Room availability for upgrades
 

Hey everyone

I'm a Titanium Elite member and have a question about upgrade availability. I've had it on a number of occasions where I've arrived at check-in (not having used a SNA) and the check-in desk have told me there is no availability for an upgrade, even though I can see (and presumably book) higher category rooms on the website for the same dates. The rooms available are suites and higher category standard rooms (i.e. not rooms that would be out of scope for elite upgrades). After I've pointed this out, sometimes the check-in desk have seemingly magically "freed up" an avaiable room, but sometimes they insisted that the website availability is wrong and there are not higher category rooms available. I find that hard to believe since I would imagine a company as large as Marriott would have something as core as their reservation system built robustly.

Does anyone else have experience of this and any idea whether the check-in desk staff are just trying to keep the higher category rooms available for other members/paying guests or is the reservation system genuinely often that incorrect between the website and the actual available inventory?

"We’ll do our best to upgrade your room upon arrival (including Select Suites). Upgrades are subject to availability identified by each hotel and limited to your personal guest room. Subject to terms and conditions." Just because hotels have suites and better rooms available for sale doesn't mean they have to upgrade members. For example a hotel that has 15 suites might only have 2 or 3 available as upgrades. Those might of already been taken by ambassadors or those with SNA's. Basically hotels have free reign on whether they choose to upgrade guests or not.

So do you think them claiming that a room is unavailable even though it's available on the website is just an excuse because they don't want to upgrade the member even though there is available inventory?

Yes absolutely. There are threads on here that talk about upgrades received at certain hotels. Typically if I'm looking for better upgrades I tend to check that or specific threads on the hotels before booking.

Got it, thanks a lot for confirming!

Yes, it is an excuse. I had a recent paid stay with Amex FHR (which is supposed to provide a one-level upgrade if available) and my Titanium status, and my room actually got downgraded from what I booked (i.e. accessible room next to the elevator, with none of my preferences accounted for). It was a one-night stay, and I wasn't going to spend time fighting it. But I will never recommend that hotel to others, and I'll eventually get around to calling it out on TripAdvisor. I don't think the hotel in question will care.

When I am choosing hotels for repeat stays, I have started looking at how I was treated during my initial stay. Did I get a top floor, clean, quiet room as a Titanium? Or did I get a dirty room with a dumpster view on the bottom floor with complimentary distinctive party smoke smell when the hotel was empty? Sometimes that leads me back to a Marriott-branded hotel. Other times, it might be a Hilton, Hyatt, etc. if they took great care of me.

I've been doing the same with airlines, and I'm much happier with this approach.

I don't think the inventory if incorrect from the website because if you book, they have an obligation to give you the room or risk forfeiting the Ultimate Reservation Guarantee.

They probably don't want to bother upgrading and dealing with a late check out, to save inventory for potential sale (especially if you are staying more than one night), or perhaps save on housekeeping fees (smaller rooms are easier to clean)?

I've definitely had front desk associates straight up and lie / say it's not available. Obviously at that point, they can't just backtrack once they're committed.

I’m only gold with a few hotel chains, but with them and FHR time of day you check in sometimes makes a difference - eg if it’s a bit later the higher room categories will have been serviced

Of course. Why should they give you a nicer room than the category you booked?

The phrase "we are sold out for tonight" is magic because 99.9999% of the people will give up asking after hearing the reply. I have seen some FTers here pulling up inventory and showed the FDC that there's XXX suites available and I remember once I saw a FTer who booked the suite he wanted to get upgraded to and cancel it just before he checked in to his regular room to make sure the suite is available for him.

My strategy: vote with your wallet, support those hotels that treat you nice.

Not a Marriott thing, this happens with every chain. Some hotel managers have a policy of treating elites well, others have a policy of treating them no better than anyone else.

There's not much you can do except look at the FT threads in advance to try to see if it's a property that generally grants upgrades. Hotels that don't make a good first impression, I make it a point to avoid in the future.

I feel like it varies from franchise to franchise, and also by brand. Some brands, like Courtyard or Four Points, might not acknowledge status other than "Thank you for being a ... member." I bet those rooms are available, they just want to try to sell those first before giving them out. Surprisingly, some OTAs have been able to offer guaranteed upgrades for their members, albeit only available at certain "partner" properties

My unscientific opinion is the upgrade rate has gotten worse the past 18 months to coincide with increased demand even if rooms go unsold that would be available for an upgrade… I also think some of the staff at the hotels are not “career” hospitality people and simply doing a job that was open 12 months ago and that has impacted the formality of being treated as a top tier elite…
But my success rate has been pretty good even with those noted factors (including many in Europe) probably because i choose to frequent the hotels i know are treating me as a loyal guest, which are predominately traditional Starwood portfolio hotels which to me always had a better upgrade rate than traditional Marriott portfolio.

Plenty of hotel saw us, member of their own brand loyalty programs as liabilities.
The management and their peons just don't want to upgrade the elites.
Claiming that the apps inventory is wrong is the easiest lame answer they can prepare.

Interestingly, if you did book the said suite at last minute, magically the apps inventory is correct after all.

If in apps availablity is that unreliable, imagine how many guests those dodgy hotels have to walk everyday?

Absolutely.

Availability for upgrade is not necessarily defined the same as availability for sale. :idea: