vanabb

So far in 2017 we are 0-5 for suite upgrades at marriott and 100% at spg.

R Tuscany - Normal room, hotel nearly empty
Marriott Sindelfingen - club floor, normal room
R Dusseldorf - no upgrade. hotel nearly empty
R Vienna - no upgrade
AC van Oranje Hotel Noordwijk- sea facing, normal room

ords

A little late in replying. My last experience was a week in Madrid last month at the Circulo Gran Via Hotel, Autograph Collection. Looked at their website and outside of a direct number, there was nothing listed. Called the Plat CS number and asked for the concierge/or front desk managers email address to the hotel. It took a couple of minutes, but the CS rep emailed both to me while we were on the phone.

Emailed the FDM with my confirmation number (I had booked a Jr. Suite) explained in some detailed first time visiting Madrid, wife was joining me and anything to make our trip more enjoyable would be appreciated but understood if conditions wouldn't allow. Two days later a wonderful email back stating I was upgraded to their Suite Circulo Gran Via, a list of local attractions, restaurants and day trips.

DJ_Iceman

I find it interesting that previous SPG elites are finding the Marriott suite upgrade percentage low, while the previous MR elites and finding their Starwood experiences similarly underwhelming (just based on my anecdotal reading of these various threads over the past few months).

CJKatl

Of course! As a longtime and lifetime Marriott Plat, I'm at 100% on my SPG UGs. The SPG policy is a little more definitive and their practice of giving UGs is better. Marriott CLs are much nicer; there is no comparison. It's likely that those who thought UGs were important historically gravitated towards SPG and those who wanted nicer CLs gravitated towards MR. It's also possible that we all got used to what our chain offered, so we find something different to be wrong, or at a minimum a letdown.

Example: The BKK Marriott properties have great CLs. Due to availability and rates, I spent a couple nights at the LM, which was the same price as you'd normally find at the FS or Ren. I posted my disappointment with the hotel, especially its lack of CL. SPGers pushed back, posting that it is a wonderful hotel. Being able to walk into a nice lounge throughout the day was obviously not important to them. My assumption: This was more a different strokes for different folks thing than an absolute one is better than the other.

pvn

Did you ask about availability at check-in?

C17PSGR

I'm at 130 nights to day -- 100 in Marriotts and 30 in SPG.

I'm running 30-40 percent upgrade to suites in both legacy Marriott and legacy SPG. With my numbers, it should be a pretty representative sample.

The difference is that the SPG rule is more clear than the Marriott rule. When its applied, however, some desk agents follow it, some don't. And sometimes the hotel doesn't have any suites available.

BeatCal

Don't use mobile checkin

Kacee

Agreed. Upgrades are often discretionary, even when the rule says they aren't (hello, Hyatt!).

The other thing I'd add is that not all suites are created equal, and they're not always better than a regular room. I've turned down a handful of suite upgrades this year because the suite sucked - either no view or really noisy. (I even had them put a "do not upgrade to Regency Suite" note into my profile at HR Sacramento.)

CruiserCLE

Does this actually hurt your UG chances because they are assigning a room to you sooner (in theory)? I've wondered that a few times but have still continued to use mobile.

pvn

I'm also curious if there's any actual facts around this, seems like a bunch of conjecture at this point.

Jon Maiman

Actual facts would be great. From my limited data set from personal experience it doesn't seem to have any impact. YMMV....

--Jon

vanabb

At SPG I never have to ask. I always ask now at Marriott, but nothing.

joshua362

Yes, likely because at Marriotts there seems to be at least 3 different upgrade methodologies in operation, which are very property dependent.

#1 Upgrades assigned in advance by some sort of proactive customer interaction before arrival
#2 Upgrades assigned proactively (daily) in advance by the property the morning of arrival in some sort of logical pecking order
#3 Upgrades are left to the whims of a Front Desk clerk upon arrival only if customer asks.

I surmised if at a #3 property, and doing mobile check-in, no human involvement, no upgrade. But it is all conjecture.

hockeyinsider

Except mobile check-in allows you to see the room the hotel has assigned to you. You can always ask at arrival, "Do you have an upgrade?"

dinoscool3

I’ve found including a note in the reservation under further requests saying, “An upgrade applicable to Gold,” is very useful. I’ve gotten upgrades to suites or club rooms at all but one of my stays this year, and even had the front desk agent at the hotel I’m currently staying at mention the note.