Moderator, Marriott Bonvoy & FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: McKinney, TX, USA
Programs: United Silver; AA Plat/2MM; Marriott LT Titanium; Hilton Gold
Posts: 11,727
Per the OP, I'd say you were lucky they didn't really understand all the rules for the Elite Guarantees. Per the T&Cs, to receive any of the elite guarantees the reservation has to have been booked at least one day prior to arrival. I read the OP as saying the reservation was made the day of arrival. If so, they didn't have to provide any extra elite compensation.
I would guess the purpose of this exclusion is to ensure the hotel has the time go through their reservations and deal with elites differently than than non-elites (assuming they want to of course.) By making a last minute reservation, the hotel has probably already gone through their normal daily room assignments which means that last minute reservation missed all that.