Lots of bad experiences with upgrade availability
 

So I check into the Baton Rouge Marriott. I checked online before leaving for the hotel and there and general rooms and concierge level rooms available for four nights. I arrive at the hotel and given room 1702. I ask if there are any concierge level rooms available and the Asst. Front Desk Supervisor (AFDS) replies, "No all the concierge level rooms are sold out until Sunday!" :confused:

So I go to check room 1702 out, and it is probably one of the worst rooms in the hotel, as the door to the room opens directly in front of the elavator. I call the general reservation number and verify there a number of concierge level rooms available (I told them I need room for myself and four co-workers and the reservationist confirms they have 5 concierge level rooms available). I go back to the front desk and ask to speak to the manager on duty and I am told he is not available. I then ask the AFDS why he told me there are no concierge level rooms available when the website and the reservations number show plenty of concierge level rooms. The AFDS stutters for a minute and states, "the website and 800 # do not always reflect accurate availability and as I told you there are no concierge level rooms available for upgrade. The only way I could put you into one of those rooms is if I move a paying guest and I don't have authority to do that." I respond, "That does not make any sense."

I then see a guy with a tie and a Marriott name badge and walk over to him. He claims he is the manager on duty (although his name badge says "Bookkeeper") and I explain the situation and tell him I don't like being lied to. He said he would look into the problem and get back to me. About 30 minutes later I get a message in my room from the MOD stating, "Mr. RIP I did look into the problem and the AFDS was correct there are no concierge level rooms available for upgrade for the next four nights. In order to upgrade you we would have to move another guest or not sell those rooms to a walkin guest willing to pay for the concierge level. However, as a goodwill gesture, I am depositing 1000 MR points in your account for the trouble." BFD and ...!

The was the first night of a four month project in Baton Rouge for a team of 4people. SInce I can determine where the team will stay, we will not be staying at the Baton Rouge Marriott. I am calling the General Manager in the morning to tell her why her hotel has lost over 300 nights of business.

Sorry for the long rant!

RIP...

No one expects them to move a paying guest but "not sell those rooms to a walkin guest willing to pay for the concierge level" is exactly what they promise to us.

Although, I'll note the T&C now says "we'll upgrade your room whenever we can at no additional charge. Suites not included."

If the concierge level is full with paying guests, then I don't have a problem not getting an upgrade. But when I can book five rooms on the concierge level for four nights, doing a dummy booking through the general 800 number, I have to question whether this Marriott is just refusing to upgrade platinums.

RIP...

Ive gone thru the samething, in my case I checked only for the arrival night , turns out there was availbilty that night just Not for the next 2. The MOD asked if I wanted the Up for that night and to switch rooms by 11am checkout time the next day, I kept the room they gave me as I didnt want the hassle of having to change rooms especially the next morn when I was gonna be pressed for time.

So I am assuming you checked and found availability for All the nights that your res was for? If not check and see if in fact there is availability for all the nights you will be there.

We posted at the same time, however if Im correct its only the room that the Plat or Gold member will be in that is Upgradable, but finding 6 rooms there, seems a simple case of just another Hotel not wanting to give away what they would rather sell to someone wanting to pay. Thats alright with Me , just let that Hotel Leave Marriott and then they are free to decide what they want to do and not do.

Dont let them get away with it, take it up the ladder as far as you can, these Hotels ahve to learn their lesson. Too bad that Upgardes arent apart of the If you dont get it and its available the Hotel owes you $100, if it was then maybe they wouldnt be playing these games with Us.

NOT just "this" marriott!

I checked into the ATL Marriott tonight. I asked if they had any rooms on the CL floor. As a plat, I was told "NO" and just took what they gave me.


NOW....a gold member associate checks in...20 min AFTER me...pushes the guy who CHECKED ME IN...behind the counter..and GETS A ROOM on the CL floor! :td::td::td:

Oh well..I just booked into the REN ATL for the rest of the stay..will be checking out early tomorrow.

:D:D

I assumed you checked and found out that the 2 Hotels have 2 different owners. Sometimes all you will be doing is changing Hotels, but it wont make any difference if they are owned by the same owners. The only thing you will be doing is instead of putting your $$$ into the left pocket of the pants is to put it into the right pocket, but it will be the same pair of pants.

Thats why I started checking to make sure the Hotel Im changing over to isnt owned by the same party. I made that mistake once and vowed not to be caught with my pants down a 2nd time.

How do you find out who owns each property?

