I apologize if there is another thread out there addressing this, I didn’t see anything recent. I am only gold status with Marriott, but I usually do not get upgraded. I’m wondering how Marriott does this, when it says on their site:

"When you check in, we’ll upgrade you to our best-available guest room at no additional charge. Not available for suites at Marriott Vacation Club International. For Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites, upgrades from studio to 1- or 2-bedrooms are not guaranteed. For The Ritz-Carlton, Club Level and suites are excluded."

Doesn’t that mean that if there is a better room available I should get it? I am staying at a property this week that said they only upgrade platinum members. They did tell me there was an ocean view room available that I could have for an additional $100 a night. We did end up being upgraded after a lot of discussion... but I just thought it wasnt right that they were going to charge me $700 (we are staying for a week.)

Thanks!

you should get that upgrade for free.
Which property your were staying at ?

Ditto to cln's port. You should have gotten this upgrade without cost or argument.

The hotel is trying to boost its bottom line, and IMO the tactic of treating elite members like stupid lemmings is by far one of the most tacky and egregious things a hotel can do.

Please let us know what property this is as it would be beneficial to all of us, and who knows perhaps Marriott Concierge or other MR lurker will be proactive and have a chat with the hotel and straighten their sorry ... out. One can always hope.

As mentioned, you definitely shouldn't have to "argue" with the front desk person to get that upgrade. (Assuming that the room in question wasn't also a suite room.)

During the "discussions", did you speak with a manager? I ask as it is possible that the problem was a lack of training for the front desk person you spoke with rather than the hotel attempted to go with their own rules. If you did not, I would suggest you contact the hotel management and ask them what they consider the policy to be. If they agree that the front desk person was incorrect, then you can let them know who that person was and they can work on that person's training.

Please let us know what property it is! You should also consider complaining to MR so this resort can be held accountable. As a gold, you should get an upgrade to the best available room, but some Marriotts hold these rooms back for their Plat guests. But trying to sell you an upgrade is uncalled for!

It sounds like you are staying with your spouse or significant other at a resort. If its a special ocassion, I will sometimes email or call the GM at the resort I plan on staying at a few days before arrival, and ask about the possibility of an upgrade. Doesn't always work, but may help you in the future.

Regards,

RIP...

Hi �

I am staying at the Marriott Resort in Kauai � I should have mentioned that; I am not sure if it makes a difference that it is a resort (?), and more importantly � I booked with rewards points. I am not sure if that negates an upgrade � my understanding was that it didn�t.

A bit more background:
We stayed at the Marriott Waikiki for three nights prior to checking in here. At the Waikiki Marriott, we did get upgraded, and the women was very nice. She said that we should have called ahead of time and they would have reserved an even better room for us. (The res did not have my rewards number / status on it because my husband had booked it.)

On her advice, I called this Marriott, the Marriott Kauai Resort, and said I would be arriving the following day and wanted to see if there were any upgrades available, it was my honeymoon and I have gold status. They offered me the $100 a night upgraded ocean view room from the garden view room I had booked. I declined. I asked how they could offer me the upgrade for a cost, and not give it to me for free, they said that they only upgraded platinum statuses. I figured I would try my chances with someone else and called back again later in the day� the person I spoke with then actually said they knew that I had already been offered a $100 a night upgrade, which was a significant discount, and that was all they could do.

I was a little ticked, and had some time waiting for our flight at the airport, so I called Marriott to see about this �only upgrade platinum� policy. The reservation line transferred me to customer service, but it was after hours and they were closed.

When I did arrive here, I asked about the upgrade and was told we couldn�t have an upgrade, unless we wanted to pay $100 a night. I said we couldn�t afford that, but thought I was entitled to a free upgrade. I also said it was our honeymoon, and it was to bad they weren�t honoring the status upgrade. He said it was based on availability, and I said it was clearly available if they were going to charge me $700! He wasn�t budging, and I really didn�t want to argue and was trying to be pleasant, I just said that maybe I did not understand the policy. Then I mentioned that I had called CS but there were closed and was going to call the next day do I was sure they would explain the policy to me so that I understood�..then� SHOCKER, Upgrade! We are in a partial ocean view room. There is an entire tower of full ocean view rooms, pretty sure it is not booked (and although there are vacation club properties here, the rooms I am talking about are NOT part of the vacation club.)

Anyway � nothing would get me down on my honeymoon And I really do like the property, I really was just hoping for a nice upgrade � both because of status, and it being my honeymoon (although admittedly there are a lot of honeymooners here.) I probably wouldn�t even have thought much about it had they not tried to charge me, that just really ticked me off.

I appreciate the feedback � and Im sorry if I am way off base expecting an upgrade when I booked on points. I am a newbie with the status stuff. With most of my travel being for leaiusure and not work - its all on my own dime, and I want to make sure I am spending it with properties who appreciate loyalty the most!

Thanks again!

for the upgrade it shouldnt matter if u stay on points or cash.

Delete

Nope, not a timeshare.