Originally Posted by
Quattro
Was recently on Maui at the GW for a conference, room booked under the conference rate and at check in was told no plat benefits (breakfast, upgrade) because the conference organizers excluded those in their contract. I assume they wanted to assign room types based on corporate hierarchy vs. HH status.
This can be generally done by a conference organizer to some extent, whether points are available or not. I'm involved in the planning of a large meeting taking over about 85-90% of a property in the Atlanta area, and we are suppose to have
control of the room assignments. In the past two years we had the conference at the same property, and elites got points, plus the amenities that they would have normally received, except for upgrades. Yet, from a practical standpoint though, the assignment system is not fool proof. Elites who checked in a couple of days before the event started, often ended up with upgraded rooms that we would not have offered them when the rooming plan was laid out (never had problems with a true high end room being grabbed, as they are pre-blocked). The hotel finalizes the rooming plan early the morning that the conference check-in day begins.
YMMV