except the Hilton Richmond Short Pump has told me that if I check-in online, that is the room I receive, and I will passed over for an upgrade. Some front desk clerks (Roosevelt New Orleans most recently) actively dissuaded me while chatting on the phone from using digital check-in if I wanted any sort of a chance at getting an upgrade.