Goonerfish

not for RA's....it takes the upgrade discretion away from the hotel and automates it...this could potentially dilute upgrades.

Sohan

Shouldn't the RA upgrade you at booking, then nor1 see the room your booked in and offer upgrades from there?

Exleftseat

If they offer this on rewards nights, then it could be a good dea, although I myself have gotten upgraded even on awards stays every time with IHG.
But a couple of days ago I did a rewards stay at the Airport Hilton in Vancouver. I am a lowly Silver with them now, but at booking they offered me an upgrade for $ 10.00 if available at check-in. It was available and I got a two room ( mini ) suite. Funny, they only charged me $ 6.00 CAD for it.

Goonerfish

yes, but this will mean upgrades will be more controlled. More often that not I have received a better upgrade than what the T's & C's say I am entitled to. (Sometimes signature suites etc) Now if all the upgrades were automated and pre set then that could lead to no more suites ...only an Executive room...for example.

upgrader

It will be interesting to watch and see what happens with this. It's not clear (to me, at least) how the choice or non-choice of an upgrade option will effect the RA upgrades. Will these new upgrade options comprise the new levels for RA two-tier upgrades? (e.g., a sound-proof room constitutes an entirely new level and RAs need receive only one level above that to conform to policy?) Will, as an earlier poster asked, accepting one of the upgrades at an additional cost mean that RA upgrades are given from that paid upgrade level? Myriad ways this could play out so I hope folks will report what happens to them so we can begin to consider appropriate strategies.

mnredfox

Good for who? Those willing to pay, and the hotel. That only. If you read the HH thread you'll read about how upgrades have gone down since the implementation of this. So not good and not cool if you ask me.

Beckles

Just like the Hilton Nor1 thread, we have a lot of FUD in this thread already.
Wrong, there is no 'on the spot upgrade', as the name 'eStandby' clearly implies, it is a standby for an upgrade.
I have received suite upgrades at a number of hotels that offer Nor1 with both Hilton and Hyatt, this claim that they are "gone" is false in my experience.
I have seen absolutely no proof it takes upgrade discretion away from hotels.
As much as I like free upgrades, I do not begrudge hotels for trying to sell them before giving them away for free. What I could see taking an issue with is if they were selling the upgrades at very low prices, but I have not seen that myself with the hotels I've stayed at that used Nor1.
I've read the Hilton thread, and there is nothing in that thread that proves there has been a decrease in upgrades for elite members, it is a lot of speculation with the occasional report of folks receiving complimentary upgrades despite Nor1, and folks not receiving upgrades, which happened before Nor1 too.

In my personal experience, sometimes I still get free upgrades at Nor1 hotels ... sometimes I don't, it's hardly different than my experience at any given hotel before Nor1.

Considering I have used Nor1 at hotels on a couple of occasions, I just don't see the big deal, it gives hotels another avenue to sell upgraded rooms. Expecting a hotel to not try and sell upgrade rooms before handing them out for free is not reasonable in my opinion.

AMDB7

Except they are not "handing them out for free", of course; As an RA I am "given" an upgrade not as a freebie, but as part of my membership benefits - which is a reward for my loyalty to the chain and my previous business.

If my upgraded rooms or suites start to become less available because the hotel has sold them for $30 on standby, then they will soon lose my considerable business.

Let's be clear - this is a bad thing for anyone who has elite status!

iamthehpt

I am concerned that Nor-1 type upgrades WILL result in diluted upgrades for RAs because non-RAs may be willing to pay a few dollars for an upgrade, perhaps resulting in fewer available suites for RAs. Better for IHG to upgrade a non-RA for $50 per night in additional revenue than give it away free to an RA.

Beckles

Since Royal Ambassador's are guaranteed upgrades, I actually don't understand the issue (which is different than other hotel chains which base upgrades on availability).

Goonerfish

Yes but technically the hotel could just upgrade an RA to an executive room rather than a suite..as I said before, I have more often than not had suite upgrades (even on reward nights) and I believe with this method with all the upgrades set in stone on the system, that I will see less of that. ...As I said, it removes the discretion of a human being at the hotel allocating the upgrade. Sure you could follow up your Nor-1 type booking with a call directly to the hotel and negotiating a better upgrade but this system gives them a get out and sets a clear guideline of what upgrades RA's are entitled to.

