Thanks for the upgrade. . .but is it really?
 

Many's the time as a gold member that I'm told at check-in, "Welcome sir, and as a loyal HHonors guest we've upgraded your room."

I always say thanks, and trot on upstairs. This has happened twice in the last couple weeks, at the London Paddington and the Paris Hilton (Arc de Triomphe).

When I get to the room it's, well, a room. Always OK, but on the two occasions I just mentioned my wife and I started laughing and wondering out loud what the non-upgraded rooms were like. Now, we know full well that rooms in European hotels--and especially London hotels--tend to run to the small side, and it may well be that these rooms are indeed upgrades, but how do we know?

I suppose you could go to the desk and ask to see a non-upgraded room just to compare, but I would never bother unless the room was truly substandard, which has never happened.

But it does make you wonder how many times desk clerks tell people that their room is an upgrade and just give them a standard room.

Our stays at these properties were actually very pleasant, with full breakfasts given at check-in (without having to ask), and with good hotel services including excellent concierges, late checkout granted with no problems, etc.

But did we really get upgrades? I have no idea.

Check your folio on the right above corner. There's a field indicating what kind of room you were asigned to.

Take a look out the window... can you see the street instead of the side of another building? They may have upgraded you to a Street View instead of a Standard View. Did you have a balcony? Or a couch? Were you on the same floor as the lounge (Executive Floor) with lounge access? All of these could be considered upgrades. While some may be a stretch, especially the views (IMO), these are what pass for upgrades at many properties. I've had my fair share of Suite upgrades, but I've come to expect a partial tree view to be considered an upgrade over a partial brick wall view... funny thing is I rarely open the curtains.

Also, look on the fire evacuation sheet on the back of the door. There is a layout of your floor and you can get a rough estimate on how big the other rooms are on your floor.

It's definitely a valid point. For example, at a recent stay in the AMS Hilton, we were told we'd been given an executive room, which indeed was a lovely room on the top floor with a canal view - although it definitely didn't have a sofa in it, as the executive room picture on the key card did

There does seem to be a trend for hotels to remove Exec floors, and just have unlabelled "Executive Rooms" instead. Whilst I'm sure this is perfectly innocent, it suddenly becomes very difficult to see whether you've had an upgrade without seeing a "non-executive" room....

However, it's better than in some chains, where they specifically create "special" rooms just for upgrades!

You were lucky at the AMS Hilton to get anything at all. The executive rooms there tend to have a small table and different room format (bathroom out of the "rectangle" formed by the room), but some of them don't. For those, check to see if there are dressing gowns and free water if you're massively curious.

Only the corner junior suites have sofas there.

That's superb then. There was a small round table, and a glass desk. The bathroom was within the rectangle (ie there was a small corridor formed by the bathroom) - if that's what you mean

There was definitely free water and gowns, and a plate of strawberries, so I'm guessing it was Exec!

Just to note, it definitely wasn't a complaint about AMS - we had a great time there and thought it was a lovely hotel! It such a shame that you couldn't get onto the roof from the lounge, as it seems like it used to be possible but hey, what a great lounge!

It also wasn't a complaint about HH, as I've always found the upgrades I've received as Plat to be Exec floor - very consistant

My point was more that hotels in general are getting very good at being obtuse with their labelling of rooms, so it's incredibly difficult to tell whether or not you have been upgraded. (check out the IHG forum, for example!)

On at least one occasion, the "upgrade" meant they had slippers and bathrobes in the room. On more than one occasion, an "upgrade" meant we were assigned a room on the "HHonors Floor" - which only meant there was a sign indicating that in the corridor, or maybe it was on a higher floor level. Full stop. Yes, I feel really special and "hhonored" in those cases. :p

Each property has their own definition - sometimes daffynition? - about what constitutes an "upgrade," and some push the envelope on the use of the word.

When an Upgrade isn't an Upgrade
 

I stay at the Back Bay Hilton frequently. I always reserve the specific room level I like, a 'superior view king", as I like the stand-alone double shower with no tub, and the wrap around windows. It is worth the few dollars extra to not get a basic room. I am going on 12 visits in the last year and the desk clerk always mentions having upgraded me.

I just smile and say thank you..........

All canal view and all corner rooms are considered "upgrades" at the Hilton Amsterdam and sometimes you get both.

MisterNice

In those instances, I always say "No, that's exactly what I paid for." That often gets them to review my booking record, and sometimes gets additional perks (such as free in-room HSIA at the Shanghai Hilton last month, about USD $24 a day savings.) It also wipes out the supercilious smirk off some desk clerks' faces.

Very often, the "executive rooms" are the very same as the "standard rooms". Ask the hotel staff and they will confirm.

Of course, there is often "something" extra in the "executive rooms", e.g. some fruits or some water @:-)

I probably should have said it, but in neither case were we on an executive floor, that was quite obvious. As far as I know neither hotel has balconies, but I could be wrong because I didn't survey all four sides of each of them. You road warriors will know for sure. In any event we didn't get them at either place. In London we had a street view, in Paris a kind of courtyard. In Paris they kept the bottled water replenished every day, and there were robes.

Paddington has no idea what a room upgrade is, let alone a standard room. I recently booked a junior suite and got a room about 15 feet square, and the GM is still arguing that such a room is in fact a "junior suite".

My upgrade at the Paddington consisted of being able to use the roll-away bed horizontally instead of vertically. :D