uftc

Upon check-in at the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point, CA, last night, a front desk agent mentioned I was upgraded to an executive suite (the smallest of several suite types at the property). When I inquired about additional upgrades being available, the front desk agent said “we cannot give you a complimentary upgrade to our larger suites as a platinum guest,” even though I had stayed there and have been upgraded to nicer rooms in the past. I checked on-line in the room and the presedential, royal, penthouse, monarch, and several St. Regis suites were available.

The place was completely dead (and I was told by the valet manager the occupancy was 14%). I know SPG policy excludes presidential and certain other suites from platinum upgrades, but isn’t the whole idea to give platinum guests preferential treatment? As the property probably has almost enough executive suites to have upgraded all of the guests staying there into them, is their not having offered up an additional upgrade acceptable? Isn't the only potential downside to the hotel a few dollars in additional cost for the housekeeping staff to work on additional square footage?

stevens397

Well, I do agree with you but please understand that the hotel has absolutely no obligation beyond an upgrade to a "standard" suite. And really, the bigger problem we have is with the hotels that have standard suites available and either don't offer them or make you beg for them!

That said, if I owned the hotel, I would absolutely do what you are suggesting. Why let the room sit empty when you can thrill a Platinum Elite. Of course, if you went back and only got a standard suite, you'd probably be pissed!

3Cforme

No, the whole idea is to get guests wanting a suite to pay for a suite. Giving them away trains guests not to reserve them, in hopes of getting suites as a free upgrade. It's the same logic with airplane upgrades to business & first class - give them away often enough and soon nobody will pay. Fly a Northwest domestic segment and ask passengers in first how many bought a first class ticket: if it's two of sixteen I'm surprised.

incognism

Loss of rate integrity.

Which in layman's terms means what 3Cforme described.

aussiechris

As Cheap Elite would say "If you want a suite...book it"

Agree with previous posters. Mind you I have had some great upgrades including the Presidential Suite at one Hotel. Let the big upgrade remain a real surprise and not the expectation

Tak

I am happy to be upgraded Executive suite of any St. Regis.
Shall I expect more?
I do not think so.

KENNECTED

Thank you oh loyal fan! LOL ^ ^

Cheap would also say, this has been discussed to death and if you did a (fill in the blank) you would find that the comments here (fill in the blank) what has been (fill in the blank) above!

PurpleTravel

If I were in charge, I would probably try to find a balance- i.e., reserve about 50%/75% of unoccupied higher suite classes for Platinum guests and leave the rest unoccupied. This will create enough uncertainty to maintain the integrity of the suite rate (as an individual, you wouldn't get one of these "super" upgrades that often), while also thrilling and surprising my best customers often enough to keep them coming back.

In terms of how to decide who gets what, I would probably look at loyalty even within Plat (how many stays/nights this year) and maybe a bit of first come first serve. I'm sure I could come up with some algorithm.

Starwood would of course have to explain that a certain % of available higher tier suites are available for upgrade- so that it didn't seem arbitrary.

BlissWorld

Not so. It depends on the product itself. Sure, no one in the right mind would book NW F. However, Continental also gives complimentary upgrades to their elites yet many of their first class seats are often booked to capacity. Try booking LAX-EWR. If you are not a Platinum on at least a H fare (almost full fare at about $1100 a pop), forget about the upgrade.

Back to the OP. It is on a case by case and employee (should I add incompetent?) by employee basis. I have often been upgraded to specialty suites and presidential suites. Many properties are more than happy to accommodate me when they are not booked full. The end result? They get my continued business. Smart move.

uftc

While on company-paid travel, my travel group books the lowest published rate. If the property were at (or close to) capacity and I booked a garden view room, I would expect to look out my window and see boxwood and magnolia, not the ocean. The property was at 14% capacity, or almost 7 out of every 8 rooms were unoccupied for those who do not care to do the math. Online on spg.com, I could see that (at the very least) 9 St. Regis suites were available, so yes I absolutely expect to be assigned one for my 1-night stay. There were still additional (more) upgraded suites available as well.

Maybe I would run a hotel into the ground if I managed one, but I would think guest loyalty trumps rate integrity when there are more individuals on staff than there are guests. While I love this property and I will continue to stay there 10-12 nights a year, I also like the Ritz-Carlton 2 miles away and ON the beach. At about $100 a night less than the St. Regis, it's a toss-up.

After sending an email to the St. Regis guest services expressing my opinions, my additional 1-night reservation for tonight now shows a St. Regis suite, whereas I was booked into an Executive suite as of 2 days ago, so it appears as though someone there might agree.

itsaboutthejourney

In this low occupancy situation, I think the bean-counter "rate integrity" cr@p runs counter to the loyalty and goodwill that SPG generates. How can an empty suite have such large value to not upgrade a loyal customer?

It's been mentioned before that when upgraded, many of us tend to spend more in incidentals: watching a movie from the couch, rooms service at the suite's table, entertaining friends/family in the suite, etc. Let alone the goodwill that makes us return to the brand.

clarkef

One concern about upgrading to really awesome suites is the lack of managed expectations. If you receive a Presidential Suite when the hotel is empty, imagine your disappointment when the hotel is 80 percent full and the hotel declines to upgrade you to the presidential suite.

I figure that as long as the hotel fulfills its part of the SPG bargain, I'm happy. In fact, my experience is that Starwood hotels generally upgrade several levels above that is required.

stevens397

I have had to work and to do some mileage runs to maintain Platinum status. I do so based on the incredible upgrades I have received in Paris, Madrid, New Orleans, etc.

When a hotel goes over and above, it helps the entire corporation make people like me (and many of you) incredibly loyal. When they make us beg for the standard suites our status makes us entitled to, it pisses us off and makes us look elsewhere.

So I still maintain, always try to give something of major value, especially when it costs you nothing!

3Cforme

This doesn't disprove my point in any way. The OP could have had a suite, had he chosen to pay for it. He's looking for entitlement (beyond SPG rules of 'select standard suites), and trying to rationalize it: the hotel is nearly empty and they didn't give me the best room.

Your CO example strengthens my argument: frequent CO fliers on that route soon would learn that cheapest fares never get them a ride upfront, and would learn to book H fares or better. Maybe if the OP here had booked a Junior Suite the St Regis upgrade gods could have smiled upon him.

Bookexp

So I walk into an empty McDonald and I order a 99 cent hamburger. But because the restaurant is empty, they have plenty double Quarter Ponder at the back and I eat at McDonald all the time, they should upgrade me a double Quarter ponder cheeseburger for free?

Why people behave differently when they stay at a hotel?

SQ and CX are probably the best airlines in the world and Four Seasons is one of the best hotel chains. Their upgrade policies are horrible, but they all have high customer loyalties.
When you focus giving away free stuffs, instead the quality of your products, for your customer loyalties, you actually lower the value of your products.