Originally Posted by
alerys
Thanks for all the answers, let me reply to everything at once.
I will try to avoid popular holiday periods anyways (I don't enjoy crowds or high prices), so that's great.
Yes, I'm a few nights away from fulfilling the status challenge. So globalist in a few days. I'm not getting the SUAs this way though.
Really? I'm able to get status for Globalist, or for Marriott Platinum or Hilton Diamond, but I went with Hyatt because I heard it has the best benefits out of these. Should I pivot to something else, or will I have better luck in the rest of Asia? One major issue is that there are far fewer Hyatt hotels than the other 2 chains.
Oh I guess I also have Shangri-la Jade already, but that status is lower than all the other ones.
I didn't express myself well, I'm not just looking for hotels that will give suite-upgrades. I'm more looking for Hyatts that are a reasonable choice in their location (given their price) and also happens to give suite-upgrades frequently so that I can make use of the status while I have it. And then based on these, I would pick only the one's at locations I'm interested in visiting anyways.
I made this post partially to reassure myself that getting the status is worth it, and the largest benefit it gives is suite-upgrades, so that's why I'm asking specifically about that.
There are a lot of Globalists in Asia and, as you mentioned, not that many Hyatts. I almost always do the easiest stays to upgrade - one-night stays, and I find that I don’t typically get a suite upgrade with Hyatt unless I use a SUA. Not in China (though, some properties are better at upgrading than others) definitely not in Japan, not in Korea, not in Thailand, not in Vietnam, definitely not in Singapore, and not in Malaysia. I have had better luck in Indonesia, but even that wasn’t 100%. I think many would argue that free breakfast and lounge access are the benefits that most focus on in Asia because those are guaranteed, whereas suite upgrades are harder to come by due to demand and supply. My point about Marriott is that, as an Ambassador, I’m ahead in the “queue” compared to Titaniums and Platinums and thus find that I get suite upgrades in Asia much more commonly - there are also many more Marriott properties in many of these places, so the supply side is more in my favor.