Failed Concierge upgrades
 

Inspired by the corresponding thread over at SPG, I think it would be interesting to start gathering a thread about failed Concierge upgrades.

I had my first one today, despite of availability at clubcarlson.com . Just checked in at Radisson Blu Scandinavia in Oslo. No upgrade (didn't ask for one since I usually get it automatically), but an apple and a bottle of water in the room. Freezing cold in the room by the way.

Had to fill out a paper form with credit card and contact details. Seemed very odd. I stay frequently here and this was the worst experience so far.

Stayed at same hotel two times in November and December. No upgrade and no fruit/water or any other welcome gift. Did not find the hotel particularily nice, and service only mediocre. Expected more.

It does make sense to state wher you actually were ;)

Radisson Blu Palais hotel in Vienna.

No upgrade
Had to point out that breakfast is free for Concierge Elite members (if only I had a penny every time I've had to do that!).
No in-room welcome gift

steveuk

The breakfast perk is really unknown to check-in staff. Just had the most weird conversation with the check-in person at Radisson Blu Scandinavia Copenhagen.

"You've been upgraded to Business Class" (this after a long telephone conversation with someone who told the check-in person I should be upgraded)
"Thank you. I suppose my breakfast is included as well?"
"It doesn't matter, Sir, your company is paying for it."
"I know, but they shouldn't be paying for it since I'm getting it for free."
"But you are not paying for it, your company is."
"No, they're not, as it's supposed to be included."
"It's included."

Let's see what happens tomorrow at check-out. I've yet to be impressed with CC. It's rubbish.

Tell him:
"Sir, your company (Carlson) is paying for it, not you personally" :)

I find CC is a big hit or miss, even staying with the same hotels week in and week out. The entire experience is so inconsistent that I'm just about ready to swear off Club Carlson completely. For my previous project, I had to stay at a Radisson every week for 3-4 nights a week for nearly 1 year and 3 months straight. You'd think that every week I'd be auto-upgraded, my status would be recognized. Nope, inconsistent treatment, welcome gift in room only 1/3 of the time on check-in, some weeks the check-in clerks would fail to recognize me or forget that I have status (despite the fact I see them EVERY week and I'm super courteous to them), sometimes argue with me when I asked for upgrades, etc.

One Radisson upgraded my room without me asking, but then when I got the bill, they charged me an "upgrade fee". I had booked the room with points, and they decided to charge me $120/night extra for the upgrade, which made zero sense. The front desk did absolutely nothing about it and refused to zero out the bill. I had to end up sending a complaint letter to Club Carlson and only then did they actually reverse the charges.

Once in a while, there's a pleasant experience or two (I had a nice upgraded room at the downtown Toronto Hotel without asking for it, along with an excellent breakfast and they even provided free room service for some reason for one night, maximum of $100 worth of food), but overall, the entire program is a giant mess. It's inconsistent, the service in general needs a LOT of work to be better.

I have pretty much the same experience. On my reward stays (at the same hotel), I've got a free breakfast coupon (not sure if Gold Elite gets you free breakfast to start with) maybe once every 4 stays...and a welcome note with a bottle of water/cookies probably 7 out of 10 times. Upgrade-never, although the general rooms (usually get a higher floor) are not bad and I have no complaints. Overall, I'm quite happy with Club Carlson and now primarily stay here over IHG/Hilton.

Club Carlson: Great Hotels, lousy service on the scheme
 

I have been staying in Club Carlson hotels for years now. On the whole the hotels themselves are nice well maintained properties. As with a lot of people on this this thread its the scheme that lets them down.

My frustrations include: Staff are never aware of the free breakfast entitement. Like many of you, If I had a dollar for every time I had to make them aware of that privilege. While staying at the Park Plaza Riverbank I used to carry a photocopy of the ClubCarlson member benefits so I could show it to staff on check in/check out so they knew of the privilages

Upgrades: Like many of you this is a total lottery. I have been staying at the Park Plaza Cardiff for around a year, see the same reception staff every week (I am always very courteous to them). Upgrades some weeks not others. Likewise with the in room gifts. Sometimes Fruit, sometimes water, sometimes nothing.

Goldpoints discounts in restaurants (do we still get this since we changed to CC?) anyway, despite telling staff when we sat that we were clubcarlson/goldpoints members we still had to remind them when the bill came to add the discount.

Booking via clubcarlson.com. As Concierge members we are supposed to get a 3000 point bonus. Every week I have to raise a claim as it was missed off my room credit. I know its only 3000 points but when you stay in hotels as often as I do its a couple of free nights a year you are missing out of.

