dgwright99

Has anybody tried using an old BOGO for a suite at this property ?

For the dates I am interested in, they only have suites available on the TZ rate. There has been some discussion in other threads about suites being excluded on the wording of the new BOGOs, and some suggestion that this may be applied retroactively to old BOGOs as well.

So, if anybody has any experience of using a BOGO on a stay where they booked a suite, it would be very helpful to hear your experience.

Thanks

I emailed to ask ahead of time, and got a quick and helpful reply from the "Experience Director" (initials CH). We actually made a reservation, but had to cancel because of a last-minute Asia trip.

gregorygrady

Hmm, so it seems from a couple posts here that if you book a Kasbah room, they will upgrade RA's to a Kasbah Suite. Just FYI, none of the Suites I've gotton have been particularly well located..........however I think most of that is just due to the fact that all the Suites here seem to be corner Suites, so they don't look out directly onto the pools, etc. I would doubt that regular Amb's get upgraded to Suites here, otherwise we probably would have heard about it here on FT. Probably the Room Manager (the person who assigns rooms here 72 hours before the stay) knows the difference between RA's and Amb's, but possibly some of the front desk people don't. There's always the Ambassador check-in to the left hand side when you enter the "lobby" area, I'm sure they know the difference. I've always been offered to be escorted to my room in the several times I've stayed here, so I'd say the recognition has been quite good in my experience.

They probably don't respond to you because they are in a tough spot and don't know how to respond or don't want to respond. There are few Suites that they can even upgrade you to above the 640 Sq Ft. 1-bedroom Suite at this property. The Suite above that is the 2-bedroom Suite (1600 Sq Ft. with 2.5 bathrooms) in the Bocce Garden Village of which there are only 4 of these..............and possibly the 1 two-bedroom 1460 Sq Ft. Luxury Suite in Corjito Plaza would fall into this category as well. Above this category is only the 2 "Presidential" Suites, which are the 2800+ Sq Ft secluded villas called the Andalusian/Camelback Luxury Suites.

My guess is they don't want to confirm/upgrade you into any of these 7 extra nice Suites off a $195 Travelzoo rate. But according to the RA T&Cs, this is exactly what they would have to do. In fact this would technically also be the case for regular Amb members as they get a GUARANTEED 1-level upgrade as part of their status.

The real problem is that the PC/Ambassador T&Cs kind of put certain properties in a bind. I ran into the same situation when I booked at the IC Amstel earlier this year. I e-mailed them and asked what upgrade I could expect if I booked a Penthouse Suite (or Exec Suite), knowing full well those were the category right below the Royal Suite. There was a nice Luxury Weekends rate for the Exec Suite of only about 600 Euro, which when combined with a BOGO should have GUARANTEED me an upgrade into the Royal Suite which goes for about $8k per night.

Amstel e-mailed me back saying it wasn't possible to upgrade into the Royal Suite. I just left it at that, but if I'd been a real jerk I could have pushed it and pushed it based on the T&Cs which guarantee me (or any old Amb member for that matter) an upgrade into the Royal Suite when booking the category below it. Needless to say I didn't want to fight them so I booked the cheapest rate possible and got upgraded to a Penthouse Suite like I requested.

gregorygrady

BTW, Montelucia has another special going on this summer where you if you buy 2 nights, you get 2 nights free, with rates starting at $150 per night. So that would cut the rate down to $75 per night over 4 nights.....................granted the Resort Fee would jack that back up to $100 per night, so the TZ deal is better.

jpdx

You're right, the IC Montelucia is put at a disadvantage by the IC rules because of the lack of a variety of suites (there's another disadvantage: they also also have the BOGOs eat into their most expensive nights). You're probably also spot on with the suite upgrades; they don't want to give out their relatively scarce extra-nice suites to RAs.

I have had an issue similar to your Amstel situation with the IC HK, which informed me that they do not provide upgrades beyond Jr. Suites (e.g., Exec. Suite, Terrace Suite). This is, of course, in blatant conflict with at least the A rules, which guarantee an upgrade. I know there is some discussion on this matter, but because RA is a subset of A, I believe that the upgrade guarantee applies to RAs as well. In any case, I will be booking a Montelucia Suite for next month; just want to see what happens.

jpdx

dgwright99

They treat Oasis suite as an UG from Bocce suite, Kasbah suite from Oasis suite, etc - so they have plenty of upgrade steps to avoid giving away the extra-nice suites - and good luck trying to use a BOGO on anything other than best flex

TheBeerHunter

now, that sounds interesting. I'd like to see what exactly those "10 rules" are however, I'd be afraid they'd actually put limits on things...

jpdx

This is a very crooked move; originally, all standard suites were listed as MONTELUCIA SIGNATURE SUITE, and assigned at check-in. Now, they created the fake distinction between MONTELUCIA SIGNATURE SUITE, 1 BEDROOM SUITE KASBAH VILLAGE POOLSIDE, and 1 BEDROOM CORNER SUITE OASIS VILLAGE. I've stayed in the "lowest" and "highest" category of these suites, and they are exactly the same. To me, there's no question that an "upgrade" from any of these suites to whatever they call the next category is not actually an upgrade. I will be staying on a suite booking soon, and this time I will have a talk with the manager if they try to pull a fast one on me.