Trith is the groups that own many Hotels in any number of cities do so sometimes under different names , so that wont help. Either I simply call an dask or there is usually a plague up by the front desk that says the name of the Corp that owns the Hotel.

Its not always easy and to prove it Starwoods owns Hiltons, Marriotts, Super8 etc etc, and some SPG Hotels also. But I was talking about in the same City where alot of the time 1 group will own more then 1 Hotel within the same group. Or as in SAV the Homewood Suites, Fairfield Inn and Residense Inn MidTown are next to each other and owned by the same people

That doesn't really make sense. If the property is franchised, sure, but most full-service Marriotts are managed properties operated by associates whose paychecks come directly from Marriott International. Whatever REIT may own the physical plant is not really relevant to whether you're getting upgraded. Now, as I said, if it's a franchised property the staff is not MI associates, so you're on the right track.

Regarding franchisees who self-manage their Marriott-branded properties, this outfit boasting over 11,500 ("Marriottr") rooms, her's a start:

http://www.columbiasussex.com/cscbybrand.lasso

Check their website for other franchises including SPG, Hilton and several casinos.

More disgusting,disrespectful treatment
 

SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT????

Folks=Marriott International does not give a damn about you-their most important guests.This has been proven time and again.

If they cared they would not let things like the OP's problem occur-they would get involved and act as an advocate for the guest.

Vote with your wallet.And make sure to let Marriott know why they are losing your buisness.

My problem with this whole thing is that the property would rather hold open a Concierge level room for walk-ins for the remote chance they can pull in an extra $10-$20. Just shows how much your Platinum Elite status is appreciated by those properties.

What's truly short-sighted about those properties is that these people fail to understand that it's the MR program that brings many of us to that property in the first place. As hotels go, a FS Hilton isn't going to be terribly different as a property than a FS Marriott.

Grrrr... I had a very similar thing happen last week, and I really wasn't even chasing an upgrade.

I walk into the Renaissance Seattle - a place I've stayed frequently. Two guys checking in in front of me. I overhear one of them telling the clerk that he's Gold, but can't find his Marriott card. He asks for an upgrade. She believed him about simply not having the card - and frankly, I don't have any reason to not believe him - so the clerk assigns him room 1910. Clerks don't usually say the room number out loud, but in this case the guest did...asking if it was a corner room. Yes, it is a corner room.

At this hotel, there are two desirable corners on each floor: xx01 and xx10. The rooms between them (xx02 to xx09) are the most desirable "regular" rooms.

So he walks away, and I walk up to the same clerk. I'm a repeat guest, Platinum number in the reservation, booked the room a week earlier, I just assume that I already have a room that is better than 1910, otherwise she wouldn't have had that room to reassign to a Gold at check-in. But when she hands me the key, it's to 520-something.

Now ordinarily, I don't b*tch a lot about room assignment - especially if it's just me traveling alone to a normal business hotel. But fifth floor, not in the 00-10 range are the absolute worst rooms in the building. Lowest floor, facing an Interstate. If a nonstatus guest Pricelined this hotel, this would be their room assignment.

So having just seen a Gold walk away with 1910, I'm a little cheesed off. The clerk refuses to move me, saying "the hotel is sold out". When I pointed out Mr. 1910, she explained that was the last corner room in the hotel. When I asked how Plats were getting preassigned to the most undesirable rooms in the hotel, and others were able to walk in and ask for better rooms, she had no answer. I make it clear - I don't necessary need a corner, but I would like high floor away from the highway.

So finally a manager comes over and says "I'll get you a corner room." He hands me keys to 1209. In my mind I'm thinking "This isn't a corner room...", but maybe I'm wrong? Maybe the 09's are corners as well... So I go to the room, sure enough it isn't a corner, now I'm really mad. I was flat-out lied to, twice. So I call back downstairs and end up getting a different clerk - one who knows me from prior stays. She apologizes and says "How about 2110? That's available. I'll send someone up with the keys right away."

So I ended up in 2110, a nice corner room, but I felt like I had to be a jerk to get it. If they had just offered me 1209 to begin with, I probably wouldn't have said anything. But the fact that they were playing games really bothered me. Not so much because of my Marriott Rewards status, but because I've been in this hotel about 30 times. I can tell by the availability of my corporate rates whether the hotel is nearly sold out or not. (Ummm, December in Seattle...) I know which rooms suck and which ones don't. It was insulting...

Should not have happened - I agree you should speak with the GM

It's typically very difficult