Can the Front Desk see differences in the same Status?
 

Was travelling this week, checked in with a coworker who is going through the "touch of gold" challenge. He checked in just after me due to the lines, and somehow he managed to get a higher floor location room, with a king, while I was 2 floors lower with 2 double beds (reservation was for a king) as a Platinum member - Makes NO sense at all.

First, Welcome to Flyertalk!

Second, invoke the guarantee. If your reservation had your Platinum # on it & it said you had a king the property owes you $100. Collect it before you check out.

BTW - your title doesn't make sense since gold & platinum are not the same status. It should be why did the gold get the king & not me? ;)

Cheers.

No they cannot. They see Gold, not lifetime Gold, vanilla Gold, touch of Gold, etc.

They can definitely see other information: points balance, last several stays, number of nights YTD. Was at a FFI where they slid that info under my door.

Other guy tip the FD better?

Jackson handshake?

You sure about that?

I checked into a Ren 2 different times (same hotel, same clerk, a month apart) and he thanked my for my lifetime status. I think at the time I was PP and LTG. I meant to ask him if the computer shows LT status, but I forgot.

I was told by a clerk they cannot, but he may have just not known what to look for? At the Gaslamp and they are pretty good.

As SkiAdcock mentioned, if you are a Gold and your bed preference wasn't met then you can invoke the Room Type Guarantee (assuming your stay was in the US or Canada as I think only Plats get that Guarantee outside NA.)

Forgetting the elite guarantee for a moment, it is possible that when you checked in a room on a higher floor wasn't available yet but became available after you checked-in. (But remembering the guarantee again, if the hotel is in NA, they should told you your room wasn't available yet and worked on getting it available for you.)

I checked the Marriott Insiders board and in 2011 a Marriott employee confirmed that the property only sees the status without additional information such as Lifetime.

It is possible this has changed in the last 3 years, but I'm not holding my breath.

I check in with co-workers fairly often most of which are all Plat. There have been numerous times where one or some but not all will get "upgraded" (most of the time just to CL), most of the time without really asking.

OP is Platinum, not just Gold, so is definitely eligible for the guarantee (assuming that the reservation contained the MR number). For emphasis, this must be invoked before checkout and the hotel's penalty is $100 cash paid to you (not a credit on the bill or some points, etc.).

OP can definitely collect on the Room Type Guarantee provided the line, "guaranteed - king bed," was on his reservation. Let's not forgot there have been problems on Marriott's web site with the bed type in our profiles not carrying over and being guaranteed in our reservations. If this happened to the OP that may be why he was put into a room with two beds.

Hopefully, the OP remembers to invoke the guarantee, if it applies, before check-out.

Regards,

RIP...

Regarding lifetime status, one time a check-in agent at a Renaissance told me that it was my anniversary of joining Marriott Rewards (giving me a free drink chit in the process) and I asked him how he knew - he showed me his screen and it showed my join date, points balance, lifetime to date nights, last stay, and other information. So if someone saw a Platinum with 750+ nights (I think I was at around 730 at the time), right or wrong they might hazard a guess that the person was lifetime if they happened to check that piece of information.

So at least based on what that agent showed me, at check-in they could at least discriminate based on life to date nights, points balance, join date, etc...

You are assuming the average front desk clerk knows that lifetime status exists, and knows the criteria for each lifetime level.

Forgetting the lifetime status stuff for a second, the OP said "can they see differences in the same status." Yes as has been mentioned Plat and Gold aren't the same status, but if they can see the number of lifetime nights as well as YTD nights, technically if there were 2 people checking in with the same status and 1 upgrade available, shouldn't it probably go to the person who has more YTD nights (all else being equal, not factoring in things like if 1 of the people was a regular at that hotel)?

Probably belongs in a different thread but IME it seems like you will only get really upgraded if you ask, and in the case of some of my co-workers, if you come pretty close to demanding.

I understand what you're saying, but doesn't that assume they're checking in simultaneously/real-time? How often does that happen at hotels (vs upgrade lists on flights)?

Cheers.

Not to mention the days when hotel clerk #1 is checking in plat #1 who has 100 lifetime nights, but clerk is having a bad day and just wants to plow thru as quickly as possible so gives preassigned room, and hotel clerk #2 is checking in challenge Gold with 20 nights having a wonderful day and feeling generous and gives him an upgrade.

I do it about once a month with co-workers who are usually also plat.

They're literally keying in at exactly the exact same second in different lines & swiping cards & doing everything at the exact same second/real-time? ;)

Cheers.

I guess that was a bad example but my point is I often check-in with co-workers within 1 or 2 minutes of each other, and many times one of us will get on the Concierge Level and one of us won't. And it's highly highly unlikely that every time this has happened it's because that was the last room available on the Concierge Level.

... or even assuming they know the program at all. I had one try to tell me once you make Plat (75 nights) you don't have to do it again! Ummm, no, it don't work that way.

A little twist on the OP's issue:

My profile shows that I prefer 2 queen/double beds. I get "upgraded" to a king room a couple of times a month, usually by a young FDA that thinks a king bed is better than a queen bed.

On weekends I will gladly take a king - in most hotels the double beds are at a premium. During the week, the kings are at a premium. Only when traveling with my family does it truly matter which bed type I get.

Do I start making a stink about it and claim the bed type guarantee or forget the whole matter? (Weekends excepted)

What about Acapulco Gold?

The only times I make an issue is if I think the hotel is trying to play games with me or lying to me. If I'm by myself, I really don't worry about whether I'm in a king or 2-doubles. If the hotel has a far more of one over the other and would like to give me 2-doubles instead of a king. No big deal.

But if I'm travelling with my wife, we prefer a king bed and I will expect the hotel to provide it. If they try to "upgrade" me to a 2-double room, I'll kindly ask for the stated preference in my reservation. Or if like last weekend, I was traveling with my son and asked for 2 doubles. The hotel "upgraded" me to a king on the CL. I thanked them, but asked them for a room with 2 doubles as I requested in the reservation. They did not have one on the CL unfortunately, and thus I was moved to a different floor. But again, I understood and didn't make any issues of it.

So basically, if the bed preference is in your reservation and you do want one or the other, then ask for it or invoke the guarantee (the hotels choice as to which option they prefer.)

Maybe a couple?