twitch76

I tried this at Hilton PVR last week. No dice. Concierge and front desk guy straight-up lied to me. It was a simultaneous lie ("we are 100% booked the next five nights" and "we are completely full") which suggested to me that management had trained them to do so. After I called them on it, the best they offered me was a mid-stay upgrade, which we declined -- who wants to pack and unpack an extra time on vacation??

tango_echo

I have just one small suggestion to add. Upgrades to suites are always going to be difficult on stays of more than one night, as others have mentioned, and some properties are just stingy with all upgrades.

However, it's worth learning the rough floorplan of a hotel if you stay multiple times in case there is a non-suite subset of rooms that are materially better. For example, at Hilton KL there are 'plus' rooms which are on corners of the property and are a little larger and more impressive than normal rooms. If you know what to ask for, you might find it easier to get a multi-night upgrade to a room like that than a large suite that the FD agent may not be empowered to assign you.

I like to stay at properties where if you don't get a suite, you can still hope for a real improvement beyond the 'high floor / better view' fake upgrade.

As others have mentioned, genuine warmth and politeness goes a long way. It can also be worth saying something along the lines of: "I'm not in a hurry so I'm happy to wait at the club lounge and do some work if there's a better room available later. I see they're still selling x category". This helps to politely break the script the agent might be following with the intention of bundling you off to a room as quickly as possible and getting rid of you.

Cat88L3

Depending on the hotel and the new upgraded room, it could be very much worth it to change rooms mid stay. I did so last year at the Conrad Koh Samui. It was only a 3 night stay. They were completely full as I spent my first night in a level 100 suite. When I checked in, they told me that I can move to a level 300 suite the next night. I happily accepted. It did make a difference as the views were much better at 300 vs 100. Also, I was happy as they didn't have to upgrade me at all. I thought it was a nice compromise.

arlflyer

Until you get to the GM, the options aren't exhausted. Just a question of how much effort one is willing to exert. There are plenty of times when the hassle just isn't worth it - when those times are comes as personal decision of course.

twitch76

That’s a fair point. In this case, they couldn’t describe the potential available upgrade, and so we didn’t want to risk it.

twitch76

Also a fair point. The manner in which two staff people presented the same lie nearly in unison suggested to me that it simply wasn’t worth my energy to escalate. A culture that encourages lying to guests starts somewhere... and I doubt it starts at the bottom.

arlflyer

Yes, and the GMs know that too. They will thus often roll over when called out on it.

mnredfox

Good tips all around. Here’s my tips:

1. Always ask at check in. Be nice and talk so that they want to upgrade you.
2. Emphasize if your stay is short, especially only 1 day
3. Write the GM beforehand. Emphasize the special reason for your stay.

Garimi

Always ask at checkin what type of room You got?
Any chance for suite upgrade....

Global Adventurer

The problem I have generally with all check-in staff at any hotel, is the fact most don't even have a clue where their larger and nicer rooms are, or even the direction/ view they are facing.

I'm really not trying to kick the younger generation, but most of them can't even tell you which way is North South East or West. I haven't met one yet. They rely on Google maps only. Which is pitiful.

Cat88L3

This is exactly why I do my research on the hotel rooms beforehand. Trust and believe that I know the best rooms ( floors, wings, sections, views) for the room categories that I want. When I ask for an upgrade, I give some specifics. It's been working for me so far for the past 10 years.

KevTN

Being nice is always a given no matter what you’re doing. It has got me car upgrades, drinks and free food on planes. Plus it makes people smile. I am not nice to get things but because it is the right thing to do.

when I pulled into the Hampton Monday the parking lot was full. Needless to say no upgrade but a lot of people. Seeing I travel every week I will keep plugging away

arlflyer

Generally agree - I hate it when i have to throw back the occasional suite upgrade because it abuts an elevator, overlooks a busy highway, is through a window to a rooftop cooling tower, etc.


Yeah, well the "older generation" will tell you 5 or 6 times, if we're taking ageist cheap shots... *eyeroll*. In all seriousness, what the heck is that even supposed to mean? You do realize that Google Maps is just a paper map depicted on a screen, and actually features a compass, lol? And before you poke that I'm "triggered", no, I just think you're silly.


A highly, highly underrated and awesome feature of Hilton is their inclusion of floor plans on the app. I like to cross-reference with satellite imagery for new properties to get a feel of where potential nuisances and noise generators might be relative to a given room.

timfountain

Not sure I agree with that. For me the opposite seems to be the case. Overall it's hard to discern any logic to the upgrade process. It's very, very rare for me to receive a memorable upgrade. Sometimes the upgrades are really a downgrade, such as being moved from a carefully selected room on the quite side of the hotel to a room of the same size on the executive floor, next to the elevator and facing the interstate.....

aww3583

Last year, Hilton piloted a "guaranteed at booking, best available room" upgrade program. We were lucky enough to be selected for the pilot program.

We applied the upgrade pilot to an existing standard reward booking. We received personalized service from a wonderful phone agent who walked us through the pilot program and confirmed our booking to the executive suite at the property.

What if Hilton abandoned the upgrades at check-in for everyone and rolled out the aforementioned program to true night/stay/point Diamond members? One guaranteed "best available at booking" upgrade per year.

I'm sure there would be a handful of "crown jewel" properties on an exclusion list. They'd have to limit it to earned Diamond members. Otherwise everyone in America would get the Aspire card for $450, and once a year book a weekend in a 1K room with the intent of getting the presidential suite.

What other consequences or unforeseen effects would this cause?