krypttohk

I just checked into a Days Inn as a Diamond, and was told that they don't do upgrades at all. Upon calling the Diamond desk, I was told that upgrades are ONLY to a suite. You can't go from a queen to a king, or something similar - just to suites. Does this track with other people's experiences?

stallion114

TTT103

I have never been upgraded at any Wyndham affiliated property. Wyndham does not enforce Wyndham Rewards benefits among their franchisees. Since the change this year in award tiers, I no longer stay at Wyndhams, other than now that I am burning up a half million points that I stupidly accumulated.

zdcatc12

I beg to differ. I have been staying at the Days Inn in Absecon, NJ and have gotten upgraded 3 of 4 times. The have 5 suites on property, actual suites with a separate bedroom--it is an old Fairfield. With that said, I stayed at the Wyndham Hotel in Mt. Laurel, NJ and in spite of numerous suites available for the length of my stay, they refused to upgrade me. Got 3K point from WR after the fact. when I pointed out that there were suites available, the lady at the desk told me to cancel my reservation and book one of those and pay that rate, no thank you.

Seat 2A

I think you've got to read the fine print on this "perk" On the one hand, the Wyndham Rewards site indicates that you can

Get upgraded to a suite every time you stay—even when you book a go freeSM or go fastSM award night.

but then when you click on the "Details" link, it goes on to add

Offered upon request and subject to availability at check-in for qualified stays, go free award stays, and go fast award stays at Wyndham Rewards hotels only (excluding Caesars Entertainment hotels). Subject to availability and additional restrictions.

Here are the additional restrictions:

Suite upgrade at Participating Hotels, subject to availability, in connection with Qualified Stays, Go Free Award stays and Go Fast Award stays, in each case, booked by advance reservation. Availability is determined by Participating Hotel at check-in and is only applicable to the Member’s personal guest room. Suites are not available at all Participating Hotels.

I've never seen anything in Wyndham's listing of its various status based perks that clearly defines exactly what a "Qualified Stay" is with regard to a potential suite upgrade. Indeed, the wording "Availability is determined by Participating Hotel at check-in " would seem to give all of the Wyndham properties quite a lot of latitude as to whether they choose to honor any upgrades. For example, a front desk clerk or a hotel GM may see that they have 5 suites available when you check in, but if in their estimation there's even a scintilla of a chance to sell those suites later in the day, they would appear to be well within their rights to decline an upgrade.

The biggest issue I've encountered with Wyndham personnel is that very few front desk employees are even aware of the upgrade perk. While the individual hotel GMs often are aware of it, they generally do little to nothing to ensure that this "perk" is even potentially honored via an informed front desk staff. By extension, I should imagine Wyndham corporate puts little to no emphasis on this perk in detailing its policies with its franchises.

That said, my dissatisfaction with Wyndham's systemwide failure to recognize and honor my supposedly lofty Diamond Status over the past three years (they don't even offer the 6000 point year end point bonus at year's end anymore) has led me to give a lot more of my business to Choice Hotels properties. This year alone I've booked almost 20 nights in Choice Hotel properties that in years past would have gone to one of the Wyndham family of properties. These Choice Hotels (Sleep Inn, Comfort Inn & Quality Inn) are generally a bit more expensive than the Wyndham properties, but almost always of better overall quality (unless you're staying in a Rodeway Inn ) and ultimately worth the difference in price - at least to me.

I'll still book with Wyndham now and then, but doing so with any hope of enjoying status based perks (other than the occasional late check out which is almost always honored) no longer holds sway in maintaining any sense of loyalty to the Wyndham Rewards program.

BTW, Choice Hotels also has a complimentary room upgrade perk. To their credit they are less ambiguous about its implementation. To wit:

Room upgrades are determined by each hotel at check-in, are subject to availability and only apply to member's personal room. Upgraded room types may include recently renovated rooms, rooms on a higher/lower floor, or rooms with favored views. Hotels are not required to upgrade members' rooms to specialty rooms or suites.

Irpworks

As platinum for the length of the program, I've had many properties give perks I didn't expect while others did nothing to recognize status. However, last week in Costa Rica, platinum status motivated the Wyndham San Jose to get me the room I'd reserved even though the hotel was fully booked and they'd lost my reservation. (Always carry that confirmation page, don't count on the app. Especially abroad.)

Emskevin

"The biggest issue I've encountered with Wyndham personnel is that very few front desk employees are even aware of the upgrade perk. While the individual hotel GMs often are aware of it, they generally do little to nothing to ensure that this "perk" is even potentially honored via an informed front desk staff. By extension, I should imagine Wyndham corporate puts little to no emphasis on this perk in detailing its policies with its franchises."

I have found this as well. Most front desk personnel have little or no knowledge of "Status Perks". A little education from corporate would go a long way in many of these situations. I gave up on upgrades at regular Wyndham properties years ago. Most simply don't have suites and if they do they are jealously guarded by front desk personnel who have no idea that your status should be granted the suite if possible. Destination properties however I have found to be knowledgeable and work to get you upgraded if possible. I had an experience in the New Yorker that was absolutely amazing. I was upgraded without request to the perfect room with the most perfect view in the city!