Hotel Room Upgrades: Asking For What You Want

The world of miles and points has given me the opportunity to stay at many hotels that I may have never had the opportunity to do so otherwise, usually as a result of the prohibitive cost. While I’ve been lucky to stay at some amazing properties, many of these experiences have been improved even further as a result of complimentary hotel room upgrades.

Hotel room upgrades are often offered as a benefit of hotel loyalty programs or by booking through certain platforms. What a hotel room upgrade actually looks like can be subjective, but I’ve been able to implement a consistent approach that has resulted in a good success rate at obtaining the upgrade that I am interested in throughout my travels.

Let’s take a look at how you can utilize room upgrade benefits and combine them with a proactive request to increase the chance of securing the room upgrade you want on your next vacation.

The Low Down on Hotel Room Upgrades

Hotel room upgrades can be a bit of a black box depending on the loyalty program and even based on each individual property. Sometimes it can feel like you are pulling teeth to get an upgrade, whereas at certain properties they will go above and beyond in proactively upgrading eligible elite status members days before arrival.

Some hotels may consider an upgrade to be a room on a higher floor or one with a better view; I do not consider these true upgrades. For me, if I am being upgraded, for it to be meaningful I would expect a different (and hopefully better) room type, usually at least a suite. 

However, as someone who often books with miles and points, I usually book the base-level or standard room type, as that is the most cost-effective redemption when using points, so a suite may be a few levels above the category I booked and could be a bit of a stretch for an upgrade.

I tend to rely on my earned elite status within the relevant hotel loyalty program to push for an upgrade. However, over my years of traveling, I’ve found that the best approach is to combine the hotel loyalty program’s elite status benefits with a proactive request as it has given me the most consistent results. I’ll touch on my exact strategy and some of the results I’ve seen below.

As an aside, the chances of receiving a complimentary hotel room upgrade without loyalty program status or not booking through a platform that offers upgrades as a benefit is next to zero, but I suppose it could never hurt to ask. Just temper your expectations accordingly as it isn’t something that typically happens.

Hotel Loyalty Program Statuses That Offer Room Upgrade Benefits

If you hold elite status with a hotel loyalty program, you are most likely eligible to receive some type of room upgrade as a benefit of your status. Each hotel loyalty program handles this benefit differently, so let’s take a look at what you can expect.

Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott Bonvoy offers room upgrades as a benefit to those members who have earned Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status and above.

Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite members are eligible to receive an “Enhanced Room Upgrade” which can include an upgrade to rooms with desirable views, rooms on high floors, corner rooms, rooms with special amenities, or rooms on executive floors. Note that suites are not included in this wording, so don’t expect much in the way of upgrades with Gold Elite status.

On the flip side, Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite members and above (including Titanium Elite members and Ambassador members) receive access to a higher category of potential room upgrades, as they can be upgraded to “Select Suites”.

Upgrades via Marriott Bonvoy elite status are available at all properties except for Marriott Vacation Club, Marriott Grand Residence Club, Sheraton Vacation Club, Westin Vacation Club, The Phoenician Residences, a Luxury Collection Residence Club, Scottsdale, and Ritz-Carlton Reserve. For eligible properties, it is up to them how they want to implement this benefit in actuality.

Marriott Platinum Elite members and above may also choose Nightly Upgrade Awards (NUAs) as their choice benefit. These awards can be used to request an upgrade to a specific room type in advance of a stay, but even when using them, an upgrade is not guaranteed.

Hilton Honors

Hilton Honors also offers complimentary room upgrades as a benefit to those members who have earned Gold Elite status and above.

Hilton Honors Gold Elite members are eligible to receive space available room upgrades, up to executive floor room types. On the other hand, Hilton Honors Diamond Elite members are also eligible to receive space available room upgrades, up to a 1-bedroom suite.

Upgrades via Hilton Honors Elite status apply at Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, LXR Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, NoMad, Canopy by Hilton, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Curio Collection by Hilton, Graduate Hotels, Tempo by Hilton, DoubleTree by Hilton, Signia by Hilton, and Tapestry Collection by Hilton properties.

World of Hyatt

World of Hyatt members who have reached at least Discoverist status are eligible to receive various levels of hotel room upgrades.

World of Hyatt Discoverist members can receive upgrades to preferred rooms. Preferred rooms can include rooms on higher floors, corner rooms, or rooms with more appealing views but are within the same room type or category that was booked. Explorist members can receive upgraded rooms excluding suites and rooms with club lounge access.

Globalist members can receive complimentary room upgrades up to and including standard suites. While I’ve never held this status, there are many promising data points of being upgraded as a Globalist member as there is no quick shortcut to this status, resulting in there being fewer Globalist members than the top tier statuses of Marriott and Hilton.

World of Hyatt members can also earn Suite Upgrade Awards through Hyatt Milestone Rewards, which allow them to confirm an upgrade to a suite at the time of booking for a stay of up to seven nights. 

Milestone Awards also grant Guest of Honor Awards, which can be applied towards another member’s booking to gift them Globalist status for the duration of their stay, which may include a room upgrade.

IHG One Rewards

IHG One Rewards is one of the simpler programs on the list, as both Platinum Elite and Diamond Elite members can receive complimentary upgrades, subject to availability.

