I agree with the "how can you tell" comment. I'm never certain I've really received what the members guide says I should have. But I'm not so inclined to try to determine if the hotel actually had a better room available. Given that most of the time I receive most satisfactory rooms and service, it's not a big deal.

Sometimes I'm told up front, "sorry we're quite full so we can't offer you an upgrade." Recently I've been told "the only nicer rooms available are smoking", and then offered a chance to check the room out before deciding. I'm quite happy with both these situations.

But sometimes I get an upgraded room which doesn't appear to be anything special. Unless I've stayed in a better room at the same property, I don't know if this really is the "best room available", or just a "better room" than average, or if I'm just being pawned off on a specially designated but otherwise unremarkable room.

No complaint here, just an observation that sometimes it's hard to tell if you actually got the real benefit, or a stripped-down version.