Originally Posted by Horace

There is no such Platinum benefit as "guaranteed room upgrade." There is "guaranteed room type," which refers to the kind of bed or beds guaranteed on your reservation. And there's "complimentary room upgrade," but it's based on availability.

Everything is supposed to happen automatically. The purpose to the penalties associated with the guarantees is to make service failures financially painful for hotels when serving Elite guests.

I have never collected a penalty under any of Marriott's guarantees. When the front desk at the Marriott in Monterey, California, tried to give me the wrong type of room, claiming my reservation did not guarantee a king bed and that the hotel was full, I replied that I had a printout that said I did, and I expected the penalty to be paid to me, please. Instead of paying $100 to me, the front desk miraculously had the room type I reserved.

A number of times, the front desk has failed to offer any sort of Platinum arrival gift to me. I just bring up the subject, either after the check-in process is supposedly complete or the next morning. I've never insisted on penalty compensation.

The really valuable guarantee is the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee. Because of it, Platinum members are very seldom "walked."

Keep in mind that benefits and guarantees vary by brand. Also, keep in mind that much will change August 18, 2018.


You might be confusing the published Platinum arrival gift benefit (which is never cash) with guarantee penalties (which can involve cash and points).

Any time that a property provides any sort of penalty or compensation, you could negotiate for what's more valuable to you. The rare times I've received compensation, it's been in the form of points, and I didn't have to ask -- because the hotel knew it has messed up, so proactively compensated with points. I value points at about one cent each.