Upgrades for eligible IHG One Rewards members may include the next best available room, such as suites, rooms on higher floors, corner rooms, newly renovated rooms, or rooms with preferred views.

Wyndham Rewards

Wyndham Rewards is the most restrictive program on the list, as it only offers upgrades to members who reach the highest status in the program, Diamond.

Diamond members can get upgraded to a suite every time they stay even whether booking with cash or points. Upgrades are always subject to availability at check-in.

Booking Platforms That Offer Room Upgrade Benefits

Hotel loyalty programs aren’t the only way to secure hotel room upgrades, as there are a few high-end booking platforms that also offer potential room upgrades as a benefit of booking through them.

American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts

American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts is a popular premier booking platform that includes over 2,200 luxury properties. Cardholders who hold either the American Express Platinum card or the American Express Business Platinum card in Canada and the United States can use Fine Hotels & Resorts to book their next hotel stay while enjoying additional benefits.

Guests who book with American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts will receive several benefits including early check-in, late checkout, a unique property benefit, and complimentary breakfast for two. They will also receive a complimentary room upgrade upon arrival where available and should note that certain room categories may not be eligible for upgrade.

The Hotel Collection

The Hotel Collection by American Express is the companion program to Fine Hotels & Resorts and it includes a wider variety of properties. Canadian American Express cardholders who hold either an American Express Platinum card, Gold card, Cobalt card, Business Platinum card, Business Gold card, or Centurion card, are eligible to book stays with this program.

Members who book a stay through The Hotel Collection program are eligible to receive a room upgrade upon arrival. The room upgrade will be a one-category upgrade and is based on availability when checking in for their stay.

Capital One Premier & Lifestyle Collection Hotels

If you hold the US-issued Capital One Venture X Rewards card or the Capital One Venture X Business card, the Capital One Premier & Lifestyle Collection Hotels is another booking platform that can grant complimentary room upgrades as a benefit.

The Capital One Premier & Lifestyle Collection Hotels program offers members who book through the platform a complimentary room upgrade for hotel stays only when available.

The Strategy of Asking for The Upgrade You Want

The strategy of asking for the hotel room upgrade you want is simple: know what you are entitled to via hotel loyalty program elite status or via a booking platform, and work within that benefit but push the limits a bit.

What this means is that I do my research before reaching out to the hotel to inquire about an upgrade. I search room type availability for the dates of my stay and determine which room type I am most interested in that is actually available, which might not always be the biggest suite. Flyertalk is also a great resource to see what upgrades others have received as a benchmark.

My approach is to chat directly with the hotel a few days before my stay, which is typically a feature available in the hotel loyalty program’s mobile app. 

For example, on my recent visit to Japan, I stayed at the Roku Kyoto as a Hilton Honors Diamond Elite member. Knowing that the Onsen Garden room was the upgrade to shoot for, I proactively messaged the hotel as soon as the option showed up on the mobile app, around two days before arrival. 

Before messaging, I did also check that the room type was available for the dates of my stay. I received the below response:

Sure enough, shortly after that chat, I was able to see the upgrade reflected on my reservation in the Hilton Honors app. When checking in the staff member re-confirmed our upgrade, and we got to enjoy an elevated experience during our two-night stay.

Reaching out via email in advance is also another option worth considering, but typically it is met with a response such as “We will note it on your reservation”. While this may help, I prefer chat since when it is only a few days before the stay, I find that staff are more willing to upgrade right then and there versus putting a note on the reservation.

Another great example of this approach of asking for what you want is when the Frugal Flyer team stayed at the W Seattle. While the majority of the team has at least Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status, we received different upgrades. 

For those team members who didn’t message the hotel with a request for a certain upgrade, they were proactively upgraded to the 1 King Bed Corner Studio Suite in advance of their stay which is honestly impressive for a hotel in North America.

On the other hand, Reed proactively messaged the hotel via the Marriott Bonvoy app a few days before the stay and requested an upgrade to the 1 King Bed Corner WOW Suite, and he was actually upgraded to this top-tier room type.

Anecdotally, I’ve also had the best chance at being upgraded outside of North America. Hotel loyalty program elite status goes much further elsewhere, particularly in Asia, as the amount of elite members is less concentrated as there are often not easy ways to earn significant status levels in those regions.

I’ve also asked to not be upgraded before, specifically at the Le Méridien Maldives. Flyertalk indicated that the hotel regularly upgrades Platinum Elite and above members to a room with a sunset view, but sunset view rooms have sun on the patio all day long, making it unusable during the heat of the day. This request to not be upgraded kept me in my sunrise view room, keeping the patio out of the sun and usable all day long.

Ultimately, I always recommend asking for what you want. The absolute worst outcome is you are told “No” and you move on with your life. This is the better option than leaving an upgrade to chance, as you may luck out or you may not, but I’d always rather shoot my shot to know that I tried.

Conclusion

Hotel room upgrades can make your stay that much better, especially when you secure a highly desirable suite for free when you wouldn’t have paid for it otherwise. Being proactive and asking for what you want can go a long way in improving your chances of being upgraded when leveraging available benefits, as opposed to just waiting and hoping you get an upgrade.