Originally Posted by
Investor 11
Unfortunately, there was one employee who I felt was subpar. I would love to hear feedback from others on whether my feelings were warranted. I booked a 2 bed room because I needed two beds. I called the hotel ahead of time to ask about upgrades as the only other room with 2 beds is the 2 bed luxury suite with balcony. I spoke with a member of reservations and he made a note of my request and stated he did not see an issue of upgrading to the luxury suite and to call the day before arriving to try and confirm. I did so, and 2 double bed luxury suite was confirmed. Arrived at hotel for early check in. This was the day after the Grammys, so I was not surprised to find out the room wasn't ready. After some searching I was placed in a standard room until suite was ready. Was told suite would be ready at 5pm because another Royal Ambassador was in room and taking advantage of late checkout. Fine, no quibble with that. Checked back in at the desk around 3pm just to see if room had become available by any chance. The front desk agent said it was not and that I would not be able to check into the suite until 8pm! When I asked why I would have to wait until 8pm the agent became defensive and a bit snappy. She proceeded to tell me that I was receiving a triple upgrade and that the listed rate of the room was over $600 and I had only paid $259. I said I understand what I paid, and that I was just confused on why I was being forced to wait until 8pm when the understood late checkout it is 4pm, especially if another Royal Ambassador is waiting. She then said they would be checking out late because they paid for the suite! Moved to king luxury suite.
My issue wasn't the level of upgrade. I try to never expect a certain upgrade knowing that things change. But, I felt there was a much more tactful way of shifting my room around than the way this front desk agent chose to handle it. Had I known this would be the issue I could have been moved into the king suite earlier in the day as opposed to waiting.
Three thoughts...
1. Maybe the room was trashed and took a long time to clean up. But they didn't want to tell you this of course.
2. They had said earlier it was an RA there because that's an easy excuse. Maybe it was some Grammy celebrity or agent or something who had some kind of juice with the hotel and who decided late that afternoon that they didn't feel like leaving at 4pm. Again, they would not share this information with you. Client confidentiality and all.
3. I had it happen plenty of times, at various hotel chains such as IC, Starwood, Hilton, etc) where my expected upgrade level didn't happen for some last minute reason like this. I could tell that the hotel had tried but there was simply no choice for me to have a suite that night, but they would shift me the next day. There's nothing to complain about in that scenario. Just take the room they give you.