What I believe has now gone away are the small minority who consider it their right to have a suite if available, and are willing to sit and print out the T&Cs, plus doing searches with the app with the front desk associate checking them in to demand that upgrade per the T&Cs. This is perhaps not entirely a bad thing, as it leaves the suites and better rooms for higher status people who may be arriving later in the day and the magic algorithm has flagged for an upgrade (yes, that will be me).

It's a little off topic but I believe that iknowthings was correct in flagging higher hotel compensation and an increased likelihood of getting guaranteed upgrades when NUAs were launched: FAQ : NUA Nightly Upgrade Awards (NUAs), introduced Jan 2024, replacing SNAs - FlyerTalk Forums. As a result of this I have found far more value in NUAs, to the point where I just chose my 75th night award to be 5 more NUAs (of course the 40k night certificate has been devalued gradually) - but generally it is as I find that they are resulting in great outcomes when it matters to me.

Consequently, I am fairly beguine on this change.