Originally Posted by
Camflyer
I was BW Diamond for 3 years (regular visits to a customer where BW was the only hotel around) and never got upgraded in that property as they only had one level of rooms. Elsewhere I found my upgrade rate to be almost non-existent.
In the end, I stopped using BW and now I have over 250,000 points to spend.
The only US BW property I stay at is in chicago and the only reason is location (the staff is great there though and the hotel is pretty modern, especially for a BW). I have found NO benefits in being Diamond (got it through a status match) or when I was platnium (I did earn that through stays) if you go for miles and not points. Even with points only a 30% bonus is nothing too generous seeing Hilton gives you 50% bonus PLUS miles and if you go for points only at Hilton you end up getting double miles. I can't imagine anyone does a mattress run with BW.
A friend of mine decided to try the BW presidential in times square two weeks ago and he looked on BW.com and knew upgrades were available. He asked if he could be upgraded being a diamond and was told they don't upgrade people for free!!!