JC1976

I have lifetime platinum and 1k at United gets gold at Marriott if they continue their cross benefits. They should just give me titanium for life

Since they started suite upgrade vouchers I noticed I don’t get automatic upgrades as much. But it all depends on the hotel, a JW I never stayed at refused my suite upgrade request but at check in gave a me a double upgrade. So the the debate is what is worth more the suite upgrades or one free night options when becoming titanium?

margarita girl

Easy. How many hotels have given you a free night?

JC1976

well almost a night at the hotels i regularly stay at they let me check in at 9am and out by 8pm or before midnight or they need to charge me a night. They do this for me not because of status but because I frequently stay there for over 10 years.

the perk with the suite upgrade is that you get to choose the some rooms you’d like to be upgraded to. I was double upgraded for 4 nights with voucher and had i paid for it would have costed double than 1 free night there. I found it Difficult to get upgraded when using free nights since the hotel gets reimbursed about half back from Marriot had it been paid.

Boraxo

At 65 EQN now thanks to the credit card refresh, From the quotes below it sounds like it isn't worth a mattress run as the upgrades at US properties (beyond higher floors, etc) are not guaranteed. That said, I think it likely I will visit Marriott and RC hotels in Spain and Japan next year where Titanium might have some value?

craigthemif

Stretch to Titanium if the numbers work for you - based on the value of the 75-night free night award and the extra bonus points in 2023.

Doing it based on the hope that you will get better upgrades overseas is a waste of money IMO. Hotels that treat Titaniums well also do the much of the same for Plats...

nacho

It depends on your travel pattern next year. You need to figure out if they are paid/point stays, as T earns more points than P. Do you get the SNA/FNA when you get the nights through CC? If you get them, take them into account (personally SNA is pretty useless IMO).

Once you factored all those in and you know the cost for mattress run, you should be able to see if it's worth it. Don't count on upgrade as they are obliged to do 1 category upgrade. Book the room you can live with and take the upgrade as a pleasant surprise.

margarita girl

I am travelling with a group of people and we just checked into a European Marriott resort property. We had booked 5 rooms for 2 nights (all checking in today). The hotel is sold out for the next 2 nights (golf tournament). SNAs could not be applied to any reservations going back 2 months.

Surprisingly, 4 out of our 5 rooms were upgraded to suites. Everyone had originally booked an ocean front room.

1) LT Tit upgraded to suite.
2) Gold member (from UA status) upgraded to suite.
3) Gold member (from UA status) upgraded to suite.
4) No status member upgraded to suite (room booked by LT Tit member #1)
5) LT Tit member (MG) booked ocean front room and that’s what she got (no suite).

I was the only one who reached out to the hotel via chat this morning to ask about a suite upgrade. The response was:

”Unfortunately we don’t have any suite available at the moment. Although your room is one of the best on the category booked.”

The only thing that stands out is that I am the only female in the group but not sure if that has anything to do with it. WWYD, if anything?

(I am not prepared to identify the property while I am still here, so be patient.)

Will08

Have you questioned the hotel about it? You are in a great spot where they cannot blag you regarding status of the other individuals. I would want to know if this was a decision made by an actual human or if it was made by a computer and the technology has failed.

i once upgraded a flight with miles onboard, I didn’t upgrade prior to boarding as I was well aware the flight was oversold and as a Plat I should have been top priority for the Op up. When the purser came and spoke to me to take my miles details she frowned upon realising my status and then stated she didn’t understand why I hadn’t received an Op up. Point is on that occasion technology had failed as opposed to human error. Subsequently she didn’t charge me the miles.

If a hotel is full it is full but when you know others with less status have received an upgrade I’d want to know why. Did everyone pay the same amount? Were any of the bookings made on points? Were the upgrades in order of checkin?

margarita girl

Upgrades #1 and 4 were checking in at the same time as me. Upgrade #2 right after me and upgrade #3 about an hour later as they made a stop on the way. I didn’t find out about upgrade #3 until much later which is when I started questioning the validity of my Tit status at this hotel. It’s now evening staff so I have not broached the subject with the hotel. I don’t want to come off as a DYKWIA.

It’s not often that you’re in the position of having so much data, which will be much to the chagrin of the hotel I’m sure.

UA-NYC

Marriott in a nutshell to me

Please do escalate w/the property and report back

Herb687

Stay at Marriott properties in the USA and the upgrade treatment will be much more consistent.

Guests 1-5 would all be denied suite upgrades.

Problem solved. Bonvoy!

DELee

Oof.

David

gudugan

I'm at a random Courtyard in Europe and the checkout time is 11am. I asked for a late 1pm checkout and was denied. Tried to negotiate to 12pm and got 11:30am because there are a lot of reservations coming in and they need the room for cleaning.

Probably would have gone better if I spoke the local language, but oh well here we are.

jpdx

On the topic of upgrades, two recent examples:

(1) I recently attended a small Do with some frequent flyer friends at a Luxury Collection property in Europe. I (Tit) was given a large, but completely unrenovated (1980s style) room. Other Tits received tiny (200sqft-ish), but newly renovated rooms. Several Plats and one Gold received suites. Suited me fine in that scenario, because somebody else's room ended up being the party suite, but clearly, status meant nothing at that property.

(2) Checked in a couple weeks ago at a Sheraton in Europe. Next to me, a Plat checked in. I received a club room with poor view. Ran into the Plat in the hallway the next day, just as she left a suite. Now, of course, properties will base upgrade decisions on factors other than status (most notably, stay history and spend at the particular property), but in the first example, we were all first-time guests on the same rate, and in the second, the woman was a first time visitor to the city (per elevator conversation), while it was my 4th or 5th stay at the property.

So I think, status means very little in terms of upgrades; in fact, there are several annoying "I see a suite on the app, why am I not getting it" credit card Plats on Whatsapp Travel groups I'm a member of, and their .....ing and moaning at check-in yields far greater upgrade success than any Tit who accepts what they're given could ever dream of.

gudugan

Generally I’m traveling solo so I don’t really care about an upgrade, it just looks nice sometimes in photos. I am annoyed when benefits aren’t applied as they should.

If I really want a suite for a special occasion I would apply SNA and say I’m celebrating a special occasion in arrival email. Realistically this is 5% of stays or less. It works pretty well.

Most chain hotels are pretty boring and there should be a reason to stay there eg
- you get something better than you booked (upgrades)
- someone else is paying
- you want consistency (benefits)
- you are redeeming points for a marquee property

For the fourth point I never got the point of paying the cash rate for a high end chain property. I’d much rather spend the same amount at a boutique hotel and get better service and quality. Essentially I am putting the time and money in for redemptions.

I’m not sure I’ll abandon Marriott but my motivation to grind out nights is about 0 right now since I’ll hit LTP in 3 years by just holding CCs.