Vail Marriott as an Elite
 

Was wondering if any Premier Plats or regular ole' Plats had experiences with the Vail Marriott during ski season but not holidays, regarding upgrades (suite or otherwise) or other benefits. I stayed there as a gold and got no upgrade or even late checkout. I know it's in the T&Cs but was kind of shocking coming from SPG where the SR Aspen upgraded me to a loft suite DURING President's week. I'm still trying to determine whether it's worth the extra nights for PPlat, based on redemptions at resorts like this one. Any observations from here welcome.

I think you might struggle with availability to be upgraded into. The Vail locations are especially busy during holidays such as Presidents' Day.

I am in Breck but spend a fair amount of time in Vail.

If you are driving be sure to be aware of traffic issues on I70 during peak travel times. It's good to sign up for COTRIP.org alerts.

I don't understand your remark about extra nights for PP? You do realize, don't you, that PP is an unpublished invitation-only level, so that no number of extra nights would necessarily get you PP.

Calling aaupgrade who stays at Vail all the time (and might be there right now). I've stayed at Vail during ski season (non-peak holidays). A couple of times I was upgraded. Some times I wasn't. Vail gets booked a lot by people willing to pay for the upgraded rooms, so the hotel isn't inclined to just hand out upgrades for free.

The extra nights might get the OP PP status if the extra nights are high revenue nights which supposedly has some bearing on PP. But as you mention, PP criteria is unpublished so extra nights isn't a guarantee.

Cheers.

You might find one of the following existing threads of benefit:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...tay-worth.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...steamside.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...xperience.html

BTW, I've stayed at the SR Aspen as an SPG Plat and received no upgrades as well (off-season no less.) So a single stay as a mid-tier elite doesn't necessarily imply a general trend.

Thanks for the links. I had seen the first two, but since there wasn't a master Vail thread and the other ones are a few years old, I started this one.

I know PPlat is invitation only, but right now my spend is 70/30 SPG:Marriott, reversing it should get me well into whatever revenue qualifications they need.

As a reference, I usually go the first week of February so not holiday but still peak season.

It's going to be hit or miss depending on a lot of factors including the following:

1. Length of stay. The shorter the stay the better the chance of a significant upgrade.
2. Number of Plats and PP staying there and your timing. This resort gets a plethora of elites staying on both points and cash.
3. Hotel occupancy. If they're full or close to it your chances are slim to none, especially if they have something like 2 PP and 40 Plats staying there.
4. Conference bookings can be a huge factor at this hotel. Medical conferences are very common, so are Vail events hosted at the Marriott.

Here is the email for Vail Marriott Concierge: [email protected]

FWIW, I have stayed at this hotel 250+ nights. Stay length has ranged from 1 nights to 3 weeks. Prior to last ski season I was staying there 4-7 weeks a year for the previous few years. Instead of giving Marriott my money I bought a condo there and only stayed there 2 nights in the past year. Most of my stays were paid. I did stay 50 nights at this hotel in 2011 which was a major factor in getting PP. I have no doubt I will drop to Plat on March 1 with only 109 nights for 2012.

I received great upgrades (e.g. Jr. Timberline or Timberline Suite) for the 1-2 night stays during ski season and up to 4 nights stays during the summer, and on one occasion for a week when they were slow and no conferences were going on. Generally for the 1-3 week stays, I have always been upgraded to a standard Mountain View room, which was more than adequate for my needs. All standard rooms are in the wing on the restaurant/ski shop side of the hotel and much more convenient when going skiing/breakfast and direct elevator access to the spa. The lodge rooms and most suites have better access to the conference facilities.

I can't comment much on Holiday periods as I only stayed over the New Year week once many years ago. I am not in Vail, even now, during the Christmas, New Years and President week holidays. I am heading to Vail on Jan 7 and will be there until April 15 with the exception of President's week when I return to Fairfax. If anyone is coming out, PM me so we can get together to ski/snowboard and/or meet for a drink/meal. I always like stopping by the Marriott to see all the familiar faces and also enjoy having guests over to my place.

I answered the OP's questions as best I could. If anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask.

Note that it often takes 2 years or more with high spend/nights to make PP. Honestly I wouldn't count on it and certainly wouldn't make the possibility of making PP as an incentive to signifigantly change stay patterns.

Good point Vicki. FWIW, I had been Plat for about 12 of 13 years prior to attaining PP, and from what I see from anecdotal posts, elite longevity appears to be a factor too.

I did not get an upgrade here. Not a big deal, I was there for two weeks over Christmas and NYE, for a room that priced at 12k for the stay.

Points to dollar ratio on this stay = solid.

I think what bugged me about this though, was the day before arrival, they were still emailing me and trying to sell me an upgrade for 80 dollars a night. So, you can sell me an upgrade 16 hours before my arrival....but you dont have it for platinum upgrade when I do arrive? Sketchy. The room I had was great though, so I didnt fret.

On top of this, I left my AppleTV in the room. I called 6 hours after checkout and let them know that I had left in on the dresser, I saw it that morning, I just failed to place it in my suitcase. My fault. But to be "unable to locate it" six hours later is just silly. My fault, so I didnt press the issue too hard. But it makes you wonder how hard they "searched." Would I stay again? For points, sure. Would I give them money? After these two experiences, probably not.

I was just emailed with an offer to pay extra to upgrade in advance. I received the email yesterday and will begin my stay next Thursday. If they have rooms available for upgrade now, would it be reasonable to assume they would still have them available when I check in next week so I wouldn't have to pay the upgrade fee?

Thanks

No, that would not be a safe assumption. You are arriving on a Thursday for what I am guessing is a weekend stay.

Many front range folks wait until last minute for specials (or snow - see next paragraph), so this hotel will try to fill up. There are a lot of elites who stay at this hotel so depending on the length of your stay, your status, when you check-in (upgrades are based on availability at check-in), and what rooms the hotel has identified as being available for upgrade will determine whether or not you get an upgrade.

Also if it dumps next week, or is forecast to dump Thursday-Saturday, then all bets are off and the hotel will be booked solid.

I forgot, the Burton U.S. Open Snowboard Championship is here this weekend, so the chance of an upgrade will be slim to none as Vail Valley Partnership is forecasting 100% occupancy this weekend for Vail lodging establishments.

I just did a search for 2 rooms at Vail Marriott Resort and there are only standard resort view rooms and lodge rooms. No suites. When I did a search for 1 room there was a timberline suite, a 2 bedroom condo and a penthouse suite available. The latter 2 types are privately owned and I doubt Vail Marriott will identify any of these as being available for upgrade.

ZachK, if the suites are not sold by then, and the hotel identifies these as available for upgrade, and you are Plat Premier, and your timing is right beating the other Plat Premiers to the draw, then maybe, just maybe you might get an upgrade. I definitely wouldn't count on it because of the bold portion from previous paragraph and would consider yourself lucky if you end up with an upgrade to a mountain view or lodge room.

We stayed for Thanksgiving week (including the days after) and booked a two bedroom suite - we became aware of their two penthouse suites. We were offered one of them at a deeply discounted rate (3 bedroom, large living room, dining room, gourmet kitchen, patio with grill), it actually was only $200 more a night than the room we booked.

ZachK, Vail Marriott Resort is sold out Friday night 3/1, so if your stay includes Friday night then don't plan on an upgrade. Enjoy the slopes, we've had regular snow since January 23, so conditions are good.