Plat Upgrade Question
 

I am booked to stay in a Superior room at the East Side NYC Marriott this weekend. On line still shows availability for Executive King rooms. Will I, as a Plat, be able to request an upgrade to the Executive King room?? Do I wait until check-in or should I call the hotel directly??

Thanks.

You may be able to get the upgrade. If it is any kind of srecial event for you like birthday or anniversery I would call ahead. I have had great luck on special events getting great upgrades.
If not I would call ahead early on the day of your arriaval and ask.

Check on the email reservation confirmation...look for the virtual concierge. You can request an upgrade (usually helps to have a good reason as noted above - ie anniversary or whatever) and the room coordinator will respond to you in a day or two. Good Luck!

I have done it various ways, but no matter what, I always make sure that it is written into my reservation. If I make the reservation online, there is a small box for comments/special requests and I usually write something like "request Plat. upgrade lg conc rm" or something like that. There is not room to type more in that box. If I make the reservation through the Plat rez line, then I ask the agent to request my upgrade to be written into the rez, but they can write more into it. If it is particularly important to me, and especially if I am going to be in the hotel more than three days, I will call the hotel (if in the US) and ask for room control or e-mail (if outside the US, usually guest relations or similar) and ask specifically for what I would like, as far as best available, or even a suite. Sometimes I call twice, first to find out what the occupancy level for the hotel is for the days that I will be there. Then I call back with that knowledge a bit later, and ask for what I want knowing whether they are more or less likely to be able to give it to me or not. Sometimes they will give me what I want or at least imply that they will. Other times I need to ask again when I get to check in. Is this begging for something that I am "entitled to?" No, not really. Yes, I have earned upgrades through loyalty and lots of nights, etc., but upgrades are free, and if you don't ask, you don't get, and also, some Marriott employees are not even really aware of how the system works. Sometimes I hear things like, "Oh, we have lots of bigger rooms available, I wonder why you weren't upgraded before you got here?" To that I say inside my head, "Oh, I don't know, because no one was paying attention maybe?" Then I get the upgrade! And it is a two room suite! Yippee! (Yes, it really does happen exactly that way more often than you could possibly know!) :D

USIrritated - Correct on all counts
 

There is no sense quoting the entire post, but suffice to say the poster has it correct through and through.

Typically, if I have a 1 night stay at a not frequented property I simply post my "Plat Upgrade Requested" in the comments box when booking online which generally gets me at least a nice C Room.

At a property I stay at often or know that I will, I call ahead and introduce myself to the GM letting him/her know I will be a frequent guest and appreciate a suite when available. This generally gets me a suite (90%+ of the time), and I always make it a point to meet with the GM while I am there, and if I can the Guest Services Mgr., Sales Mgr., or at minimum the GMs assistant. Then after booking online for subsequent stays I will call the lower management (I don't trouble the GM) and they frequently block me into a suite rather than just "if available". I will also personally thank the GM before departure or leave a thank you note if not available. I find that doing these little things gets me the best of treatment and that I am recognized and known by name when I arrive.

One of my frequented properties gives me the Presidential almost every visit (19 of 20 stays in the past two years).

On one recent trip which was a special event, I phoned ahead and let the hotel know that I was bringing a total of 8 guests for an 11 night stay and requested a suite with connecting rooms on either side. I was taking a family cross country to visit thier family they had left 7 years earlier (Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother, etc.).

I had called ahead twice to explain and request the upgrade. On check in they tried giving us two rooms connecting but with a King in each. It was the weekend so the GM was not in. I had to go to the front desk and after some time with the front office Mgr. was moved to two adjoining (not connecting) rooms with 2Q in each.

During the stay I had to go North after 1 day for 3 nights on business and was at another Marriott property. Upon my return I asked to see the GM and explained the entire situation (there is more to it than the details I am going into here) and that I was amazed at how incompetently it had been handled.

Bottom line, he moved us to the Governors Parlor, which was gorgeous, with a connecting King and a connecting 2Q for the remaining week, and on a day we had the entire extended family in throughout the day he even comped about $1500 in hospitality food service.;) (I ordered and expected to pay, but did not get the charge).

I guess the moral is, if you act like you are doing business with the hotel, and not just expecting to check into a room and receive good service, you get a little more mileage out of your Platinum status. Interaction goes farther than just a reservation and a check in.:)

PGH - Quality reply!
 

This is a great thread, I hope that it keeps going!

Upgrades can be very funny, sometimes I get them when I never expect to, and other times I don't get them when I do expect to get them. Never, never be afraid to ask, MORE THAN ONCE, for your upgrade, no matter what Marriott brand you are staying in, be it a FS hotel, a Courtyard (many have suites), a Residence Inn (if I am booked in a studio, is a one bedroom available?), right down to a lowly Fairfield Inn (some of the newer ones have suites, but at least give me a corner room please).

Here are a few very important things to keep in mind:

1) Upgrades are free, meaning if available. No matter what your status is, if the hotel has actually sold all of the upgradeable rooms, you will not get an upgrade. So, if the hotel is 90% occupied, and on the Concierge floor the hotel has sold all 30 Concierge rooms for the $20-30 up charge, you WILL NOT be getting an IF AVAILABLE upgrade to that floor, even if you are Plat! However, you are ENTITLED to full access to the Concierge Lounge as a Plat, no matter what floor your room is on, make sure you do get that much!

