E check in, late arrival means room choice is gone?
 

I almost always check in online (or in app) and select my room. I always select a king, away from vending, and usually top or high floor. When I arrive at the hotel after 8pm I have found twice now that the room I had chosen is not available. Instead I am now assigned a double queen on the first floor next to the vending machine, and get a thank you for being a Diamond. If I arrive before 6pm my choices are honored. It is frustrating to say the least, and makes me feel that Diamond status means nothing when they need the room I picked for someone that arrived earlier than me. Since my trips are 1-2 nights at business class and I stay at HGI, Double Tree, and Hiltons upgrades do not happen.

I stay at the same hotel every other month (for a week) and arrive late, after 10pm, I call in the day before and they block or save me my favorite room (or let me know what is available). They told me once I check in on line, they can not change, move or re-assign the room. Maybe try calling in the day before (call hotel directly and do not press anything, just wait till the actual hotel answers). Ask that they assign you a room. Hope that helps.

I would be having a conversation with the front desk manager, and if it happened twice, I would complain to corporate via the App.

Did you ask why the room you chose wasn't available? If they did give it to someone who arrived earlier, that is wrong, but it's possible that the guest who was in the room extended his/her stay, which is out of the hotel's control.

I've been given a different room at check-in with the excuse that the room I chose wasn't ready.

I did ask if that was the case both times, both the FD persons said no, but did not know why the room was allocated to some one else and relocated me to the first floor other than by the time I checked in the only rooms that were left were these, so, bottom line for me is that it did not matter what I had selected the previous day, I arrived too late to get a better room. (different hotels, different cities). I told them I was very disappointed and that was that.

In that case, I would follow kacee's advice: "I would be having a conversation with the front desk manager, and if it happened twice, I would complain to corporate via the App." That practice needs to stop.

In Europe (at least the Hilton chain hotels I've visited within Europe, which I consider to be a fair few), the only time I have been moved after I have done OLCI is when they have upgraded me further (potentially when they have been full and / or needed the room I had selected for service recovery with someone else). Usually though, when I have OLCI they never move you (at least as a diamond).

Not sure if the OP was in the US but that could be a difference to note as well. (I'm not having a go at the US hotels, simply seems that there are more status guests and the value of said status is worth less in the USA).

Safe travels, hope you have better luck with OLCI and status being valued by hotels in future.

Whilst I don't doubt that is (at least their) policy, they definitely can physically do it.

Twice in different hotels I've been the cause of people being moved from the room they had already checked in for. One was me deciding to stay for another night where someone had already checked into my room for the next day, and the other was an early arrival where they had upgraded me to a suite but it wasn't ready, so they swapped me with someone else in an equivalent room who had already checked in.

I remember both occasions simply because in both cases they stated someone had already checked in, and it took some additional effort to move them.

Both of these were well before checkin time, and from memory both in hotels without digital keys (one definitely doesn't, not 100% sure about the other). Not sure if that's relevant, but it would mean they know the person that's checked online in hasn't actually accessed the room yet.

Honestly, i'm not sure hotels should allow us to pick a room on the app. so many things happen. like the gentleman who arrived early so they gave him a room that was ready versus making him wait. to me that makes more sense than saying you have to wait without a room for 10 hours because someone blocked the room even though they aren't arriving until midnight.

I don't agree. There are not so many things, that can happen. The hotel can manage the choice for online check-in by blocking rooms. It's not as difficult to handle early-check ins and late check-outs that way.

And of course: If a non-Diamond member arrives early, it does not mean, that he should get the right to overrule a Diamond's room choice. First come, first served is not a rule for loyalty programs.

There are two way to get assigned a room on a high floor. One is through online check-in, but the other is by setting that in your preferences. Do you have that set in your preferences? If so, that would two things they ignored, not just one, by putting on the low floor.

I am a diamond, and my preferences do state 1 bed, high floor. When I checked in I had a choice of 5 rooms on that top floor. Also 97% of my travel is within the USA, mostly to smaller cities where there is often not a Hilton or DoubleTree choice, just HGI, Hampton, or Homewood. This is a lesson learned, if I arrive on a later flight (between 7pm and 10pm) I will call and request they verify and honor my preferences.

When I check in online, it asks me to estimate my arrival time. What arrival time did you specify, relative to your actual arrival time of "after 8 pm"? I don't see why specifying 7 pm should mean your room is gone by 8:25 pm, but I could see how specifying noon might mean your room is gone by 8:25 pm, or how specifying midnight arrival might mean you room is not yet ready at 8:25 pm.