mmthomas44

I will be going to NYC for the holidays. Would using the app to checkin change my chances of getting an upgraded room? Hotel almost full, no suites available for purchase.

SkiAdcock

Odds are you're not going to get an upgrade, re: of mobile or regular check-in. NYC during the holidays is a busy time of year & if the hotel is almost full/no suites available for purchase....

drew502

Would be interested to hear any insight into OP's underlying question about how mobile check-in impacts upgrades.

After booking a standard 2 double/queen room, I have been asked by the check-in agent if I require 2 beds for my stay. If not, the agent then upgrades me to a King Suite. I'm wondering if mobile check-in will prevent that from happening.

prince.ali

App check-in does not affect it. I always check-in with the app, and anytime between that point and my actual check-in time, the reservation is reviewed and an upgrade is granted without further action. Upon arrival, guest services informs me that I have been upgraded.

You can actually see your new upgraded room prior to arrival if you open the app to see your reservation details.

Kacee

I think the general consensus across programs is not to check-in mobile unless you will be arriving late and want to make sure they don't give your room away.

While it may not affect your upgrade odds at some properties, others may not touch your room assignment once you've checked in, which could deprive you of an otherwise available upgrade.

Another exception is if they've already upgraded you, you might want to check-in in an attempt to lock-in the upgrade. I've done this with Hilton when they've pre-upgraded me to a suite. (Although Hilton is a little different b/c their app actually shows you a room map and allows you to pick a specific room.)

pinniped

I don't have enough direct comparisons at Marriott. I'm only Gold, so I know I'm probably not getting upgraded either way, and use OLCI whenever it's offered. I don't wait in hopes of an upgrade. A nice thing about Marriott is that I'll sometimes get the "your room is ready" notice very early in the day.

With Hilton, I've been directly told that using OLCI freezes you out of the upgrade pool. I was trying to OLCI the day prior, and I had a basic question about a room. So I phoned the hotel, and the clerk said "Don't OLCI! We run our Diamond upgrade process the morning of arrival at 11AM. But we cannot touch a reservation after OLCI has taken place. So...stay out until noon tomorrow, and you'll have a suite." Sure enough, that worked. There's a long thread on the HH board where the consensus is that they *can* touch the reservation post-OLCI if they really need to, but generally don't during normal operations.

Carpboy823

With the new Marriott app, it specifically mentions being Upgrade Eligible as part of the check-in process, so my thought is that any previous fears of locking yourself out of an upgrade by checking in too early should be gone now.

VisaW

SkiAdcock

Technically you're not actually checked in until you get onsite IIRC.

Mobile check-in basically lets the (fill in the blank) property know what time you're arriving, if you've got requests, etc, & they'll have the keys made, hopefully have fulfilled the requests & ask if you want to use the CC on file when you arrive & then check you in. If someone paid for the king casita suite, then yes they can take away the free upgrade as it's based upon availability (not sure how that works w/ SNAs).

Know someone who had a suite upgrade at JW in London. Showed suite when she was getting on plane to fly to UK but got a non-suite room when she arrived because a US professional sports team that had been staying there had extended their stay by a day & they had booked/paid for the suites, so no longer available for her.

FWIW - can't hurt to ask upon arrival if a casita is available. Someone might have canceled by the time you arrive.

PS - I believe there is a property thread on Triada, so after your stay please do a trip report. Thx!

Cheers.

UA-NYC

IMO better practice is to screen shot that once you see it

SkiAdcock

One can screen shot it, but upgrades are based on availability day of arrival (unless using SNAs?) so if they were able to sell the casita before the OP checked in, not sure a screenshot matters as paid trumps free.

Cheers.

margarita girl

It makes NO DIFFERENCE! In my very limited experience with Marriott, twice I was upgraded to suites and did the OLCI immediately. I took screenshots. By the time I got to the hotel, my suites had magically become regular rooms.

SkiAdcock

Probably because someone had booked them as a paid stay, which sucks for elites wanting free upgrades.

AFAIK, mobile check in just gives the hotel(s) a heads up/allows them to allocate rooms/fill requests in advance, but also means they can adjust real-time, so I agree mobile check-in doesn't really make a difference/guarantee anything. Prior to mobile check in, one could look at one's reservation online & see if there was an upgrade to suite. Still didn't mean one would be available at point of check-in.

But at least for you recently, you did get a nice suite upgrade at the JW in BKK so all is not lost

Cheers.

margarita girl

Actually, I got the suites in both cases after I went back to the front desk to find out what happened to my suite. I'm just saying that OLCI guarantees nothing. Which is why I made the comment that I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still had my suite when I checked in to the JW BKK.

UA-NYC

If they are pre-blocking you into it, it should not be sold out from underneath you. That's why it's rare to see it more than a day or two out.