I believe the guaranteed upgrade fees are daily. At least at some properties. The other thread might provide more info. Again, the guaranteed upgrade rate differs based on property, etc. Also it's not universal that all properties offer them - and they're not all to suites. Some might just be to exec level or slightly bigger room. They also might have different offers, depending on elite level or even offer paid upgrades to non-elites. The hotel is doing it for revenue purposes, not to reward loyalty. If they can get someone to pay for an upgrade vs giving it away for free, hotel wins.

BTW - I've always been lucky w/ lovely upgrades in London, so it's a your mileage may vary.

Cheers.

Eh, it's a double edged sword. If you are elite with an airline or hotel, you expect perks like free upgrades. When you are not elite, you want low cost upgrades. As an elite, I want those premium rooms at Marriott saved for me, but I understand when they are sold to paying guests. If I go for a leisure trip and specifically ask for an upgrade in advance and then end up being told there are none complimentary but I can upgrade if I pay an extra $25 per night, I would not and I would be annoyed. But I see the point of still wanting to know in advance that I could pay 50 extra bucks and get a suite that accommodates 4 adults vs paying for two rooms. So maybe if the e-mail says Mr. Samosa, we recognize your status and will offer you an upgraded room that is larger and has a view, but if you want a suite that is not part of the program for free upgrades, we can guarantee you that room for XX dollars, I think it could work.

There are two parts to a loyalty program like Marriott Rewards. One is the points part. The other is the recognition part.

Complimentary upgrades are big part of recognition. Although upgrades are not guaranteed, well-run Marriott-affiliated properties recognize loyal Marriott guests with upgrades. It's one of the major factors that keeps us loyal.

Sure, it's based on availability, including what's been sold, how the hotel is configured, and how many other Platinum guests are staying at the hotel.

One of the big reasons I'm loyal to Marriott is because I almost always get a better room than what I booked. I've even had some nice suites this year.

I'd be rather upset if hotels started telling me, "We have an upgrade for you, but only if you pay an additional $50 per night." That's not an upgrade. That's an up-sell.

If it's done at check-in, agree.

If it's done in advance you have the option of declining the offer & hoping an upgrade will be available at check-in (which is what I do). If you want to 'guarantee' the upgrade in advance then you've got an option. As mentioned above & by hhoope01 in another thread, some will just go w/ the check-in path, but others - if the price is reasonable & perhaps when on holiday - will want to make sure they don't have to worry about it.

samosa covers it pretty well in his/her post above yours.

Cheers.

I think the best would be some X amount of complementary guaranteed upgrades per year depending on status level (1, 2, 4 etc). That way the annual vacation with the family is covered...

Not a bad idea, like guaranteed suite upgrade certificates and then regular upgrades are processed to non-suites unless a hotel is generous.

As a traveler this is indeed a great thing to have.

However from the hotel perspective this quite a losing proposition, that leads to the games you see in other chains. You'll find all of a sudden many categories of suites, only few can be upgraded to, and those will be severely capacity controlled.

And while I very much enjoyed my Hyatt upgrade certificates when I used to have them, it would only be workable in a chain with an acceptable ratio of desirable hotels to elite members. In a chain with the foot print of Marriott it would be very hard to accomplish when there are many more elites, and fewer "desirable" hotels where one would like to ensure an upgrade in advance.

I agree with this. I can see, for example, 200-room properties suddenly coming up with 199 different "room types" just so they can find a way to sell "upgrades". Ws in particular, and many other SPG properties already seem to be experts at this, which is one of the things which really annoys me about SPG. The number of different room types a 200 room Sheraton can have is astonishing (and we're not even talking "suites" here). And why rooms with king beds in what are obviously business hotels (Westins, hotels in mid-town Manhattan,etc.) are rare and priced with stupid-high premiums is baffling beyond belief.

Selling upgrades I think will just incentivize wrong behavior.

This is basically what Hilton does, although they don't say it's 100% certain. They give themselves an out in case the hotel is sold out or whatever. But in practice, when I've selected a paid upgrade at Hilton, it has always happened. I've paid up to $100 per night to turn an award stay into a large suite at a beach hotel. I've also done smaller ones...$25-50/nt. to ensure a junior suite or a room in a part of the hotel with extra amenities.

When HH started doing these "NOR1" upgrades, elites were outraged. The reason is because prior to that, upgrades to Golds and Diamonds were rather common. Good, meaningful upgrades...not just "deluxe" rooms that are 10 square feet larger than a "standard room".

Honestly, I'd totally support this idea within today's Marriott. (I'll ignore Starwood for now.) Why? Because it's not really a 30% chance vs. a 100% chance...it's more like a 2% chance at a meaningful upgrade at Marriott. Maybe less. So yes, I'd love the ability to consider a paid upgrade offer, even though I wouldn't buy it all that often. For that one stay where I really want a nice suite, it would be nice to see some paid upgrade offers.

We should agree that we don't need the upgrade all the time of course no one well say no if its free , but in some cases its very important to upgrade how about Marriott let you choose when and where do you want to have the upgrade ..
For example every year Marriott can give gold x number of upgrades platinium xx number of upgrades then we can choose if there is avalable upgrades for free if not then we pay x amount of cash for the bigger room or suite

The other thing to keep in mind is that a lot of Marriotts out there simply don't have a lot of suites to give. Thus giving the elite member base a Hyatt-like perk of X confirmed suites per year would have a lot of this massive membership base trying to use them in a fairly small subset of hotels.

That doesn't mean I wouldn't like to have this perk. But based on the fact that Marriott Rewards has *never* been an upgrade-centric program, I doubt it's real high on their list of ideas. MR has their hands full for 2-3 years anyway trying to figure out how to integrate programs. If something isn't already part of MR or SPG, I don't see them introducing it now.

I even wonder if the limited SNA's that higher-level Starwood Plats get will survive the merger.

Absolutely not. It is either a benefit or it isn't... not a paid program. If you want to have paid upgrades, then just entirely strip the whole 'complimentary' upgrade program across the board.

We don't need to give hotels more ideas/ways to extract more money from us. Many already already nickel and dime for almost everything, and don't even get me started about bogus 'resort' fees.

I generally assume that it is not a benefit today. I've spent many years as a Gold or Plat and can count on one hand the number of suite upgrades I've received at a regular FS Marriott or Renaissance. It's such a rare occurrence that I suspect I've have gotten the same number of upgrades if I'd stayed in boutique hotels with no loyalty program.

In other words, if they offered the suites as NOR1 upgrades (a la Hilton), I would actually consider it a legitimate enhancement. Because my expectations are so incredibly low that I'll get one for free as it is.

This isn't a dig at Marriott - I just know it isn't an upgrade-centric program. Marriott is *better* than the other chains at getting bed type right (and nonsmoking where that's an option).

Exactly. I have gotten upgrades frequently outside the us but just like when you book paid business class even though you might get a cpu, here you are paying a slight premium after booking for a special upgrade that you probably would not get anyways. So if you are wanting the presidential suite to celebrate some occasion and they never give out for free, here is your chance.

Of course NOR1 are not guaranteed either (just highly probable to higher room category you chose to pay for). If someone really NEED a certain room type - they should pay for it. And that is true in any program. Even those programs that have an upgrade certificate it is only for the most basic suite (and just see how hotels define those).