Camino1

I'm not an industry insider so I wonder if hotels throughout a given chain might hold out on upgrades from time to time just to justify it when they may need to do so for less than noble reasons?

MisterNice

What legal problems? Most T&C are so fuzzy they promise basically nothing.

MisterNice

Club_IC

Care to clarify or explain a little more?

I have come across upgrades being given to keep people sweet if something unfortunate has happened, or even strategically extending upgrades from time to time to keep government or other commercially important clients happy. Are these "less than noble reasons"?

I have not yet come across a hotel let alone a chain that will not upgrade becuase it is afraid to get sued;-)

Camino1

Might a hotel may disallow your upgrade because of market conditions even though you are an elite program member, but to make themselves look good they may need to prove that they routinely deny members upgrades?

mikey1003

This just doesn't make sense.

Why hold back if available?

Camino1

I don't know what else to add--I wrote the reason in my original post and then clarified.

seoulmanjr

I'm only guessing what the OP is driving at, but here goes a shot at clarification based upon my own reading between the lines:

"Might a hotel occasionally not give an upgrade to an elite member so that if they were ever sued for discrimination because they did not give an upgrade to someone that is gay/black/old/young/blond/short/whatever, they could point to those other instances to defend their actions?"

My response is they might do that, but I don't see how that would protect them in a lawsuit. It's not as if every other time they denied someone an upgrade they noted the reservation/account with info such as "WASP" or "clearly straight" or whatever. I'm no lawyer, but I wouldn't see the logic in doing so.

peace,
~Ben~

derpelikan

many japanese hotels try to not upgrade you even suites /better rooms are available.

i am sure that some do it on purpose sometimes.

dp

Camino1

I don't mean to suggest that it would be based in discrimination, but that they'd want to hold the room open because demand is high, but the only way to justify it regarding elite memberships ("best available") is to withhold rooms sometimes even when they are fully available.

mario33

Most properties only upgrade on day of check-in i.e. when the upgraded rooms have not been sold, so I am not sure how the "demand is high" logic comes in unless the stay is a very long one.

Maybe my Sunday morning coffee is not strong enough but I have a problem understanding this thread

Canarsie

This is a topic that concerns hotel chains other than solely the Hilton hotel chain.

For that reason, as well as to appeal to a wider audience on FlyerTalk, the new home of this thread is the TravelBuzz! forum.

Regards,

Canarsie
Co-Moderator, Hilton forum

wanaflyforless

Thank you for finally explaining what "less than noble" "legal reasons" means to you. It was impossible to tell until this point.

Your line of reasoning assumes a lot of last minute reservations. In most hotel markets they don't expect a lot of last minute (after lots of people have checked in) new reservations to made most days based on historical demand. Thus they already know (for the most part) how many higher paying guests there will be and won't save a lot of rooms for them.

I am guessing they will save some (a very small number) rooms for these types of high paying last minute guests. How many would most likely depend on historical data for that hotel in that season. They know what they should expect.

Only a few hotel programs promise the "best available" room. At these hotels, I expect managers sometimes decide what what rooms are and are not "available." The nicest room may not be "available" because it is alloted to last minute premium guests.

In general it is very difficult if not impossible for a guest to know what rooms are vacant and which aren't. The hotels have little to loose controlling "availability."

Camino1

Not really "what it means" to me. That was just one example of an array of possibilities.

I was just trying to not be overly specific for that reason.

CPRich

They could possibly do this on a regular, though infrequent basis, in order to justify the irregular, though equally frequent, times when other reasons may cause them to need to do it.

But I'm not an insider either, so it's just possible speculation.

candela

I have run into that situation more than once. Be it high season, high demand, etc..

I would ask to be upgraded at check in and I could be told that the only thing available is what was already assigned to me. Shortly there after, I could be crossing the reception area, lugging my bags and another "Joe" ask the same and the employee candidly tell him, Sure mr. joe, just give me a second. This was at a Courtyard and I have been a Platinum for years.


There could be a myriad of reasons. Personality's, moods, etc.... Then again, I could have very well misunderstood what the OP was asking.