Originally Posted by
beefyT
I have just booked a stay at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica.
I booked a base level room, and used a suite upgrade to move to the Pallisade Suite (the designated suite upgrade category). The Virtuoso rate comes with an 'Upgrade at time of booking,' however the hotel is stating that that upgrade will not be valid, because I am using a certificate.
I had come to expect that Virtuoso upgrades (and likely similar AMEX FHR upgrades) were valid no matter whether an FPC certificate is used or not, so this surprised me.
Does anyone have any experience with this at Miramar or other Fairmont hotels? Has this changed in the past year?
FPC benefits (incl. the use of room/suite upgrade certs) are stackable with any benefits offered through Virtuoso / AMEX FHR / Travel Leaders Select / etc.
Some hotels exclude their speciality / top-level suites from any upgrade benefit, but I see no reason why the hotel shouldn't offer an upgrade from the Pallisades Suite to the Ocean View Suite (previously: Grand Pallisades Suite), for instance, if it's available at time of check-in.