Originally Posted by
StuckinITH
I agree with Kacee. I always try to do the online check-in. If I have been pre-upgraded and get to really choose my room, I complete the process. If I don't see the pre-upgrade and think that I might do better without completing the process, I just let it go. The message when you do the check-in is that they will still try to upgrade you when your arrive in the hotel but some hotels are really cheap (recently there was an example on the Hilton threads about one of those hotels in Boston) where they tell you: "Well you chose that room, so you stay in that room".
.
I rarely see a significant upgrade offered with OLCI, and I no longer accept the "best of the bunch" despite the "we'll do our best to upgrade you" statement. Once, I selected a room and, when I arrived at the front desk and asked about an upgrade, I was told that they would have already upgraded me (as a Diamond), but the front desk staff are not allowed to touch a reservation when the client has selected a specific room.
Pre-selecting, or even checking in on OLCI with the offered room, also carries another risk: The complimentary bottled waters and sometimes a welcome letter from the manager may already have been placed in that room, and the front desk staff may want to keep you there instead of making a change.