Love the passionate debate.
I'm going to reaffirm and clear a few things up:
- The purpose of this thread was to seek clarification on Marriott's upgrade policy. My previous understanding was that base/non-speciality suites were included in the upgrade pool (and that, in SPG days, the upgrade pool = the SNA pool).
- As stated, I will not be naming the property. Despite the lack of suite upgrades, I enjoy staying at this property (and others in Sydney). If you can't deal with this omission, move on.
- The hotel in question appeared to have low occupancy (very low room rates relative to std rates, and all suite types showing as available including 3+ rooms available of the base suite). This is why I emailed my ambassador to flag the lack of upgrade, and how I received a response from the ambassador desk advising that this hotel doesn't include suites in their upgrades. I have copied the ambassador's response verbatim, and provided their location in a previous post. Could the ambassador be wrong? Sure - this is why I posted on FT seeking clarification. Could the hotel have recently changed their policy? Sure - that's why other FT's previous experiences may not be as "valuable" as some would like to think.
- Sorry if my join date or low post count lacks credibility. I've been lurking on FT for the better part of 10 years, and I stay 150+ nights in Marriott/SPG per year.