The Detroit Metro Airport Hotel has 247 total rooms—and just 2 suites.

The Baronette Novi Renaissance Hotel has 149 total rooms—and just 6 suites.

It’s important to recognize that hotels with so very few suites (especially in the single digits) aren’t going to provide suite upgrades very often—to anyone. It’s important to remember that all hotels categorize their “best” rooms/suites as speciality suites, most of which understandably are not considered part of the Platinum suite upgrade pool for suite upgrades on arrival or for SNAs. When hotels such as these above with so few suites are considered, it should be no surprise that the specialty suites includes almost all or actually all of their 2-6 suites!

And, of course, we can’t get a suite upgrade into one of 2 or 6 suites if those are sold. But with so few suites, it is not surprising nor unrealistic that the hotel doesn’t include all or most of those in its Platinum suite upgrade inventory.

So whenever we stay at hotels with so few suites, we shouldn’t be surprised if our Platinum or SNA upgrade choices are more likely to be premium rooms rather than proper suites. I’m not debating whether or not this is how it should be as much as trying to explain that this most certainly is the way it is for most hotels with few suites.

I say this for our new legacy Marriott friends who are now trying to enjoy suite upgrade benefits for really the first time. The suite upgrade benefit isn’t as much of a help when a hotel simply doesn’t have that many suites. I advise you to reset your expectations in such circumstances. Legacy SPGers like me and so many others can recount plenty of examples of the same thing happening at the Sheraton New York Times Square and innumerable other Sheraton, Westin, Four Points, Tribute, and even some Le Méridien hotels with few suites.

I also think that legacy Marriott hotels are less likely to understand or respect this new suite upgrade benefit as well as their legacy SPG counterparts. That particularl difference may diminish in time, however, as the different brands adjust and learn how to best implement the new suite upgrade benefit in practice.