jcherney - Actually the 2008 Virtuoso book says that Le Bristol offers a "guaranteed" room upgrade (as opposed to space available). I am just not clear what the upgrade is from and to. No one seems to think it is out of line to get the details in writing - so I am in the process of doing this.

I agree with you 100% that unless something is guaranteed - and you want it - you have to pay for it. For example - my plane arrives at 6 am. To guarantee I can shower and go to sleep upon red-eye arrival - I will have to book the night before. If I were younger and had fewer problems with jet lag - I'd probably take a chance. But I am who I am - and I will pay for the extra night.

Regarding agents - as I've explained in another thread - this TA was my TA for a long time. I moved about a decade ago - and the only time I used him (or any other travel agent) after my move was to book a cruise. He spent a fair (but not huge) amount of time on that. We had to cancel the cruise. So I owe him one. I want to use him for this booking (9 nights) to thank him for the work he did on the cruise.

So it's not a question of how I feel about things. I actually enjoy planning our trips (they're for leisure - not business). And booking hotels - and even many restaurants - has become very easy as the internet has gotten more sophisticated. About the only thing I hate is the search for "saver" business/first reward tickets - although internet searching for them has definitely gotten easier. Probably doesn't make me unique here! FWIW - I assume that few - if any - travel agents - will do this for any but their very best clients for free or a nominal charge. Don't know why they should. It took me an entire day to get 2 for this trip on a reasonable routing (open seats on various flights are like those ducks in shooting galleries - they just keep popping up and disappearing - popping up and disappearing - on all different routes - and many different partner airlines).

Even if I didn't like doing the bookings myself - sometimes time is of the essence. I "nailed" my reward tickets at 7 pm and had to "pay" for them (with AMEX points) in 24 hours (because they were on a Continental partner airline - not Continental - no extension allowed). So I had to confirm at least one acceptable hotel before I "paid" for the tickets. I am staying in Paris during Fashion Week - so hotel availability was not a given. Working in very short time frames - or over the weekend - is sometimes hard to do with a TA.

Kagehitokiri - I agree with you about the operational upgrades - at least with airlines. My husband is Continental Silver Elite (lowest grade). When I get a free ticket - and have to buy one - I always give him the miles because he has a bum leg. He has been upgraded to First a couple of times in small first class cabins even though he has low elite status. With hotels - I don't know. When we take our one big deal trip each year - we frequently stay at FS and RC - and neither has a formal reward program.

Question to Doppy - What you say makes a lot of sense. But I feel kind of guilty about shopping around between the internet and a TA. Is there a diplomatic way of doing it? I wouldn't feel guilty calling a FHR agent - someone I don't really know - but I don't have a Platinum card. But with an agent with whom I have a personal relationship - I would feel kind of guilty. Maybe I need a new agent - one I haven't known for 25 years - one I can treat in a more business-like manner? One I can negotiate with like I negotiate with brokers when I'm doing financial things. What do you do Doppy?

Three final thoughts. First - don't mean to shine your shoes - but you guys (and gals) here are better than any travel agent I've ever met. For example - we stayed at the Granvia in Kyoto a couple of years ago. Not exactly a well known chain in the US. We had an expensive room (we didn't want to trip over one another). And someone here mentioned to me *during* our stay (I was on line) that we could buy some kind of Granvia card for about $50 that would save us about 10-15% on the room - which was hundreds of dollars in savings. Which we did. How many US travel agents would know that? The resources and depth of knowledge here are really phenomenal.

Second - while I'm Mrs. Reservations - my husband is Mr. Language. He studied Japanese for a year for our trip to Japan - ditto with German for our trip to Germany last year - and he has just started again with French (which he has studied before). So he will be able to argue with anyone in France if he has to - although I do hope it won't be necessary .

Finally - obscure2k - I'll let you know if the Le Bristol staff can do *anything*. Because I am going to ask the concierge how a rather unfashionable middle aged woman from Jacksonville FL can score a ticket to any fashion show in Paris during fashion week . Robyn