Originally Posted by
C17PSGR
Yet, one has two suites and the other has six. So, the chance of upgrade is smaller but the hotel should still be upgrading into those suites, right?
IMO not necessarily. That's the point I tried to make in my previous post, but I apparently didn't succeed.
Every hotel is entitled to set aside its top rooms/suites as "specialty suites," and everyone seems to understand and respect that.
When a hotel has many suites, the top suites (Presidential and other one off suites, as well as the highest but rarest suite category) often are among those "specialty suites." And those are almost never included in the pool of suites available for complimentary Platinum suite upgrades or SNA upgrades. So a certain percentage of top room/suites is never included or available for the Platinum suite upgrades. No one is surprised that the StR San Francisco never makes its 1 Presidential Suite or 6 St Regis Suites available for upgrades, after all--because they also have many Astor Suites and Metropolitan Suites.
But when a hotel has few suites, those few suites often are included as "specialty" for that hotel. It's relative because the hotel just as so few suites. But when we apply the same percentage rule as applied with the hotel with many suites, the hotel with fewer suites ends up having all of its few suites in its "specialty" category that are not usually available. So they are being consistent--they just have so few suites that all of their suites tend to be in the specialty category unavailable for Platinum upgrades.
Does that make sense?
Again, I don't mean to justify this. I just mean to explain why it is. Whether or not anyone likes it.
And while the legacy MR properties mostly recognize PPE vs Plat, it's still a mix. As a general rule, an FDA knowing the difference between PPE and Plat is an indication of an engaged GM who wants employees trained. When the FDA greets me as a PPE, I almost always get a suite (sometimes pre-upgraded, sometimes at the desk) -- even when the hotel has suites in the single digits.
Better hotels better execute good service--including elite recognition. So a better managed hotel will better execute recognition. For me, it's that simple. Some hotels are just better than others. The better the service, the more likely the hotel will recognize elite status.