Originally Posted by
Horace
But even with high occupancy, the hotel still has to determine which arriving guests will get which rooms. Consider a hypothetical hotel with 300 rooms where guests stay an average of 3 nights. On an average day, 100 rooms check out and 100 rooms check in. Some of those rooms will be much better than others. Of course, arriving guests who reserved in a higher-priced categories should be assigned to accommodations in those categories (or higher). For "run of the house" rooms, the hotel could assign rooms randomly — or the hotel can make a genuine effort.
I think most of us want the hotel to make an effort.
Like college admissions, it's rarely so simple. Just because hotels want to make that effort doesn't mean they always can or always will for everyone. Not all elites are as elite as they want to pretend. Ambassadors and returning guests tend to get the best treatment because they should; Titaniums and then Plats get better treatment and on down the line depending on how much occupancy the hotel is at and how much concomitant flexibility it may or may not have.
When hotels are sold out or at very high occupancy, there are many customers who have paid for better room categories and suites, as well. So it isn't always possible to upgrade everyone, let alone most, even to a better room category. This simple fact is lost on too many because of entitlement and an assumption that elite status makes one more special than one really is in such scenarios.
When the hotel isn't sold out our or at high occupancy, it is much easier to give elites a better room category; when it is sold out or at high occupancy, only the very best guests (Ambassadors, returning guests, and maybe Titaniums) are likely to get shown so much attention. Pick your battles, people. Or book a better room.
Everyone wants to share a hypothetical, most of which are nothing more than examples of confirmation bias: let's discuss an example that works to reinforce the point I want to make while ignoring all of the much more common and realistic scenarios that don't make that convenient point. Oops.
I've been on FlyerTalk a long time. It's been interesting to me that some folks here claim "never" to get upgraded, while others claim "always" to get upgraded. I think this comes down to the definition of upgrade. Some folks only consider suites to be upgrades, while others are quite happy to get a desirable room on a high floor on the side of the hotel with the better view.
Entitlement is brutal. It's tough for some to realize that they're not as special as they thought they were when a hotel is sold out or at high occupancy. Or better yet, when they pick a hotel with 8 suites and then are surprised that they didn't get one of those. Sigh.
It wasn't tough for me to realize I wasn't as special as I thought I was as an Ambassador when I stayed at the StR Osaka and didn't get a suite upgrade--because the hotel was sold out and had 3 weddings going on. Go figure. There was no conspiracy. The hotel had paying guests for a major special occasion, so my spectacular elite status didn't quite look as special nor get the job done in that context. That's how it's supposed to be.