Originally Posted by
Bonecrusher
I heard a story recently where a Plat member wanting to increase his chance of a suite upgrade in NYC deliberately abused the SPG reservation system.
When he booked back in April, he had 5 of his friends (SPG Gold/Plat members) book suites at the same Hotel covering the same start date but different departure dates.
As the last hour, for penalty free cancellation approached, all 5 suites were seperately cancelled, tipping them back into the system.
When he arrived the following day,his upgrade (subject to availability) came thru and a suite was there for him!
I am not posting this as part of an idiots guide to abusing the SPG reservation system but to warn members and Hotel staff alike to the scam.
We all suffer as a result of this false manipulation and the sooner it is irradicated the better.
This is idiotic. I'm all for maximizing program benefits, but stuff like this causes damage to the companies that you like dealing with. Hotels need to generate revenue. Blocking five suites in NY just to get an upgrade? Way to bite the hand that feeds you.
Back in the day, Costco had the greatest return policy ever. If anything breaks, bring it back and they'll replace it, for the life of the product. Then people started gaming the system. Returning 'broken' computers and big screen TVs every six months so that they could get the latest and greatest since the model they originally purchased wasn't available any more. Result? A much less generous return policy.