escape4

If you were Plat, then I would have said it's possibly the reason. But as Titanium I would have expected better upgrade success for you then. Perhaps not stellar, but better than your record. Sorry to hear.

pinniped

At SHS and RI, I never expect upgrades. In fact, I don't think I stay in many SHS where there's anything to upgrade to - at least I rarely see true suites available to book.

I have yet to have my first Tribute experience.

itravelalot

And even if there is a suite at a Fairfield, Courtyard, or Residence Inn, it's unlikely to be that nice. It's not like these are 5-star properties with special amenities in the suites. The fact that more and more hotels at the limited-service brands are doing away with individual bottles of toiletries for dispensers is reflective of that. So you get the suite but you still get the communal bottle of shampoo that dozens of other guests before you have used.

friscotrvlr

There's always someone who think it's clever to come back with this witty rejoinder. I thought this forum was for people who were discussing the benefits of frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs not to discuss how easy it is to book suites.

One of the benefits of the Bonvoy loyalty is to get upgrades BECAUSE OF LOYALTY. Unfortunately, Marriott has demonstrated that they really don't care all that much anymore because their footprint exceeds that of their competition. They have devalued the points to just 1/2 a penny and rarely give upgrades. But, I know, I should just shut up and book a suite.

MePlatPremier

JBord

It's not a guarantee though. I think expectations are a little too high. As a Titanium I've been upgraded to a suite maybe 3 times in the past 6-7 months, and I always consider it a nice surprise. I've stayed at one specific hotel probably 10 times and been upgraded exactly once. The hotel usually seems pretty full and always seems to have at least one conference there, so I assume if an upgrade is available I'll get it...after the Ambassadors and other Titaniums that checked in before me get theirs.

Maybe SPG had some kind of guarantee suite upgrade, but Marriott never has. It's always been "if you want it, book it". It has nothing to do with Marriott not caring any more after the merger, it's really business as usual.

Sam Johnston

I'm glad I'm not alone in being bothered by the lack of LT titanium pathways (apparently short of buying a Marriott property!).

I think this is a bigger issue than people realise, because when us road warriors roll off the treadmill into leisure-only travel, we're going to be third in line behind ambassadors (who earn their keep every year) and LT titaniums (who may have got there from credit cards, meeting rooms, etc. while we've done the grind).

This is the main thing giving me pause about staying loyal right now (as a legacy SPG who's still coming to terms with the merger).

kaizen7

As an ambassador my suite upgrade rate is quite low as well although non suite upgrade is pretty high.
6 stays this year and 1 suite upgrade. The rest is just one cat upgrade (2 times) or none at all (3 times)
Although from 3 non upgrades, 2 of them is due to the room I booked is their standard suite already and 1 is due to the hotel host foreign dignitaries

Last year as SPG Plat,
From 22 stays, 6x suite upgrades, 2x suite upgrades due to SNA, 2x non upgrades, 3x non upgrades due to original booking was a suite, 2x few cat upgrades to the highest room category, and 7x one cat upgrades.

JBord

That's a good point. There are likely many times I'm "upgraded" and don't know it unless they tell me at the front desk. If I haven't stayed at the hotel before, I may not know the difference. I do know there are a few times when the FDC has mentioned at check in that they're giving me a bigger room or a corner room, etc. Or when I was in San Juan and upgraded from a city view to ocean view. There are only so many suites in any hotel (and sometimes none), and there may be more elites now than there were before the merger. I'm Titanium based on 2018 nights. But if weren't, I would be a LT Plat. Before the merger, I was probably 10 years away from LT Plat (old Gold), so I have to assume a lot of people with no current status were gifted a very nice LT status like I was.

I just think we see these rants about not being upgraded to a suite when 1) an upgrade isn't guaranteed, 2) we don't really know the status of the rooms in any property at any point in time, and 3) we don't know where we are in the pecking order in relation to other guests.

It's easy to blame lack of upgrades on Marriott having some secret, unpublished upgrade policy or being stingy about how they implement the written policy, but those 3 variables above really make it impossible for any of us to know the real cause for an upgrade or lack of one.