I think the hotels in the Carlson program on the whole are great and the scheme is pretty generous, especially when you are concierge level its just unlike Hilton/Marriott you have to watch your statement like a hawk and always remind staff of what you are entitled to as a concierge member.

Good luck folks

Interesting that you mention the 3000 point online bonus for booking. For my previous project (1.5 years), I booked every single stay online, and then called into Club Carlson or the hotel to change it to my project approved rate.

I got credited the online bonus only for 1/3 of the bookings (and then, only when I remembered to bug them about it). Seeing as I stayed there for 80 weeks total, that's literally around 180,000 points (enough for a bunch of nights) that I still haven't been credited for. I honestly hate the program with a passion because it's just so poorly implemented.

The great thing about the program is the very fact they are crap at administrating it, I have never stayed the correct number of nights to be concierge but I am, the brilliance is if you lodge a missing points claim the folks in the Euro office usually credit them, then in a couple of weeks the hotel fianlly gets around to it, this happens all the time with the Russian hotels.

I always ask for an upgrade at the front desk, so far I've never failed to get one, I even get upgrades with points nights. You just have to ask nicely.

As a concierge and their top most elite status, you really shouldn't have to ask for an upgrade. I'm not sure why hotels or the Club Carlson program can't make a guaranteed-upgrade and other benefits standard for their most valuable clients.

You mean you get points on Reward nights?

Yes I have, the last one was the Radisson Kenilworth, booked an award night, recieved the 3000 online booking bonus, points for food and beverage (even though I didn't have any food or drinks at the hotel) and the 75% concierge bonus for food and beverage, the time before that was the Park Plaza Amsterdam here they even gave me points for the room even though it was an awards night, plus online booking and concierge bonus, they cock up all the time, it's great, I hope they stay as messed up as they are. BTW asking for an upgrade takes a couple of seconds, I don't see any problem asking, most of the time I've already been allocated an upgraded room, the evidence of this is usually some food, water and in some instances a note form the manager welcoming me back, which is what I received today at the Radisson Royal St Petersburg.

Interesting. I'm new to Carlson as Gold, booked couple award nights with them in US. Nothing extra happened :(

I suspect Club Carlson doesn't have a common IT system with their hotels. I just checked in at Radisson Blu Viking in Stockholm. At check-in the clerk got quite confused when I pulled out my Concierge card. I think he corrected some information he had on his screen. Then he gave me a key, which turned out to be a refurbished business class room (upgraded).

When I got to the room, I had a platter with fruit and some chocolate, a bottle of water, and a letter welcoming me as a valued Gold member.

I had checked that my booking showed on Club Carlson's homepage, so some IT system somewhere knew that I was coming, but that system wasn't connected to the hotel's system.

I just wonder what I would have gotten as a Concierge benefit then... With gold-cards being handed out in cereal-boxes (so it seems reading FT...) I really for once would like to see the difference in treatment between a Gold and a Concierge.

Maybe it's better next week when I stay at the same place.

I'm staying at the Viking a lot at the moment, and on 2/3 occasions been given the same kind of room (last week I didn't get an upgrade at all, nor breakfast). I did notice that my colleague, who has no status (I'm a gold) was also upgraded to business class, and her room was at least twice the size as mine (although it had an old CRT TV instead of a flatscreen)

I'm having the same frustrations here as many others. I'll be staying in Stockholm every week for the next 6 months, so I would really like some consistency. If I know what I'm going to get each week, I'll block-book now. Otherwise, I'm going to be very tempted to check out alternatives (although I'm not hearing great things about the Hilton at least I know I'm going to get upgrades and lounge access)

/FF

Just checked in at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia in Oslo. A 10 minute wait for check-in as there was a long line and 1 person working. When the second one came, things started to go faster.

No upgrade, no welcome gift, no nothing. No response to my complaint from last time at this lousy hotel either.

Wow, your experience(s) is making me think twice whether I want to make an extra effort to get Concierge (already Gold for next year) or focus on my other hotel status accounts.

I guess it depends where you travel. Based on my experiences I think it's quite clear that Gold gets you about the same (i.e. very little) as Concierge in most places.

Seems I'm the only one who's extremely unlucky with the upgrades as nobody else is posting in this thread...

Radisson Blu Lisbon. No upgrade, no gift, free breakfast only after I went to the reception and complained about it. When checking in the receptionist looked like he didn't have a clue what the card I was presenting was. :td:

I have had a mixed response in terms of upgrades with Club Calrlson. My last couple of stays in Manchester, UK have resulted in upgrades to suites in two separate hotels, with welcome gifts and a welcome note. However I stayed in one again last night and was upgraded to a business class room with no welcome gift or note.
I usually have no problem going for breakfast although on one occasion I was told I could only have breakfast if I paid for it. This resulted in me having to go back to my room to get my concierge card and speak with the receptionist who called through to the restaurant to allow me in.

