boekel

fully agree to that point, but just offering a sup city view for a RA, which is only a one level upgrade, is a) ridiculous and b) against the T&C's

david-alexis

i agree with bith of your points, the issue I have is having to deal with this at check-in, usually coming from the airport and tired, one great feature of RA is to walk (almost) straight to your room. And it looks like I have now used all of my ammo talking to this reservation manager and will now have to deal with this when I check-in the hotel. Or I could insist again by email and mention it is against the T&C... But to the risk of really irritating the staff.
I don't know, advice?

nicolas75

De La Ville Rome "solved" the issue by creating so-called "executive rooms" which are nothing but the same rooms but with the label executive to meet T&C requirements

david-alexis

Going back to my reservation I saw the term exec. and knew this was some kind of "fake" category...

davidw70

I stayed over the Easter weekend (with another family member who I had referred to RA). I emailed the hotel beforehand and they said that any upgrade beyond their best executive room was subject to availability.

On arrival at the hotel, they confirmed an upgrade to one of the corner 2 bed suites. The Assistant Manager, who showed us to the room, confirmed that they don't like promising too much because this may end up in disappointment, but will do whatever they can to provide the best of upgrades to RAs. Both the suite and the overall stay was excellent.

There were a number of adverts for the Carlton residences around the lobby and in the room (the one in the room confirmed that this also involved refurbishment of the hotel rooms and construction of the spa), so it will be interesting to see how long this takes.

david-alexis

Thanks for the report, makes me feel better. Over all under promise over deliver is a good approach.

AMDB7

I too had a recent stay at the Carlton in early April, on a combination of rewards and paid stays, and once again I have come away with mixed feelings.

Because of a previous RA upgrade issue at this property I emailed the management beforehand and got a similar response to the above poster – i.e. nothing promised in advance over and above Exec, but will see what we can do when you check in. My main priority was to try to get at least a Sea-View Exec, given I was on a combination stay including rewards. When I checked in I was told no suites available – fair enough, although availability was showing on-line – and then I was shown to my “Deluxe Executive Room” which was obviously a Deluxe and not an Executive; unless things have changed there recently, the Deluxe Sea-views have always been on the lower floors, and the Execs have the small balcony on the 6th floor.

Regardless, the room seemed small and smelt musty, so I refused it and said I’d like to speak to the management, as I believed the Execs – as promised as the minimum upgrade I could expect – were on the 6th floor with the balcony. To cut a long story short, the check-in girl resolved it fairly promptly without management needing to be involved, but it did leave a taste of, once again, being short-changed on my automatic RA upgrade at this property. I know some FTers here will say that rewards stays don’t warrant an upgrade and I was wrong to push, but given my last similar experience here on a paid stay as an RA I didn’t feel bad at all about demanding more this time. This is not something I’d normally do, nor have I ever had to do, at any other IC.

I actually ended up having a nice stay there after this, and I do like the property, but this is he 2nd consecutive time this has happened to me there as an RA. As someone else mentioned recently, the last thing you want to do at check-in is start negotiating your upgrade. I could understand it more in high season, but both these stays were not. I’ve read so many reports from RA’s who have stayed here and got great upgrades that I’m starting to get a complex! Incidentally, I’ve been going there for 15 years or so, and once when I was a mere Plat Ambassador I got an upgrade to a 7th floor suite! ^

Aside from the upgrade issues, I enquired at reception about the mini-bar the day after checking in, and it was confirmed that the rewards nights didn’t qualify for free mini-bar – glad I checked, as the half bottles of Champagne are £50 each, and so I certainly wasn’t going to risk it at those prices. Also, they said that it was beverages only, not food items, for my paid stays. But internet was free throughout. And I was happy to pay the £70 per couple breakfast charges that others have complained about, as the breakfast there is great – complete with Champagne. This is Cannes, after all!

Anyway, with the new money going in to this property, hopefully things will get better and more consistent in terms of status recognition. I’ll probably go back anyway, as Mrs AMDB7 loves it there!

nicolas75

The programme of renovation was postponed because of the crisis that hit Morgan Stanley.
More details of the spa and residence : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/10064617-post86.html

boekel

for my upcoming stay tomorrow, nothing changed in my online reservation. Using a BOGO just the classic rooms were available.

So, I gave them a call to inquire about the status and the upgrade. They told me, that they do the upgrade only at check-in upon availability and for sure I would get upgraded to an exec. room.

On my response that throughout the year there are non bookable, the lady responded that they are only reserved for (royal) ambassadors and not bookable. I perceived this in a very arrogant tone , but this might be subjective.

As I've asked what's the difference in upgrade between amb and RA she really didn't come back with a difference, just stating the T&C's that RA will be upgraded to (invented fake?) executive rooms.

Never experienced such a poor and arrogant treatment with any IC.

As I don't want be left with an inferior room at check-in as they don't update the system even at the day of check-in I'm thinking to cancel the whole reservation and stay at home. Don't fancy 6.5 hours one-way drive only to be taken the mickey out of me at check-in.

Any idea how to get it eventually settled?

uk1

I don't think there is a way to get this settled before your arrival. It's the way this property works. You'll simply have to decide whether you can cope with a potential dissapointment in the hope it will be better when you arrive.

They seem to be tougher these days than they were. My last stay as an RA was on Palm D'Or night in the film festival a year or so ago and I was still upgraded to a sea-view suite but from reading recent reports it's now much more of a bit of a lottery.

boekel

thanks for your comment uk1. I think I'll sleep a further night over it and then decide tomorrow. As I had the impression that they couldn't care less, regardless of the status, I don't think that there will be a positive surprise. And for a dissapointment even 345 EUR are too much.

david-alexis

From reading reviews on here it looks like they are generous with upgrades but only at check-in. If you decide to go please let us know how did it go.

3xter

in march I was upgraded at check-in to a two room suite. I think that might have been because low occupancy.

boekel

now my booking shows magicly
1 KING BED EXEC SUPERIOR CITY VIEW ROOM
this category is not bookable online througout the year and I have the impression, thats just an invented fake category to fob off A's or RA's. I assume thats the same as superior city view room, which would be a one level upgrade from the classic room, which was the only available category on a BOGO. Anyway for me it looks intransparent and doesn't create trust. Not sure, what I will do yet.

EDIT: read the weather-forecast and decided based on that not to go. As it is supposed to rain the whole weekend I think its not funny to spend most of the time in the room, therefore the trip is cancelled

onlysuites

Any recent stays at this hotel? Can't find any in the report your stays thread.

Was thinking of booking using points, do they honor upgrade and mini bar on these stays?