And as iamthehpt says, if the hotel are offering suite upgrades at a reduced price then this too can have a detrimental effect on suite availability to RA's.

All in all, its definitely not good for RA's.

pmaddock

I'm sorry but I must beg to differ. Please remember that they advertise upgrades as a benefit of being elite in the program based on availability. I certainly don't begrudge a hotel for selling rooms at advertised prices but what this does is that it sets up an alternate pool of low priced upgrades that competes with the elite program. Hilton did end up modifying their implementation of NOR1 to include notations of the a free level of upgrade for elites and different properties are making better allowances. However here in PC land upgrades are already somewhat thin due to the property portfolio so I really have concerns about any change in the upgrade pecking order. Considering that the basic benefits of PC Plat is already thinner than the other programs I really am miffed about this.

For those who look at the program I urge 2 responses:
1. Don't ever feed the beast - every time you do a NOR1 upgrade the NOR1 devil gets a cut. Don't sign up if you don't really need an upgrade.
2. Don't feed the beast part 2 - if you really need an upgrade - contact the hotel manager directly and negotiate an upgrade. My experience with Hilton is that they usually very nice and either offer something comp'd or they offer the NOR1 rate or less and then you know its the hotel getting the money - not a penny to NOR1.

Finally I would note that anyone reading this should not expect an upgrade if they do sign up. Its subject to availability after posted rate payers.

sweets61250

Are you seeing this at a number of IC / CP / HI hotels or mainly just at the IC NYC?

Beckles

There are hotels that already do that anyway ....I believe you're incorrect, all upgrades are not "set in stone" on the system, the hotel still has discretion and control over its inventory.
If IC implements the system that way it will be different than how several Hyatt and Hilton hotels have implemented it that I've personally stayed at. At several Hyatt and Hilton hotels I've stayed at who use Nor1, I've received upgrades well beyond what is strictly called for in the rules, indicating to me that elite upgrades are still handled by someone at the hotel as they always have been, not automatically by Nor1 as you appear to be claiming would be the case.

I could easily see this having a positive impact on RA's because they will sell more executive rooms, and hotels will then upgrade RA's even further than they otherwise would, since they must upgrade RA's. For example, say a hotel has one suite, one Executive room, and one standard room available and just two guests left, an RA and some other typicaly non-elite guest. There are some (if not many) hotels that will give the RA the minimum upgrade, to the Executive room, and then the typical guest gets the standard room and the hotel leaves the suite empty. Now, lets say they offer the typical guest Nor1, and he opts for the Executive room. The hotel will likely take the extra revenue from the typical guest, upgrade them to the Executive room, and now the hotel still has to upgrade the RA and they get the suite.

mnredfox

But if you aren't RA, that's where the fear is.

Oops, you're right. Thanks for the correction.

I don't think I implied "gone", but implied more difficult to come by. I say this from personal experience as my upgrades seemed sub-par at Nor1 hotels where I clearly declined anything but the free upgrade. My simple statement is that in the past hotels would allow better upgrades than a higher floor room or something like that. Now they clearly delineate those a step above the "upgradeable" rooms, so are more firm in not giving those better rooms out.

Hotels yes still have that discretion, but are much more likely to not give it out.

I don't begrudge them either, I'm just saying that upgrades seem to be worse as a result of Nor1. The nor1 thread itself is quite short, but if you've been on the HH thread for awhile you'll see a lot of Nor1 references in other threads where people complain about upgrades. I agree there is no proof, but seems to be quite a bit of anecdotal evidence. Certainly it is not a hard rule, but it also makes sense that upgrades are harder to come by.

Go sell them. But when I check in at 3pm and you still haven't sold them, it'd be nice to have a real upgrade versus a room with a "better view" or farther away from the elevator. Again, Nor1 just allows them to make more stronger classifications in rooms and allows them to give out a semi-category higher upgrade instead of real upgrades.