Originally Posted by
nacho
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.
No, not if your are a MR Gold member and are comparing that to Hilton Gold. Hilton has diluted Gold further and does not require Concierge Lounge access if you are not on the Concierge floor. All it requires is that you are given breakfast as a Gold and the hotel can put you on a regular floor and deny you access to the lounge and only provide you breakfast. Although a hotel may disregard the above and upgrade you to the CL, it very well does not have to do so.
The Marriott change is not welcome but we will see what it really means in practice. However, even with the change, CL access is guaranteed to Golds and above, provided the lounge is open. That is still different from Hilton's new formulation, at least in respect to Gold members. However, Diamond members are always guaranteed CL access, even if not on the Concierge floor.