It's interesting about 1 cat. room upgrade policy because when we checked in at several Marriott properties in Germany, this is was we were told, 'you are a Gold member and you will be upgrade to next cat. room you booked'.

I thought it contradicts with the 'best available room' term, but I guess there must be some corporate guidelines about 1 room cat. upgrade.

I'm certainly not a big fan of the 1 cat. upgrade because if hotels decides to exercise the right, then we might not get CL room, but rather like Hilton - you get a regular room with CL access. To me it's a downgrade.