Condescending tone aside, the fact that I have a different perspective from a lot of frequent travelers on this website doesn't mean that I don't travel a lot. It simply means that I have a different opinion.

(By the way, the fact that I do not advertise my elite status in my profile does not mean that I do not have it.)

In my opinion, whether customer service is "good" or "bad" isn't a measure of how much better I (as a Diamond) get treated than the lowly "Joe Schmoe" you refer to. I am hopeful that each person who walks through the doors of the hotel gets treated equally well, whether they're no status or a 200-night per year Diamond. Remember - unless someone has become Gold or Diamond by staying in the same property repeatedly, HHonors status doesn't measure loyalty to any individual hotel. It measures loyalty to a chain, a brand, or a company. And because of that, I'm no more loyal to that hotel than the person who travels to that city once a year (or once, period).

Of course, being Gold or Diamond has its own set of perks that go along with it. As far as I'm concerned, though, if that request isn't on the list of benefits that's published by HHonors, I don't expect that my request will be treated any differently than any other paying customer. That means that they may say yes, and they may say no. That's the way it goes.

Yes, that means that I think that the customer is not always right. You can flame me some more if you'd like. But the way I see it, I don't think that the front desk was particularly unreasonable in this instance, given the fact that late checkout isn't guaranteed.

Mike