Originally Posted by
kennycrudup
I had a chance to experience this a few weeks ago as a Hilton "Gold in Status Only" (via my AmEx card, I've stayed 3 nights over the course of two years). Not only could I select the room I'd wanted on their app, but the digital key worked every time.
... that being said, I'm not sure if the "Pay now to upgrade your room" means they don't willingly hand out upgrades to elites, though.
Yeah, the digital key works really well in my experience. And, when it comes to selecting your room, the best thing is they have a real map - not just the hotel floor plan but its relation to the surroundings. Great for identifying placement of roads, etc. for those of us who are light sleepers.
Re: paid upgrades, Hilton has always offered them through NOR1. Whether there is a correlation between hotels that push those and hotels who don't upgrade elites, not really sure. I feel like I've gotten ever so slightly more upgrades from MR/SPG than from Hilton, but in absolute terms Hilton has treated me very well with upgrades over the year, especially internationally.