You want a hotel room upgrade?

[chasea]

Mobil ratings are of great concern to a luxury hotel property. A high rating helps a hotel justify increased expense for rooms and services. Some hotels will go to great lengths to maintain or increase this rating. As such, many luxury hotel properties train their employees to make a guest happy at almost any cost.

Here are a few different tactics to try for a complimentary hotel room upgrade:

-Peak season. Check in as early and without warning.

Check out for most hotels is 11 a.m. or noon. Check in is usually around 2 or 3 p.m. This doesn't mean you should show up unannounced at 9am, unless you like spending hours in hotel lobbies. If check-in is at 3:00, show up at 3:00. If the hotel was fully booked the night before and your arrival day is a big travel day there will be a lot of check-outs. This means that they have a 3-hour window to clean all of their vacant rooms. That's not likely to happen. If your room isn't ready and you've arrived after they've begun checking-in, they're not going to stick you in a lower-grade room. Nor will they want to upset off by making you wait. They'll stick you in a better room because it's their mistake.

This works best on Sundays during peak-season. You could try showing up 10 or 15 minutes before check-in begins; though you run the risk of waiting while they rush a housekeeper to clean the room you've booked.

-Off season. A special occasion.

Call ahead and let them know you'll be staying for a special occasion. Don't make up a birthday, because you'll need your ID to check in. Go for an anniversary. But don't request anything special in advance. If you want to be greeted with rose petals or a bottle of champagne, they're going to have to block your room to have it cleaned and set early. That means you'll arrive to the $300 room you booked, to be greeted with rose petals or booze which will show up on your bill.

Meanwhile, someone else who payed $300 is going to be greeted with a $500 room.

-Off season. Be annoyed.

You've spent a night or two there and you're not happy. There was construction and it kept you up. The room service took too long. The housekeeper didn't clean the room. The hotel needs to make this right. Hotel management wants your business, but the person working the desk is simply doesn't get paid enough to field an endless stream complaints. So calmly list your grievances and tell them what you want. You want to be put in a nicer room. They weren't going to sell the room, and having someone clean it costs them the same amount of money. Most importantly, they don't have to give you the thing that is a real expense to them... booze.

Worst case scenario, you get some free booze.

-Off season. Be a great guy.

Be polite. Be friendly. Be cool. If you're not cool, fake it. Make the desk agent like you. They deal with upset travelers all day. Be a great guy. Counter their robotic smile with a real one and make polite and friendly conversation. Maybe your flight was delayed. Mention it, but don't dwell. You're glad to be in their town and looking forward to seeing the sights. Nothing is going to ruin your good mood. You're a great guy.

They're in service. They want to make your day better. It's a tedious job, but you're making their life easier. They've got a ton of empty rooms upstairs and free upgrade is no trouble. Besides, you tipped them. You're a great guy.

Great guys sleep in king size beds.

[e-RICHIE]

so much awesomeness atmo.
ps i fucking love the tribeca grand and stayed there three times.
i am just saying.

[chasea]

so much awesomeness atmo.
ps i fucking love the tribeca grand and stayed there three times.
i am just saying.

Hot bar there. Hard to get in, even for guests. I saw them turn away some Japanese business dudes who looked like they had a whole lot more money to spend than we did. I got in with Deirdre. Do you know Deirdre? Oh you must meet her.

[e-RICHIE]

Hot bar there. Hard to get in, even for guests. I saw them turn away some Japanese business dudes who looked like they had a whole lot more money to spend than we did. I got in with Deirdre. Do you know Deirdre? Oh you must meet her.

have her friend me atmo.

[Saab2000]

I showed up early in Austin for NAHBS and I believe I got an upgrade. I got my room via one of the online sights (not via the hotel) and ended up with an awesome room near the top of the building. Higher is always better. The room was not cheap, but I showed up before check-in time but not ridiculously early either. But I am a regular in hotels due to my job so I just went with the flow. They treated me right and so I treated them right. The hotel was great because I was incredibly tired and had only 20 hours in Austin and didn't want to deal with a Charlie Foxtrot when I finally had to call it a night.

I stay in hotels 12+ nights per month. Quality matters. Higher is better 98% of the time. Ask for it.

I wish my cheapass airline cared more about where we stay.

[happycampyer]

Add angle #5: luck. I had one of the best hotel upgrades ever, by pure luck. I was on a business trip in London several years ago, and my family came with me. We had booked a trip to Paris for a long weekend, and had used Amex points to get a basic hotel room at the Hotel Raphael, probably $500/night. When we got there, an embassy had taken up several floors of the hotel so, for security purposes, they wanted us as far away from the embassy guests as possible. They put us in what they refer to as the Arc de Tripmphe suite. Insensé. Check it out.

HOTEL RAPHAEL PARIS

When we left the hotel, I asked the concierge out of curiosity how much the suite went for, and I recall that it was over EUR 2,000/night...

[caleb]

A few years ago we were staying at a mid-range resort in Mexico. When I walked into the otherwise nice bathroom, there was a roach in the tub. I put it in a water glass and brought it to the front desk. We went from having a room facing the road to an oceanview as fast as the clerk could type the keys.

[Lewis Moon]

Probably doesn't happen as much in this day and age, but I've been comped a 40th floor room with a view in Seattle just because I don't smoke and all the non-smoking rooms were taken.
Always insist on (reasonable) accomodations to your "lifestyle". Order the kosher meal, a never smoked in room (athsma)..etc. Any others?

