As long as you are Plat or Diamond with Delta.

Upgrades are part of the program but only to a better room, not a suite. I found out from others if you call the day or day before they will do a suite upgrade and sometimes the front desk will give you lounge access. This is one nice benefit of being Elite with DL if you stay at SPGs but not enough for status

First of all, you are making an assumption about me and where I stay and how often I stay. And you would be incorrect.

2nd of all, explain to me again how its fair that a person paying for their room with their own money gets bumped by someone that is staying there on someone elses dime?

No different than a Gold getting a card and getting benefits vs someone that stays in the room. In the end, its all about dollars and cents. People that stay a lot of nights and never pay for them seem so upset that those that get a credit card and get benefits are getting them without "earning" them. FWIW, I dont think either person earned them.

HH is not rewarding someone for laying their head down, they are rewarding someone for spending money.

Reimbursement makes that easy for some.

I'm always too scared to ask for a discount "only" being a gold. I had a 10 day stay over Christmas and asked if could get a break on parking and they said no, so I never ask for anything anymore.

Thanks! I haven't stayed at any SPG's since the crossover and have a couple stays later this year. I always heard SPG's took better care of their elites than Hilton so I am surprised they would give suite upgrades to crossover people, unless they do it after they upgrade Platinum's first. If I even got lounge access with no upgrade I would be happy

I am not sure how they prioritize upgrades for Delta Elites with SPG elites. I am sure SPG 75 and 100's would get upgraded before a Delta Elite as they should. I think some properties are upgraded Delta crossover's before they are SPG Gold's because some SPG gold's were complaining about losing out on upgrades to Delta elites and having their benefits diluted.

Just call and ask. If you get denied an upgrade, you still have a good shot at lounge access. Even if you don't get that you are getting free internet and a later checkout guaranteed than you do with Hilton as a diamond without a stay requirement with SPG

They won't discount parking for diamonds either. Many hotels that charge for parking don't own their lot and have no control over the rates, so it isn't a Hilton issue or has nothing to do with status.

Some properties offer rate deals that include discounted parking, especially airport properties which have park and fly rates.

Someone in my office is staying at the W in New Orleans French quarter later this week and I told her to try calling about an upgrade and they said they would upgrade to her a suite and she is only a Platinum with Delta and no status with SPG. This is good to know.

I doubt this will actually pan out unless they are VERY slow. This property only has two or three true suites, and then a handful of Studio Suites that are really just average rooms in the carriage houses that have a balcony or patio w/ jacuzzi. So don't be surprised if her "suite upgrade" turns out to be one of those. That said, I'm 100% on Suite upgrades (twice to actual suites and a number of times to the Carriage House Studio Suites) at this property, so they also treat Platinums very well.

Always getting an upgrade as Gold to Executive Floor no matter what room i booked at the Hilton Guangzhou Tianhe. Overall a very recommendable Hotel ! Will try many more properties in the following month

Random thoughts...

- The Starwood crossover benefit doesn't prioritize DL elites over SPG Platinums. This is likely a statistically small number of total room-nights anyway, but if a DL elite gets great service at an SPG hotel, it's almost assuredly done within the context of Platinums getting treated well too. The T's & C's don't promise suites at all to the DL elites...if they get one, then good for them. The stated benefits are more like a Preferred Plus / Gold type of treatment.

- I think a lot of people overlook the importance of length of stay. People say upgrades go by status tier and then rate paid. You're a Plat 100 checking in for a week. I'm the basic 23-night Plat checking in for one night. I might get a suite even if you don't. I think this happens a *lot*, based on my own experiences over the years at all three of the big chains. If I get the Presidential Suite at any status tier, it's inevitably for a 1 or 2 night stay. If I'm somewhere for a week, I consider a junior suite very lucky.

- I have never received a true suite in my SPG Gold years, so I can't imagine complaining that the DL elites are taking them from me. Back in the day, HH Gold was a much better upgrade tier than SPG Gold. (Now I realize neither of them are very good.) HH Gold definitely did result in multiple great suites over the years, including at some excellent resorts.

- With any hotel, anyone can write or call asking for an upgrade. If you have a decent story to tell and a decent elite status, I can see where they'd honor that request. It's one of those cards I've played maybe 3-4 times in my life. I'm just assuming that any halfway significant hotel management software would by able to alert a manager if I was doing this for every stay, so I do it rarely. But I wouldn't extrapolate this treatment broadly to the status tiers themselves.

- A Carriage House studio suite with a jacuzzi and balcony in the French Quarter sounds like an outstanding upgrade for any elite tier. I wouldn't bum out too hard about not getting one of the "large" suites.