I called to have the 10 rules faxed to me, but -like with my past inquiries- my conversations with the IC Montelucia have been a one-way street. I don't think they'd get away with imposing significant limits; I think the 10 rules are things like "don't buy drinks for others," etc. Here's some more info for their website:

dgwright99

Let us know how that goes - I got zero flexibility from the desk manager with my issues.

TheBeerHunter

I imagine you're right -- the "drinks are for you only" thing was one I thought of -- still, if you manage to get them, please do post them. I've stayed here three times but avoided the spa because it's so overpriced. However I just might be willing to go try out every treatment under such a deal

jpdx

Yup, the Spa prices are ridiculous. The treatments we had were very good, though, and they also have an excellent yoga teacher. The $495 price is a steal if you can spend the day at the spa. I will post what I find out (we will be staying there this weekend, but not on this deal).

gregorygrady

You all did catch that the rate is per person, with a 2-night minimum, right? So this unlimited everything is gonna cost you $2k for a 2-night stay. There's only so many massages you can get in 2 days I would assume before it would start hurting.

gregorygrady

Is this what they told you? I'm not sure how they can treat those all as upgrades from each other when you CAN'T EVEN BOOK A BOCCE/KASBAH/OASIS SUITE (at least until this past week).

Wow, that's pretty shady of them to do. As you mentioned, up until about a week ago the only Suite bookings they offered was a base/generic "Signature Suite". Now they have added the Kasbah/Oasis suites (possibly just to upgrade $195 Travelzoo Amb/RAs into). I would definitely kick up a stink on this one IF you booked the rate back when they didn't offer the Kasbah/Oasis rooms for booking. FWIW, I can confirm that what jpdx says is true, all these 1-bedroom Suites are identical on the inside. The ONLY difference is the location (or view from the room). Granted, the view actually IS a differentiating factor in terms of the upgrade. But the fact that these "Oasis Corner" or "Kasbah Poolside" rooms were not bookable prior to a week ago should not be a copout reason to allow Montelucia to upgrade you to them rather than further up. If I had booked a Signature Suite (prior to a week ago) and was an Amb/RA, I would kick up a stink if I didn't get upgraded to a 2-bedroom 1600 Sq Ft suite in the Bocce Village or else the 1460 Sq Ft 2-bedroom Suite in the Corjito Village. Anything less is not an upgrade IMHO, AT LEAST THE WAY THEY WERE PRICED BEFORE THEY ADDED THESE 2 NEW SUITE CATEGORIES!!!!

Who was the front desk manager that helped (I mean "didn't" help) you? IMHO, you did not get an upgrade at all on your stay. In fact it could almost be argued that you got a downgrade. You booked a Signature Suite. You got THE very smallest suite at 630 sq ft. All the other 1-bedroom Suites are 640 Sq Ft (though possibly/probably the Corjito 630 Sq Ft suite is nicer than the 640 Sq Ft Suite, but you'd never know it since they don't ever have a price on it on intercontinental.com). IMHO, you should have been upgraded to a 2-bedroom Suite as an RA. BTW, did you also receive a free Cabana as part of your Corjito Suite? Supposedly that is supposed to be included with that room.

dgwright99

Yes, this is exactly what they told me - manager not checkin clerk; I questioned it, and he was most explicit. More background in my thread on using a BOGO at this property.

No, no free cabana. I had to haggle even to get the $50 food/drink credit applied at checkout.

jpdx

I was thinking of buying this for my spouse, who is perfectly capable of running up a $500 bill/day at any spa, and several times that much at the IC Montelucia. (Their prices are outrageous; $500 really only buys you a couple of hours worth of treatment if you do the pricey stuff). Anyway, I was thinking of booking her on the Unlimited rate and getting my own room at $100/nt. Heck, if I wanted a fun weekend, I would bring an old-style BOGO and try to negotiate her second night free (or at least a reduction of the room portion). Or invoke the "2nd person stays free" RA benefit, but I fear this might push management over the edge.

Anyway, it turns out that there are some limitations to the Unlimited Everything rate. After digging through the Joya Spa website, I found that this rate only allows you to select from the Summer Specials list. No Complete Wellness Assessment & Lifestyle Recommendations (my absolute favorite on this over-the-top spa price list, 2 hrs, $295), no Numerology or Tarot ($145 ea.), no Symphony Ritual ($405), no access to The Grand Palace (Spa) Suite (495 half day, $895 full day). I'm guessing there will be similar restrictions for the restaurants and bars -- no Moet? Only house wine and well drinks? Steaks only cooked rare or medium? -- I'm sure the IC Montelucia's capable management will not disappoint. I will try to get a copy of the 10 golden rules this weekend.