Originally Posted by
Transpacificflyer
My Gold status delivered nothing. No room upgrade, no late checkout (12 pm instead of 11 AM) even at hotels I stayed at multiple times. The checkin/checkout times are an important issue for me because I often purchase my AC itnierary to line up with the flight times. If I can't check in until 4 PM, I am not taking the AC flight that arrives before noon. Same for checkout. If I am evicted at 11 AM and my flight is after 2 PM, often 4 PM, it's the waste of a day. I was booking with Marriott ever since the option was extended and it just hasn't worked in my favour. I am better off with other hotels sometimes booking with other airlines.
The check-in/check-out times are YMMV property by property and they will vary frankly by how busy the property is. If you show up at 10 AM and they have a room, of course they will check you in, but I'm sure the check-in time on your reservation says 3pm, so if they are full the night before they may not have a room to give you at that time. Similarly, with Gold you are supposed to be able to check-out at 2pm, but I'm sure that if they aren't that busy that night they'll let you stay until 3 or 4pm.
As I mentioned in another post, Gold with Marriott is their entry Elite Tier, much like Aeroplan's 25k, so I wouldn't be expecting much.
I think you get more value out of being nice the the Front Desk Agent and/or calling ahead if you have special needs like early check-in...I find they are willing to accommodate when they can.