Nirvanayoung

As a lifetime platinum member, recently I had a not so good stay experience in one Renaissance hotel, upon the last day before check in, hotel sent me a SMS stating that according to hotel sales policy, twin bed room could NOT be upgraded to King-size bed room, no matter whether the availability permits, I called to hotel and the guest service manager treated very abruptly and indifferently, just repeated the one-way policy, then I cancelled my reservation without any hesitation.

After escalation to regional customer service, an initial response was sent via email just quoted a simple clause from the membership T&Cs, "4.3.c. Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite Membership Benefits. ii. Complimentary Enhanced Room Upgrade for Platinum Elite Members.Enhanced Room Upgrades are subject to availability and are identified by each Participating Property. ", my understanding of the hotel's right is still based on availability condition, namely hotel may reserve the right to define the portion of availability, but they can not set other rules on top of that. but one customer service lady interpreted the opposite way and ignored my complaints for the follow-up call, she insisted that hotel has right to decide which room could be upgraded even if the availability is not an issue (or under the available condition).

I am quite upset upon those aggressive and indifferent attitude from both hotel and Marriott customer service team, and this experience made retrospect on my long-time loyalty to Marriott, appreciate if anyone could share your thoughts or suggestions.

hedoman

Simple advice.....give it up. Or, read some posts on here before you type for first time.

Oxon Flyer

Suggest it would be rather more welcoming to a brand new FT member for replies to include links to posts that explain whether or not a twin-bed booking is upgradeable to a different bed type, eg if there are no upgraded rooms of the same bed type available.

Nirvanayoung

I did read some of the posts here and could not find a direct answer before I submitted my first post, but thanks for your comments.

williamluk

Change from a twin-bed room to a King bed room (I am assuming they are of same size and amenities) is an upgrade??? You really learnt something new everyday 😂

Nirvanayoung

I had the same feeling as soon as I heard it from the hotel, apparently they set the so-called strategy and tricks (different price on different bed types), what really let me down is how they use it to treat the guests, the hotel stated that they don't care whether I will escalate it to the customer service since they devoted time to review the T&Cs, what an attitude.

DJ_Iceman

I feel like we're missing some of the facts here, but given the harsh penalty for a hotel that does not honor a guest's confirmed bed type I can see why they wouldn't upgrade a room when it results in a bedding change. When it matters to me, I will let the front desk associate know when I check in that, if they have room type X or suite type Y available, even in a different bedding configuration, I'll be happy to take the upgrade.

ElevatorEnthusiast

At least, the hotel notified you beforehand so that you could cancel. However, it does seem like their policy is a tad ridiculous, especially if given as a rule with no exceptions.

littlevoices

Hi Nirvanayoung, welcome to Flyertalk and sorry it isn't under better circumstances.

I can give a counter example of a Renaissance hotel I booked recently (in Malaysia) where the only rooms available during booking were twin beds, and me noting in the small comments box I'd prefer a King bed brought about a change of room a few days before the stay to a room with a king, plus a bit of an upgrade (note have stayed at the hotel once before and am Ambassador). I use this as an example of another hotel doing what is right and creates good guest kudos - don't judge an entire brand by one bad example. In this case I feel the hotel you were staying at is making up their own policy and, as others have said, one best avoided if you can. It is a shame that Marriott customer service is so unable to address this, but there have been lots of examples recently of their poor first level of support doing a terrible job of understanding policies and procedures properly. Only a sharp email or letter to more senior people, or the likes of the lurkers (social media representatives of Marriott on this forum) will change such behaviour.

So, I think you did the right thing to cancel as this sounds important to you, and only through consistent rejection of this type of treatment will get the message through (and it isn't just a misunderstanding or poor English on a text message, which it seems not to be in this case). You can feel free to name and shame the hotel here/on tripadvisor so others are aware when they consider staying there.

fungnet

Try to email in advance
if things still not getting properly during stay then skip this hotel forever

if Marriott don’t care much, you have the right to switch to other chains ultimately

nacho

Which hotel is that?

Adam1222

There is a lack of specifics here that make a huge difference. Some are assuming OP is referring to a hotel that has a single room category with 2 options: a single king bed and "twin." That is unusual though- if anything, hotels would have a category with two doubles vs. a king, or a category two twins vs a queen. But

​​​​​SOme hotels offer a small room with one or two twin size beds, and then a room with a king bed is several room categories up. (For example, the Renaissance Hamburg offers a "smaller guest room" with 1 double bed; a guest would not be entitled to an upgrade, much less a pre-approval one to a king sized room. Similarly, the Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe's base room is the "Stand'R", which has 1 queen bed, which is about 40 EUR cheaper than a Superior room that has a king - again, a guest would not be entitled to that upgrade.)

​​​​​That would be a different situation than a hotel that offers the same room category in options with two twins or a king.. But to the OP, the hotel is not under any obligation to upgrade you to a room of your choosing.

WillBarrett_68

It's not what OP booked, so yes, in the sense that he's not really entitled to it.

Xero

Welcome to FT.

Sadly, the upgrade benefit is very inconsistent. Marriott states that it is "subject to availability". However, they don't define what that is, and they live it with the hotels to decide.

Often, hotels still refuse to upgrade, even if there is ample room space available. This especially happens for multi-night stays. The hotel thinks "What if something happens and we get a bunch of bookings tomorrow? Better hold those suites for sale just in case."

With Marriott, view upgrades as a gift. If you really want a certain room, book it directly.

But I get where you are coming from. With loyalty, you hope you can save some money by booking a cheaper room and hope to get upgraded to a better room. When I first started staying at Marriotts often, I thought the same thing as well.

WillBarrett_68

so you booked the twin to save a few bucks and now you're mad that the hotel delivered what you booked and agreed to?

you play the game, sometimes you win and sometimes you... get exactly what you asked for.