2) According to the rules, suites ARE NOT included in upgrades. This means that even if the hotel is only 10% occupied, if rooms control won't put you into a suite, just take the Concierge Executive Corner King that they are giving you, and be happy!

3) According to the rules, suites ARE NOT included in upgrades, but by practice, THEY ARE! I have been upgraded to suites more times than I could possibly mention here, in some of the best hotels in Marriott, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Courtyard, etc., sometimes expected, sometimes not so much! There are times in which you will get a suite in a hotel as a Plat, even when the hotel is at high occupancy simply because you asked for it! Why you wonder? Well, just because the hotel is at 97% occupancy for the "ABC-XYZ" conference you are attending, everyone there is on a group rate, and the only suites that are purchased or blocked out in advance are the hospitality suites (for vendors selling to attendees), and one or two other suites blocked out for the head honchos for the conference (who get them contractually as part of bringing in 900 rooms, plus the ballroom, 3600 prepaid meals, and other conference facilities). So, the hotel has 950 rooms, of which 81 are suites, and 925 guests for the four days of the conference and you arrived the day before, and leave the day after the conference, for a six night total stay. Call the hotel directly and say "I know you will have to give out some suites on a complimentary basis because you have more guests than regular rooms, so you might as well put me at the top of the list for one of those upgrades, since I am a Plat member." I used this exact scenario to get a GORGEOUS two-room suite with sumptuous bath at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix while attending a conference there in July 2007. Two years earlier in San Francisco, knowing that the same conference would not be taking up more than 50% of the rooms in that monster of a hotel, I just asked for the MOD one day when I called about a week before arrival. I was amazed when I got one of two Presidential Suites in the hotel, about 2,600 square feet, two bathrooms, two living rooms, full dining room for 12, a balcony/terrace not to be believed, a full wet bar, huge circular foyer, and a 29th floor 270 degree view of San Francisco Harbor not to be believed. Who got the other Presidential Suite? The President of the company putting on the conference I was attending!

4) If you go to the same hotels on a regular basis, and you are put into a room or rooms that you particularly like, whether upgraded or not, take note of it, and ask the hotel staff to take note of it too. This is particularly effective if you become friendly with senior staff at the hotels as PGH suggested. Then, when you are headed back to that particular hotel again, call your contact there (I keep this info in my Blackberry, along with my preferred rooms), 3-7 days in advance, and ask specifically for the room or rooms that you would prefer. As long as the hotel is not 95% or more occupied on your first night, chances are you will get your request.

5) I tend not to worry too much about upgrades for stays of one or two days, meaning I don't go to as much trouble in advance, but at check-in I do tend to ask whether I am getting the best available room.

6) When I get to my room, if I am unhappy with it, for whatever reason, including size, location, view, condition, type of beds (I have king in my profile), I stand right there in the room and call down to the front desk requesting another room while the bellhop waits. When they assign another room, I ask them to send someone to meet us there, and the bellhop and I go there with the luggage.

7) Lastly, yes, upgrades are free, but indirectly you have paid for them with your continued business and loyalty, so don't be shy in asking what you want. The number one overriding principle to remember is IF YOU DO NOT ASK, YOU WILL NOT GET! (or, in slightly different, sales terminology, YOU HAVE TO ASK FOR THE ORDER!)

Good luck to all.

And the real moral is that if you really want a suite or other special room then just pay for it. Don't expect a free upgrade just because of status or frequency at a particular property.

Agreed, and I don't expect it. I just find it nice that with the right approach I can generally get it.

I typically reserve high end purchases for entertaining clients, etc., and exercise fiscal responsibility to the company otherwise.

International Results
 

I have not been that much of an International traveller since the 70s (only 6 trips). But 4 of the six yielded upgrades.

Vienna Marriott - 9 days Oct '06 upgraded to Suite
Marriott Grand Flora Rome - 7 days Jan '06 upgraded to Suite
Athens Ledra Marriott - 5 days Oct '05 upgraded to Suite
Prague Marriott - 6 days Jan '05 upgraded to Suite

Expected? No
Asked for? Yes

So would I not ask?

Just as soon as you mentioned Rome Marriott Grand Hotel Flora, I realized that I forgot about my stay there in May 2004 for three nights. I was upgraded to a beautiful two room suite there. I did ask for it in advance. I had to ask for it again when I got to the front desk, and looked at more than one room before the one that I ended up with, but as I said, it was a beautiful room! As I am so fond of saying, IF YOU DON'T ASK, YOU DON'T GET! :o ^ :)

Last weekend at CYM Downtown San Francisco. Upgraded to Golden Gate Suite, corner suite on 15th floor. No special request. When I thanked front desk they said they try to upgrade PE clients whenever possible. In this instance, the hotel most likely had a number of people at convention rate (I was also) but few paying suite guests. I enjoy seeing what sort of result my PE status will achieve for me!

Hey, it is truly manna from heaven when there is an upgrade from a non FS hotel (or any hotel for that matter), where you never even asked for it. How great is that? That would make my day! And not in a Clint Eastwood sort of way! :-: :D ^