Doubletree "Little Extras"
 

I'm seeing more and more Doubletree's have these floors and are a premium that you pay. My question is as a Diamond Member I have never been put on one of these floors or even had access to the "lounge"/snack bar. I've talked to the front desk at the hotel and they say "little extras" isn't an upgrade and not a Diamond benefit. Is this really true that this floor isn't a Diamond benefit? Seems like snub to Diamond members since these hotels don't have other lounges for Diamond members.

<edit> apparently I didn't know about the "little extras" program and what it was. </edit>

Curious. I usually get access to the Executive floor/lounge as Gold (I always ask) as well as upgrades to the Executive floor at DT's. Two months ago at DT San Jose I scored a full suite upgrade and lounge access as Gold. This week's stay there I only got upgraded to a higher rated room, but still received access to the Executive lounge.... it's just not much of a Executive lounge. On Sunday/Monday morning this week I stayed at the San Jose Hilton and had access to the Executive lounge for their hot buffet breakfast.

As a new Diamond after last Sunday's stay, I'm interested in what kind of responses you get.

Although it is an option for hotel's to have separate "Little Extras" floors, that's not a requirement. The other options are to delivery the snacks to the room or to give guests 24-hour access to the "Little Extras Snack Pantry". Using those options, any guest room could be a "Little Extras" room.

The DoubleTree "Little Extras" Press Release: http://news.doubletree.com/index.cfm...extras-upgrade

We need the position on this clarified by Hilton.


It is not labelled an executive lounge, but in ways is fulfilling some of the roles of one. Price wise, it is similar to what you might pay for an executive floor room.
My guess is that this is what hotels without lounges are offering.

If they are meant to be included- as per the article- this is quite an interesting development.

The press release above states the following:

"Based on availability, Diamond and Gold Hilton HHonors members can be upgraded to a 'Little Extras Room' on the day of arrival."

This sort of seems like "call the lounge something other than a lounge, and then you don't have to guarantee diamonds access to it." This reminds me of the recent thread about the Aruba property that recently started calling their lounge a "club" and therefore no longer admits diamonds (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...ino-abw-3.html). Hopefully this is not the start of a trend of renaming benefits and then monetizing them, but it sure seems that way...

+1

Hilton corporate is like a parent that is afraid to discipline its children and lets them run amok everywhere, screaming and carrying on and making their own rules. The discrepancies in, well, everything - hard and soft product, elite treatment, interpretations of rules, etc. - is the biggest problem, by far, with Hilton's current portfolio. If Hilton thinks that their core customers - business travelers - have the time and effort to deal with this nonsense and games, they're going to find out that they are incorrect.

Embassy Suites Premium Floor
 

Isn't this like the Embassy Suites premium floor where there is a snack machine with a code and you can have all the snacks and drinks you want?
I've never been "upgraded" to a premium floor suite at an ES but I politely let the front desk staff that as a Diamond if it's possible to get the code for the vending machine. Sometimes a manager has to get involved, but I've never been refused.

It sounds similar to me, as well. Although last week I was at an Embassy Suites that was sold out and as a DIA didn't receive the upgrade. I asked the front desk if I could have the code for the vending machine as you suggested above but the property had removed them and instead placed baskets filled with snacks in the guest rooms on those two floors. The agent checking me in put a couple extra bags of chips and two candy bars in the bag with my water.

As a Diamond I have never been upgraded to one of those floors at an ES nor received a vending code.

Certainly YMMV, but i have received many upgrades to 'that' floor as a HH DIA and also even if I wasn't on the floor, I was made aware that my key gave me access to it (DT San Jose for instance). It is a pretty useless feature in most cases, the vending machines are often empty and the open pantry's depleted by a bunch of scavengers....

Yeah, it doesn't surprise me that it's not very exciting. But it is always good to see additional benefits, especially at the chains where many things elsewhere considered to be benefits (breakfast, etc.) are included.

Also, edit: confused, are you talking about DT or ES properties?

I was talking about DT's (from the thread title) but also seen a similar thing at ES (IIRC Charleston, SC ES).