[rphetteplace]

When we went to NAHBs in San Jose we checked into our Sheraton. Pretty nice place overall we were pretty impressed. I started looking for the phone book in the room and opened up a end table and inside was a half empty 12 pack of some type of cheap ass beer. I pulled it out and immediately noticed the beers expiration date was more than 6 months before. I was super pissed for some reason. I grabbed it and marched down to the Sheraton preffered check in and dropped it on the desk and asked them why the hell this was in my room if my room was supposed to be clean? Keep in mind I'm 6'6" and just under 300lbs. Needless to say they comped all of our meals for our stay in the hotel restaurant!

[Lionel]

Tip no 6, live in hotels half of your time for 25 years and get platinum status for life with starwood. You are then always upgraded, a very small compensation for having to be away from home all this time.

[quickag]

When I work in SEA (especially Manila/Makati), I spend as much on tips as I do on anything else. I've gone weeks without having to open my own door. Sometimes if I'm there long enough they'll have my table/breakfast ready for me when I get downstairs since I'm apparently the only gaijin that eats asian breakfast there.

There's a little place on the island of Palawan called the Hotel Fleuris. There's a guy named Elber that works/lives at the hotel. He's always has a ride waiting for me at the airport, motorcycle ready for me at the hotel and brings me my newspaper and fresh breakfast to my room. Be good to people. They'll usually be good to you.

Also I'm keeping this thread as a sticky for when I spend some more time in different hotels that aren't in third world countries.

[Wisco]

I'm not the traveler Lionel or Saab are, but I've always had good luck with upgrades in the US by just being the entry level loyalty program member + being nice. I am partial to the Hilton family of hotels and generally am able to score some sort of perk above and beyond my status by being nice when I check in.... Midwest US politeness I guess. This works best when you arrive earlier in the day or for some reason very late into the evening.

As others have said, be nice and you shall often be rewarded.

[bking]

my wife and i used to go down to the strip and get a room for the night on our anniversary. First time was Bally's (not one of the better joints). I'd asked for a nice suite, told them it was an anniversary. We get there and go up to the room, it was crap. it was just two rooms, one with a bed, the other with couches etc. I called down, explained we're local and why we'd come. They apologized, said they'd put us in a convention suite, meetings etc. She asked me to hold on for a minute, got back on and said someone was coming up, and that we'd like the room they were putting us in. Top floor, presidential suite. Floor to ceiling glass, incredible strip views, two story suite, sunken heart shaped tub with Roman Columns etc. You can't get this room, it's reserved and comped to the "whales" (look it up, gambling term). Amazing.
The next year we go to the MGM. Same routine, i ask for a nice corner suite. Checking in they ask where we're from, i tell them we're local, just an anniversary night. She says hold on a minute, walks away, comes right back and says, "it's not the room you requested, but i think you'll like it". A redo. Two story corner suite, with a hot tub for 20 on a balcony big enough for a party of 50 overlooking the strip.
Tell them your local, if you are. They're usually kind to neighbors.

[seanile]

when they say they don't have any rooms and you know they're lying, call their bluff by asking, "if the president walked in here right now and asked for a room, you'd turn him away?"

[Lionel]

Lionel or Saab

Saab is a pilot. I have to work when I land ;)

[Saab2000]

Saab is a pilot. I have to work when I land ;)

Exactly. I'm done when I land. I have an easier job than the truly frequent travelers. By far. The travel sucks and afterwards they have to do their job.

Anyway, I don't get to keep hotel points. Our company ( like many others I assume) negotiates cheap rooms for crews. They get cheaper prices than if you just drove up and checked in. One of the things they negotiate out is the points. There are a few hotels that honor the points for crew members but not many.

And we never get the upgrades either.

Give me the following with hotels and the rest is just fluff:

1. Clean
2. Quiet
3. No BS.

Don't apologize for stuff that sucks. Don't let it happen in the first place. Like curtains that only cover 2/3 of the window. Or an A/C unit that doesn't work. Or no hot water. Or a shuttle that comes an hour after we land. Or people who try to come into the room when the "Do Not Disturb" sign is hanging out. Or garbage beds you bought at Walmart 10 years ago. Or elevators that don't work. Or carpet that squishes because it's totally saturated with water. Or false fire alarms at 3 AM that keep going on for an hour while you stand in the hotel parking lot, while the manager tells you there's nothing wrong but they can't reset the alarm.

All this has happened in the past few years. Having flashy decorations in the lobby and and a free cookie or lemon flavored water doesn't matter if the place sucks. But cookies apparently cost less than having actual quality, so places have cookies.

Let's not get going about hotels. I probably spend 125 nights per year (and probably more) in hotels (I'm typing this from a hotel). I can tell you what a good hotel is and what a garbage hotel is.

If my airline never stayed at anything other than a Hampton Inn forever I'd be OK with that. They are clean, quiet and have a low BS factor. Some of the big name chains suck and some of the 'average' or 'budget' hotels are really pretty good.

[Lionel]

Certainly not trying to diminish the pilot and captain jobs. It's a big responsability.

But in my worst year of travel, I had flown as many hours as an Air France Captain.... Not good.

[rwsaunders]

On my Hilton profile in the note section, I have written "top floor away from elevator, ice machine and traffic side of the building....thanks for your help." It works. Although Saab has identified the top floor as being better, I've found that it's quieter too as there is nobody above you...like the college basketball team that just happened to be staying above my room ten year ago in Corvalls. Also, if I'm ever so unfortunate to be involved in seismic event, I'm counting on riding the building down.