Consolidated "Best Strategies for Receiving an Upgrade" thread
Mar 27, 2018, 7:54 pm
#182
Moderator Hilton Honors, Travel News, West, The Suggestion Box, Smoking Lounge & DiningBuzz
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It's an actual piece of paper that, in my experience, hotel staff find it harder to ignore than an email (when you can actually find an email address for a particular property).
Mar 27, 2018, 8:12 pm
#183
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Austin, TX
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Just posted in the Waldorf Astoria Park City thread, but was messaged from the hotel prior to our arrival tomorrow, thanked for being a diamond and was told I was upgraded to a two level 1 bedroom suite.
We've also generally had very good luck with upgrades. Recently received an upgrade to the Presidential Suite at Miramonte Resort (Curio Collection) and an upgrade to a junior suite at the Conrad Indianapolis.
We've also generally had very good luck with upgrades. Recently received an upgrade to the Presidential Suite at Miramonte Resort (Curio Collection) and an upgrade to a junior suite at the Conrad Indianapolis.
Mar 27, 2018, 8:45 pm
#184
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: NW London and NW Sydney
Programs: BA Diamond, Hilton Bronze, A3 Diamond, IHG *G
Posts: 6,347
I don't travel to the US. I am told that I have been upgraded virtually all the time, but it is only a true upgrade about half the time (by which I mean either a suite or something substantially better than booked). The other half of the time it is just a marginally bigger room or nicer view.
My most recent stay at a Hampton, the front desk jokingly said they "upgraded" me by giving me what they said was the biggest room with more table space, and they said they will usually put Diamonds in that room unless there is a big family which books it
My most recent stay at a Hampton, the front desk jokingly said they "upgraded" me by giving me what they said was the biggest room with more table space, and they said they will usually put Diamonds in that room unless there is a big family which books it
Mar 27, 2018, 9:23 pm
#185
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Mar 28, 2018, 2:30 am
#186
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: BG
Programs: BAEC Silver, TK Elite, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 827
I have found that outside of the USA, we get some sort of upgrade almost every time, often with executive lounge access. We travel as 2 adults and 2 young children and sometimes I feel the upgrade at the front desk is out of pity when they see the 4 of us.
Overall, we have done very well as gold card holders (soon to be Diamond thanks to a challenge) and have no complaints.
Overall, we have done very well as gold card holders (soon to be Diamond thanks to a challenge) and have no complaints.
Mar 28, 2018, 2:49 am
#187
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: DEN
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Mar 28, 2018, 3:33 am
#188
Moderator, Iberia Airlines, Airport Lounges, and Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
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I normally get upgraded, though it sometimes needs careful timing on the App check-in to either enable or disable the options. Here is the last thread I recall on Diamonds and upgrades:
Diamond yet never upgraded!
In it I tell an anecdote of a colleague of mine whinging he never got upgrades, when at that precise moment he had an upgraded key card in his hand. Some upgrades are more obvious than others.
Diamond yet never upgraded!
In it I tell an anecdote of a colleague of mine whinging he never got upgrades, when at that precise moment he had an upgraded key card in his hand. Some upgrades are more obvious than others.
Mar 28, 2018, 5:08 am
#189
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Posts: 3,360
It's worth noting that length-of-stay also can affect upgrades. If your stay is 1 night, your chances of getting upgraded are greater than a multi-night stay because the hotel doesn't lose the opportunity of selling that upgraded room the following day(s).
Mar 28, 2018, 11:42 am
#190
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: WAW
Programs: A3(*G), Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 2,534
In the US, almost anyone with a pulse who has read a blog post in the last 12 months will have Diamond, so most of the griping comes from there.
Elsewhere it’s a different story and Diamond upgrades are plentiful. From what I’ve read for 2018, I get the feeling that Hilton is starting to widen the gap in treatment between Diamond and Gold (again, I’m talking about non-US properties here) and that this process is likely to continue.
I’d say it’s a lot less likely to get an (unrequested) upgrade as a Marriott Plat in Europe than as Hilton Diamond (by upgrade I mean given something more than a Club Room).
Mar 28, 2018, 12:53 pm
#191
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Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
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I normally get upgraded, though it sometimes needs careful timing on the App check-in to either enable or disable the options. Here is the last thread I recall on Diamonds and upgrades:
Diamond yet never upgraded!
In it I tell an anecdote of a colleague of mine whinging he never got upgrades, when at that precise moment he had an upgraded key card in his hand. Some upgrades are more obvious than others.
Diamond yet never upgraded!
In it I tell an anecdote of a colleague of mine whinging he never got upgrades, when at that precise moment he had an upgraded key card in his hand. Some upgrades are more obvious than others.
The way I view it is this:
- The best non-suite, non-club room (high floor, good view, away from elevator, etc.) = basic table stakes for Gold/Diamond room assignment. I don't think of it as an "upgrade" because I didn't get the room next to the elevator with a dumpster view.
- Club Level (that is, your room on the same floor with the lounge and that room maybe having some modest amenity enhancements) = a minor, but obvious, upgrade
- Jr Suite = an obvious upgrade...a nice, appreciated part of being Diamond. This should happen when the rooms are available.
- Large Suite = not expected, but really nice when it happens
- Presidential Suite = never expected, and the Diamond member should be required to immediately go to Flyertalk and rhapsodize endlessly about how great this property is. (I promise to do this, really.)
Mar 28, 2018, 12:57 pm
#192
Moderator Hilton Honors, Travel News, West, The Suggestion Box, Smoking Lounge & DiningBuzz
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Mar 28, 2018, 1:19 pm
#193
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Apr 4, 2018, 1:19 pm
#194
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I got one last weekend at the Hilton Toronto Airport. After checking my records, this was the first upgrade I'd gotten that wasn't to a BS named "Executive", "View Room" etc. since July, 2017. I'm usually one to defend Hilton Diamond and two years ago I was averaging 70% suite upgrades but it's certainly changed a lot. I might add that my average property is not a Conrad etc. but the kind of places you used to be able to count on upgrades.
Apr 4, 2018, 3:10 pm
#195
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Pi think part of it is like with airline upgrades being down. Hilton is selling upgrades dirt cheap.