PIONEER

What are the odds of an upgrade with a lifetime PM card?

We're booked for 6 paid days in June, obviously including a weekend. I'm wondering if we can't get upgraded on checkin on Thursday, if we could get a subsequent upgrade for the weekend at least.

Th rates are reasonable, with a discount for the weekend, plus a sr.citizen disct (>62, just qualified).

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

bdschobel

I've never failed to be upgraded at the Frankfurt Marriott. I'm also lifetime PM and also just turned 62, coincidentally.

Bruce

PIONEER

Thanks BD. Your advice from such an esteemed member of FT gives me some hope for a pleasant experince.

I do give Marriott (similar to DL and others) a lot of credit for the lifetime status. It was one thing that kept me focusing on both of them prior to retirement.

chrisny2

Just finished a stay here. I found the lounge to be weird and disappointing. There were certainly a number of food offerings, but the quality was really not good. Also the groups of businessmen were LOUD. (I suppose there are pros and cons to serving free drinks from 6:00pm to midnight.)

Most of the employees were friendly enough, but the service was just not that refined.

Also, housekeeping service was weird. I called down to ask for turndown service and came back to my room to find the only thing done was to put a stack of towels and a bunch of extra toiletries in the bathroom.

I had just come from the Grand Hyatt Berlin, where the club lounge and service had a MUCH more refined and European feel.

The rooms in the Marriott were stylish - but really it felt like I was in a Marriott in Des Moines. (Which a lot of people coming to the convention hall probably love - so it's mostly a matter of taste.)

PIONEER

Well, there is another thread on this but I can't find it. I just wanted to say that we just got back from a week there and the experience and people could not have been better. As PM we were upgraded after the first day. The concierge lounge is great (free wine and beer) , and we got free breakfast coupons on the weekend days when the lounge was closed. Rates were resonanable. Strongly recomended. Walking distance to shopping and the train station.

Billiken

Just completed a 4-night revenue stay.

No upgrade, but given lounge status (located on the 43 floor).
Excellent breakfast and all-day "spread" of food.

Staff was great.

ATM in the lobby gave me a very reasonable Euro/USD exchange rate.
(Was absolutely not a rip-off)

Hotel is a quick tram ride north from the Hauptbahnhof (train station).
Tram stop is maybe 50 meters from the front of the hotel.

Easy tram ride(s) to Sachsenhausen (south side of Main River). Head there for a great variety of reasonably priced restaurants.

For laundry service, dry cleaning, etc (much cheaper than hotel).
There is a shop within easy walking distance.I dropped off laundry (wash/fold) early in the morning and it was ready after 18:00 the same day (call to verify) YMMV

SkiAdcock

Thanks for the trip report & the tip re: laundry.

Cheers.

chrisny2

Glad you had a good stay! But the exchange rate was likely a matter of your bank, not of Marriott. (In other words, the ATM just charged your account in Euros and your bank dealt with exchanging that to your home currency.)

Red259

Looking for a marriott hotel recommendation for frankfurt germany. I wanted to use points to save money but the room rates don't seem to be super high. I'm in frankfurt for only one night when I am coming back from Greece and will have an early morning flight back to the US. I have gold status.

BaltimoreZ71

The full service Frankfurt Marriott is nice. We have stayed there several times as we have relatives near Frankfurt. Plus it is really your only choice unless you want to stay at the Moxy property in Eschborn (suburbs) or at the Courtyard in Wiesbaden (next city over).

SkiAdcock

What time do you arrive from Greece & what time do you depart? The 3 Frankfurt properties are all about 15-20 minutes from the airport. None provide shuttle service, so you'll need to do public transport, Uber or taxi.

If you'll arrive in FRA in time to use the exec lounge & have a bit of a wander around, you might want to go to the FRA Marriott. There's a combo of train/tram that will drop you in front of the Marriott.

If you're getting in late & leaving early, I'd pick the least expensive. A Moxy opened up last week.

Cheers.

Non-NonRev

The downtown Marriott is across the street from the Messe (convention center). As stated above, S-Bahn to the central station, then a tram 4 stops to the hotel.

The Wiesbaden Courtyard would involve S-Bahn to Wiesbaden station then a 6 mile cab ride.

New Moxy would involve 2 S-Bahn rides plus a cab from s-bahn station.

Taxi direct to/from the airport for any of these three would run from �35 (for downtown) to 80 or more, negating savings from using points.

With the morning departure in mind, and not knowing how much luggage is involved, staying at FRA would be a much better option. There are 3 hotels attached to Terminal 1 via walkway, Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn and the Sheraton. Your info shows you are HH gold, maybe you could do points there? The big advantage would be the ability to check out and walk into the Terminal, rather than stressing transportation to the airport in the early morning hours.

SkiAdcock

I think it depends on what time the OP gets into Frankfurt. If it's not late at night & he can use the exec lounge/wander around Frankfurt, I'd stay downtown vs. just at the airport, as it's not that hard to do the Sbahn/tram to/from FRA.

However, if he's getting in more nighttime & leaving next morning, I totally agree w/ you re: staying at FRA. I've stayed at the FRA Sheraton but not the Hilton or HGI. If he gets upgraded to exec level (not guaranteed) at Hilton, he'd then have access to the Hilton exec lounge.

Cheers.

LondonElite

Just to correct slightly, taxi from airport to Marriott is typically �35 after the recent fare hike. Depending on how interested you are in a nice dinner, this is a much nicer location than staying at the airport.

SkiAdcock

This thread has details on all 3 Marriott properties (some w/ pics) & very detailed instructions if one was doing the public transit option to the Marriott.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...t-germany.html

Cheers.