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Old Jun 17, 2019, 9:15 pm
  #12  
Qwkynuf
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 1,879
Originally Posted by :D!
If you get the digital key then I believe you will receive the room you selected. But the digital key is issued by the hotel, not by you, so if they wanted the possibility of changing your room, they could just not issue it and force you to go to the front desk.
Originally Posted by corporate-wage-slave
The Digital Key, once issued to you, is most unlikely to change, though of course there will be circumstances when the unlikely happens. Particularly if you opt for the key before the room is available, then you have an automated link to that room the moment it gets released by housekeeping. So if someone else wanted that room the front desk wouldn't see it as available, and it would take some effort to switch things around.

For OLCI, I have had room changes occasionally but mostly the room will stick. Sometimes there isn't a lot anyone can do about it, if the previous occupant doesn't leave the room in a timely way - for whatever reason - then it is what it is. If a very high value regular guest makes a specific request, many front desks would try to accommodate that request. But these are the exceptions, particularly at hotels where there are relatively minor differences in rooms, so I would say 90% plus of times what you select at OLCI will stick. You are free to ask about other available rooms at check-in, so it's not a binding selection.

I usually don't select the Digital Key, but I always do the OLCI through the app. A couple of years ago I was going to be arriving late to a Doubletree near LAS, so I requested the digital key to save stopping at the desk on the way in.

Got in around 11pm, went straight to the elevator (dragging all of my crap) went to my assigned room, and the door won't unlock. Tried 3 or 4 times. no dice. Dragged all of my stuff back downstairs, go to the desk, and the dude says "sorry for the inconvenience, your key doesn't work because we upgraded you to a suite due to your Diamond status".
Then he proceeds to hand me 2 bottles of water (not in the little paper bag), the folder with my room keys, the little paper envelope with a cookie in it, *and* a tin of cookies. Didn't have enough hands to manage all of that + my suitcase + my tool bag + my backpack, and ended up dropping the tin of cookies as I got back on the elevator, spraying cookie chunks all over the elevator and the elevator lobby.

Ummmm.... thanks?
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