JBord

By the way, I have to add, it's kind of sad how the OP starts a thread about the good experiences he's had, and it quickly gets hijacked into another Marriott bashing thread, this time about upgrades. It's kind of like it's politically incorrect with a certain crowd to say you had a good experience at a Marriott, or good customer service, or got an upgrade. I'm sure there's an existing complaint thread one can add to instead.

pinniped

Very true.

Although there was one time about 10 years ago when I was staying in an old Courtyard in some nondescript North Dallas office park. It was $40/nt. on the weekends...I was bouncing around doing one-night stays to max out a Delta 5k-per-stay promo. There couldn't have been 20 cars in the entire parking lot and I was probably the only Platinum, so I got a ridiculously large Presidential Suite that I didn't even know existed at Courtyards. With my own boardroom and everything. It was worth a chuckle at the time and I still remember that stay. Little 2-story CY that was probably their original design from the 1980s or whenever. Most CY's probably do not have this kind of suite.

itravelalot

Owners have flexibility. Who knows. Maybe the suite was used by the hotel's big corporate client during the week or maybe the owner, if the owner ever visited.

yeunganson

I am going to repeat that hard truth: If you really need a suite, pay for one.

I am not sympathetic on the arguments such as that I stayed in low-end properties and now I use point redemption for the cheapest room on the highest-end property, I should get the penthouse suite upgrade because of my loyalty on the chain. For the franchisee hotel that is providing the upgrade, I sure look like a predatory customer. Gave them little in profit but demands lots in freebees.

Coming from the SPG side, pre-merger, you normally get the best room including standard suites. There are some predictability if you are repeated guests in certain hotels. Sheraton Hong Kong pre-merger always give SPG Plat a harbor view room or a suite facing the streets with a rare exception of a tower room upgrade. Westin Tokyo gives you a bigger room on their special floors with better amendities than the Westin brand products with a view of the Tokyo Tower and on rare occasions, upgrade to a suite.

For hotels you frequent often, the SPG corporate culture is to give (and encourage ?) franchisee hotels the freedom to upgrade beyond program minimum. In sacrificing consistency, you get time to time positive and memorable surprises. That includes a penthouse upgrade or driven around in an ultra-lux vehicle. There are the Suite-Night Awards that prioritize your suite upgrdes over other platinum members, but cannot over-ride those that is paying cash price for the suite.

You would think SPG/Marriott merging means elites having more choices and these upgrades should even out as there are more hotels in the chain. But we kind of have to stare reality in the face. I talked to managers on the legacy SPG hotels I frequent. They all admit there is an explosion of elites staying in proportion of total guests post-merger. For the few higher-end properties ($300+ /night) that I have repeated stays yearly, I needled in and asked if there are drastic increase in number of predatory free-loading customers - those that never had paid stays in the hotel but are using points stay only and managers of 3 hotels gave embarrassing looks and admit to this uptick. In the franchisee hotel's perspective, these are not loyal repeating paying customers of that hotel. These are predatory customers that aren't giving them profits but expects all the benefits of a repeating customer.

This is the negative side affect for a loyalty program that have brands that cover all the way from low-end to high-end to very high end (aspirational). You have many low-end frequent customers that redeem in high end properties while very few high end frequent customers redeeming free nights in low-end properties. In a franchisee hotel management perspective, the low-end hotels are getting all the cash nights (aka profits) while the high-end hotel is being used for benefit redemption but not the share of those profits.

The airlines have this figured out to separate those premium customers (that they really want to keep) and those bottom feeders that happen to get status through mileage runs. They introduce minimum spending requirements for each elite status. So we're heading towards that area. Ambassador Level have a spending requirement of $US 20,000. Marriott can put in spending requirements for Titanium and Platinum members and make the benefits having more teeth.

itravelalot

Talk about snooty. Heaven's forbid the great unwashed masses not only use the loyalty program but expect the advertised benefits. If whatever properties you're talking about don't want these customers then they should de-flag. It's the cost of doing business. Most customers aren't loyal to a given hotel in Marriott's portfolio of 6,000 (or whatever the number is now) hotels. They're loyal to Marriott. It's not like the hotels get nothing for a guest staying on points.

freed0m