Originally Posted by
MichaelA380
That is a hearsay spread around in this forum and has no basis in facts.
Fact: For all my stays during the last two years across the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East and Asia in multiple Conrads, Hiltons and DoubleTrees (including redemptions, no exceptions), where I was not pro-actively upgraded in advance and thus checked in online in my originally reserved room category, I was always subsequently upgraded at the front desk.
Actually, it does has a basis in facts because different hotels will treat this situation in different ways. Heck, even different employees at the same hotel will treat the situation differently.
Some hotels certainly will unblock a guest who has checked in but not arrived in order to upgrade them. Other hotels will operate on the assumption that if someone went through the trouble to select a specific room, the guest must actually want that room. Therefore, they will not move them.
This could be a case study in business school about how corporate leadership makes decisions without consulting enough operations people to understand how things work out in the real world. In the end, it's the guest that ends up getting penalized for poor implementation of the concept. The problem could be resolved with a simple check box: Click Here to Confirm it is Okay to Change Selected Room to an Upgraded Room, if Available.