- Hotels don't know or care whether you're being reimbursed by someone else for your stay. (Large groups with direct billing obviously excepted.) Why would they or should they care? The only reason I was half-kiddingly suggesting that they prioritize award stays over paid stays is that they might be able to statistically correlate award usage to leisure stays and higher occupancy in the room, plus the customer relationship benefit of making a guest's "most important" stay his/her *best* stay. I fully realize this is not going to happen, and I realize some people pay for leisure stays and maybe even redeem awards on business trips. (e.g., A truly independent consultant who charges a fixed travel rate.)

I'm sure it's a smaller suite, but even if it is, very n ice upgrade for someone that rarely stays at SPG properties. And New Orleans is normally slow in the summer.

I haven't stayed at an SPG property since they started the cross over benefit program with Delta but I am really looking forward to some stays if I get treated as well as other Delta elites have Even if they don't upgrade the room to a suite if I can get lounge access that will be a plus. I will get a guaranteed 4 p.m. check out, free wifi, and use of the premium SPG line if there is one so those three benefits alone are great for someone that rarely stays at SPG hotels and is getting the benefits just for being an elite with Delta. And SPG elites who don't fly Delta much also benefit since they get some nice benefits with Delta when they fly.

I think with Delta elites getting suites at SPG, it's like Golds getting suites at Hilton. Not in the program T&C, but some properties do it anyway. Not sure though about Plats. getting treated well if a Delta elite does, look at some of the properties in this thread that are upgrading Golds by asking and not diamonds. If Hilton treats a gold better than a diamond, who is to say SPG doesn't treat a delta elite better than their their own top tier? Problem with hotels is there are a lot more variables than airlines. Airlines, every person is on the same flight so it's easy to give upgrades to first class by status, a hotel there are people staying different number of nights, different room types, different smoking preferences, etc.

I think a lot of the problems could be solved with Hilton giving guaranteed suite upgrades like their competitors and base it on number of nights. Personally if I am travelling to Europe I would rather get the revolving 24 hour check in that SPG gives their Plats with a lot of stays than an upgrade, it would be nice to go right from the airport to my hotel at noon and know my room is ready and I can go and take a hour nap and shower and change instead of having to drag my luggage to the Yotel at the airport to shower and change.

As far as who pays for the room, not sure why that should matter for status. As others have mentioned the employees are away from their families a lot and I like to see them have the points and miles to use for family vacations. Seeing a lot of times business travellers book at the last minute, they are also on a more expensive rate. Some business travellers who are road warriors literally live out of hotels and a chain is probably going to prefer a traveller who is spending 200 nights a year on their corporations dime over a traveller who only spends 10 nights a year on their own dime. Business travellers are also more likely to use expensive services at the hotel such as room service and laundry. There is no way a leisure traveller will pay for laundry at a hotel on his own dime but may if the company will pick it up.

And when a lot of my employees or myself travel for business, even though we have a corporate credit card, we prefer our own credit cards be used for mileage and points, etc and just get reimbursed. An business own could also be charging stuff and getting reimbursed by a client so it isn't really on his dime anyway.

As far as exec upgrades go, I have received some upgrades on other floors that are nicer than on the exec level. If I can't get a suite at the Palmer House, the 20th floor diamond level rooms are usually bigger than the exec level. I can understand a gold wanting an exec level room at properties that play by the rules for lounge access, but as a diamond we get the lounge access anyway.

My answer from above. Right or wrong, its reality and the ones that seem upset the most about it are the ones that are not spending their own money. Is that fair? Maybe maybe not, but neither person "earned" anything in my mind.

So I do consulting and pay for my own expenses. That being said, the way I see it, if I lay head to bed - I earned it. Doesn't matter who is paying or the cost. I am not home or with my family - that has a price, and not just monetarily. I expect monetary compensation and any benefit that travel comes with - cost of me leaving and being away.

Exactly you ARE earning it. You are away from home and away from your family and you are working. And when myself or one of my employees travel for business a lot of times it is last minute and a more expensive fare or room rate than what a leisure traveller is paying.

More than likely you are working in your hotel room at night time as a business traveller so you are earning it then. When I fly for business I am earning it because most of the time I am doing work in the air or at the skyclub while the lesiure traveller on a cheaper fare is able to keep kicking back free booze.

And loyalty programs probably wouldn't exist if points and miles only went to people paying on their own dime and not getting reimbursed since this would be leisure travellers who wouldn't give enough revenue to a hotel chain or airline chain to make a difference. You are going to have very few lesiure travellers spending 60+ nights a year with a hotel chain or flying 125K+ miles a year and if they can afford to travel that much they can probably afford to book the type of room they want.

A hotel is going to want a business traveller who may have a firm paying high rates and sending five employees to their property five nights a week regardless of who is paying over a AAA leisure traveller who stays 2 nights a year total. If the business travellers are upgraded and treated right they are going to be a lot more likely to return and chances are they use services such as laundry and room service as well which have a HUGE markup to the hotel