upgrade policy

I have been staying at the Lansing Courtyard for the past few months and everytime I request an upgrade with my Gold Status I get a refusal. The girl at the frontdesk always tells me that there are no suites available. Last night there was this new girl who came out with the truth and said that the manager has asked them not to do any upgrades.
Now my question is - is the Gold/Platinum upgrade at the discretion of the manager or is there any other MAriott laws that overrule that discretion.

Thanx
Kanishka

I too, am a Marriott Gold member and have NEVER been upgraded to a suite in a courtyard. When staying at a true Marriott property, again, I have NEVER been upgraded to a suite, but will quite often be upgraded to the concierge level.

This is one of the biggest reasons why I have moved my loyalty to the Hilton products. Better Perks and recognition.

I stay frequently at a Courtyard in the Detroit metro area,and am gold. When I first started going there, I was never upgraded. I then had a discussion with the manager,and complained. The manager flat out told me that they would never upgrade to a suite. Further,they would not upgrade to a spa room when the regular rooms were sold out or almost sold out because they could make an extra $20 to $30 per room by selling the spas to customers who needed a room, any room. Her attitude was that maybe I would get an upgrade when staying at a large Marriott, but not at a Courtyard. By the way, since this confrontation with the manager, I have been regularly upgraded to a spa. Clearly, despite what Marriott says in its upgrade policy for golds, it has not required that its Courtyard managers give out the upgrades, but has left it largely to their discretion. For some Courtyard managers, this means they just don't give them out. Finally, rather than being treated as a welcome guest with Marriott, you are faced with accepting a clearly unfair situation that flies in the face of Marriott's policy, or having an unpleasant confrontation with a manager or desk clerk.

When I get the "no upgrade rooms are available", I call later and check to see if a room is available as if I am going to make a reservation. If it is, then I return to desk to question them. Of course, it they say it is "policy" not to upgrade, a different issue.

Under terms and conditions of Marriott Elite Membership, #7 states:

"Local policy may prevail over program standards at hotels, and some benefits may not be available at some locations."

This seems to say that local management can do whatever they choose with respect to upgrades and all other Elite benefits.

The times I've been upgraded to suites have mostly been on award stays - go figure!

On paid stays, if a suite isn't available, I ask for a corner King room, which is generally much more spacious and am rarely turned down for this. This especially makes a difference at the Marriott Marquis in NY or the JW in Atlanta.

In my experience, the rooms on the concierge level are no big deal; the only difference I have experienced is delivery of the Wall Street Journal and USA Today each morning, and being closer to the concierge lounge. Access to the concierge lounge should be made available to you as a Gold or Platinum anyway.

Kanishka -

As a longer-term guest, refusing you an upgrade is really pretty cheap. I think the upgrade is the only valuable perk of elite membership, and local management should not be allowed any discretion at all. Does Marriott value our business or not?

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Tony

For us, the problem seems to be much more with Courtyards as a brand than other Marriott types. We always seem to be stuck in a room next to the elevator, or at the end of a mile long corridor. Upgrade? What is that? And we're Plats. Thus we'll either stay at a "real" Marriott, or save the money and go to a Fairfield Inn. LexPassenger is at a Fairfield this weekend, after the Courtyard at BNA refused to guarantee his reservation for a non-smoking room.

I've had hit or miss regarding upgrades. In Rochester NY I have been upgraded to a suite every visit. (monthly trip). Its the newest Marriott in town and I guess its either that the front desk clerks recognize me or its mentioned in my profile. Other than this location, my request is met with a firm denial.

Hi, I am brand new to this -- both Marriott and the board. I stayed at a Residence Inn because they were fixing my home (71 days!). Thankfully the insurance co. payed me back, but I kept the points and Elite status. When I went to the Marriott Courtyard in Fairfax, VA I was told that there were no double suites available. I asked him to look again, and walked away investigating the lobby. When he moved back to the main desk he checked my into the upgraded suite. I guess that maybe having it on my reservation, and giving him the chance helped me this time.

This thread hits a nerve. I checked in to a Residence Inn last night. The same hotel upgraded me last week. This week, they told me they didn't have any room upgrades. I checked the web site and called the 800 number, an upgraded room was available.

Marriott guest relations called the hotel; he was told by the night clerk that "he was not allowed to do upgrades."

What a crock. Great way to inspire loyaly from a guest who spent thousands of dollars with Marriott last year. If anyone from Marriott's reading this and wondering why their frequent guests are deserting to Starwood and Hilton in droves, this might serve as a pretty good illustration.

I'm a Platinum, by the way. Never once, not a single time, ever, received an upgrade when I was a gold (or what was called "black" a couple of years ago).

[This message has been edited by dgolds (edited 04-24-2001).]

I've been stating at a Renaissance for 3 or 4 nights a week for the past 4 months and haven't been upgraded to a suite. Every time I check in I ask if any are available. With the exception of 2 times, a suite has been available. Last week, when I checked in, the clerk informed me that suites are available starting at $350 a night. I responded "Not for a platinum guest requesting an upgrade." He put me in an executive king on the concierge floor.

Two colleagues of mine have been staying at a Hyatt in town for as long as I have been at the Renaissance (they are diamond). THis week one is in the Presedential Suite and the other has a huge double suite.

I'm just frustrated with Marriott's treatment of elites in general. If I wasn't a slave to the points, I'd switch.

I was curious about how Marriott's upgrade policy works so I called the manager at the Renaissance I'd been staying at for the past 4 months. He claims they adhere to Marriott standard policy. He said, every day, they print an arrivals report and Marriott ranks the value (sounded like it was based on more than status, perhaps revenue and repeat business as well) of each customer checking in that day. Upgrades are then doled out in order of rank from the available inventory.

If anybody knows the exact formula for determining rank, let me know.

Here's what Marriott's site lists as a benefit of Platinum status:

Room Upgrade
Participating brands:
All except Marriott Vacation Club International

Pretty clear to me. No mention of "subject to hotel policies." If they don't deliver, they ought to consider taking this language off their site and program literature.