Originally Posted by
Jasper2009
Officially the best deal would be using a free night cert or a 3rd night free cert (doesn´t make a difference if you´re staying 3 nights) and a suite upgrade which would give you the best available suite (excl. specialty suite)
Considering your frequent stays you could play dumb and politely ask if you´d combine a room upgrade cert and a suite upgrade cert to get a Gold room or a specialty suite, if they´ve any availability.
As Jasper pointed out use the 3rd night free and save the "Free night" since if you don't use it I'm pretty sure like all other platinum certs you get immediate family can also use it so you can gift the "Free night."
As for specialty suites some GMs will give those out to frequent guests. I always get one at the Banff Springs but I do spend alot of nights there yearly too. Take the specialty suite over gold any day IMHO unless you really want food included.
I don't see how playing dumb would really help out myself but let us know if you try it.
Lastly at check-in you can ask how much would an upgrade be to the same type of room in Gold and sometimes it's around $80/night and I give in...