It seems to me that some of the computer systems don't always tie up. It's a shame really that they don't appreciate their loyal customers more!

To be fair, I'm also earned Diamond on HHonors and earned Platinum on Marriott, and I've had no better success with room upgrades on those plans.

In my case, I didn't get Gold upgraded at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia in Oslo, but they didn't have my CC number in at registration. They offered to upgrade me later in my stay once the info was in place, but by then I didn't feel the need for the hassle of moving. :)

All of my info is in place for next month's trip, though, so we'll see if it happens.

As posted in the Elite Experiences thread, I did not receive an upgrade at the Radisson Lexington, NYC. I don't know if it was due to the hotel being full or if the agent just didn't know what she was doing. But still, another failed upgrade.

They don't care at the Lexington. On the other hand they will no longer be a Radisson next month either.

Just checked in at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia in Copenhagen. Was informed at check-in that the hotel is full, and they can't give me the usual upgrade to a junior suite. Oddly enough, I got a regular room, not even an upgrade to a business class room.

The cynic in me thinks all the business class upgrades were given to one of the status matched golds, and I who have earned my Concierge card was left without an upgrade.

Interesting to see what happens on Friday when I check in at the same hotel with a family room reservation. I guess there's nothing of similar practicality to upgrade to?

Checked in today again, for the 3rd time in 8 days, at the Radisson Blu Scandinavia in Copenhagen. I just have to share these experiences.

As stated in previous post, no upgrade at 1st time. At check-out, they demanded I pay for my breakfast as I wasn't upgraded to a room that includes breakfast! Had a 5 minute argument before I was given the free breakfast.

2nd time early check-in was not honoured, even if requested before. Ok, I had booked a Family Room, so I can somehow understand that the room type wasn't available. I don't know if I received a Family Room in the end, as the room looked exactly like the Junior Suite I'm usually upgraded to.

3rd time was today. Again no upgrade as hotel was overbooked. Previous guy who checked in (and cut me in line, thank you very much) got a Junior Suite. I told the receptionist I was disappointed, which was answered with "rooms are preallocated, nothing I can do". It's probably true, but it doesn't show much "Yes I can" nor 100% satisfaction guarantee. Nothing else to compensate either (e.g. drink voucher, free appetizer at restaurant, free pay-tv etc) so I'll just munch away on the chocolate covered almonds and the 0,3 liter stil water bottle they call a welcome gift. Previously this place had at least a healthy fruit platter.

Sigh.

Have you tried talking to management? I would think being a frequent guest, let alone Concierge status would get you the benefits.

VERY rarely do I even get a Concierge in-room welcome gift (unless a bottle of water counts)..if anything, Park Inn still sent me 3 apples as a "fruit platter" last time around but I never get anything extra when I stay at Radissons.

I am a newly minted Gold Elite and as I have posted at another thread, individual Radisson property apparently has the option to "opt out" (not participate) in the Gold Elite and Concierge programmes. This is after a follow up with Elite Member Service centre following a stay at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Berkshire in London, U.K. as a Gold Elite.

No upgrade, no early check-in (unless I pay an extra fee) and no in room Welcome gift.

A fellow FT'er kindly pointed me to the T&C of the Gold Elite programme which states the following:

"•All member benefits may vary by participating hotel, are subject to availability, may not be available at all locations, and are subject to change at any time. ........."

Source: http://www.clubcarlson.com/offers/4119046

It was a "shock" to me. While I appreciate that such perks would be based on availability, it has never occurred to me that an individual property may choose not to participate.

I am really wondering why I had bothered to pursue the Gold Elite level but chose a different brand instead.

I'm not surprised to see such a clause in T&C's to cover their butts, but in practice to have hotels opting out of the program really is awful.

Unfortunately being in Europe there aren't many hotel chains to play the game with... Le Club Accor Platinum isn't worth the plastic the cards are made of. Priority Club is barely better than Accor. If you're also in Europe, what else is there? SPG and Hilton don't have a big enough presence to be my go-to chain.

At the moment Club Carlson is good enough and makes it worthwhile to go out of my way to stay at their hotels (although top tier benefits are.. lacking). If more hotels start opting out and it becomes just a hassle, that would easily change for me.

Radisson Blu Silkeborg, Denmark. First time at this hotel, and CC number was not in booking. Showed my CCC card, but no recognition, upgrade, and after a few hours at the hotel no gift either. Not very suprising as it's the first time at this hotel, but I will be unhappy if there's nothing the next time I come here.