On the website, the upgrade policy for Gold members is:

"When you check in, we'll upgrade your room whenever we can at no additional charge. Not available at Marriott Vacation Club International locations."

For Plat. members the upgrade policy is:

"When you check in, we'll upgrade you to our finest available accommodations - whenever we can - at no additional charge. Not available at Marriott Vacation Club International locations."

There is a distinction in the wording, is there one in practice?

I made Gold this month... Now I am deciding whether or not I should push for Plat. before the end of March.

Although others have touched upon this in postings, I'd also like to hear if others have seen noticeable differences in upgrades offered between Gold and Platinum. I haven't noticed any difference at Marriotts, but I generally stay at cookie-cutter ones that probably don't really have different room grades other than standard or concierge.

Has anyone had luck getting suite upgrades? My only one was a bump up to a Junior Suite at the Renaissance Mayflower when I was Gold.

[This message has been edited by snorkmaster (edited 02-24-2002).]

Since earning Platinum late last year, I've been about 50-50 on upgrades. Half the time, I get "upgraded" to a concierge-level room. The other half, I get upgraded to a junior or full suite. The best result was last week in Waikiki, when the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort upgraded me to a full suite on an award stay for being Platinum.

The key, I've found, is the remind them at checkin that you want the upgrade. Often times they "upgrade" me to a concierge room before I check in. But I always ask if there are any suites available, and if they are, I've always gotten them.

When in doubt, call just before you check in and ask if they have any suites available to book for the time you're staying. If they do, thank them and tell them you'll call back. When you check in, if they claim there are no suites available, remind them that their reservations agents are happy to sell you a room, and therefore a room must be available, so you'd like that suite.

Remember, though, to be polite!

I have been upgraded to some "awesome" (as my kids would say) rooms as a Platinum, including the Presidential Suite at the Ontario Airport Marriott (no snickering, please). Now, if the hotel is sold out, there are no upgrades but I have found that if there is a nicer room available, I get it.

If you are Platinum and are staying on an award, do you find that they upgrade you if it is available? What about at European properties? Just curious how this all "works" as we've never been higher than Gold until now. Thanks

I'm Platinum and have been upgraded both in Europe and Asia on a consistent basis -- both on paid trips and on award trips. Just finished a weekend at San Francisco Marriott at Fisherman's Wharf and was placed in a Junior Suite (ok, nothing special) paying a rate of less than $100 (web special)

A few observations:

Hotels get reimbursed at a very respectable rate for award stays, so it's not unreasonable for a Platinum to expect an upgrade on an award, assuming the space is available.

Like DADISGARYK, we've had some very sweet suite upgrades, and some of those have been on award stays.

Hotels may also be more amenable to suite upgrades for short stays (which lessens the chance that someone will want to pay them for the suite while you're in it for the price of a regular room).

We have a friend (Marriott Gold) who often stays at the same hotel we do.

Our overall upgrade-at-least-to-Concierge rate: about 95%.

Our Gold friend's: about 50%. Generally he automatically gets Lounge access these days (something not always true in the past).



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Correction...most Marriott hotels are NOT reimbursed a respectable rate for reward stays (just enough to pay for cleaning the room...I believe the current rate is $15/night) but there are a few exceptions (ie. Aruba)

The London Marriott's are reimbursed a little over $200 a night from what I could tell for my reward reservation there. Pretty low for their regular rates, but still not chump change.

As a plat, I did get to concierge level about 90% of the time, suites about 5% of the time, and no noticeable upgrade about the rest of the time. Which is why I left for Starwood..

Like pitflyer, I have seen the rates assigned to our room for some of our award stays, and they were substantially higher than the lowest rates available at the hotels in the same time-frame. But I don't know Marriott internal accounting works; perhaps you can explain further, socrates?

The rate in the reservation and the rate reimbursed are two different things.....this is done so as not to dilute that days ADR (BTW: MR Redemption rewards are usually booked at the hotels RACK rate)

The reimbursement rate is normally $15 per night (just to cover costs of cleaning the room during the members stay) however if a hotel has more redemptions than MR members earning points that hotel is given a higher room rate (this way most resorts are not penalized for a large amount of redeptions)...now this is just to cover internal costs...the actual value of the displaced revenue is much higher, therefore the actual reservation is assigned the hotels rack rate so the ADR for the day is not diluted


[This message has been edited by socrates (edited 02-27-2002).]

It is interesting that the hotel is reimbursed at a low rate, but financially it is part of a much bigger picture.

There is always the "intangible" value for these hotels. That includes the value of a hotel being a part of the Marriott brand. Because of our loyalty to the brand, we never stay at another type when we are paying. Also, when staying on a reward, the hotel benefits financially in other ways such as people eating/drinking at the property.

Another benefit is the following situation: we are staying at the London County Hall on a 7 day award, but staying 8 nights and paying for one. Let's face it, if it wasn't beneficial for a property to be part of the Marriott brand, even with a low reimbursement award rate, they wouldn't do it.

It does put in to perspective why the properties designate a set number of rooms per property as available for rewards.

I wonder if it also makes sense when they upgrade their best customers to a better room they may be able to fill the "regular" room easier with a paying guest than if all they have is an upgraded room available to rent. Nice idea, huh?

You had it until your last thought....yes it does make since to upgrade their best customers exactly for that reason, because they are the "Best" customers (remember though the upgrades are on a space available basis too)....it's just another way to build brand loyalty...how many Plats/Golds would stop staying at Marriott's if they didn't get an upgrade (I'm willing to bet alot)