Must I be the one who is forced to assert the perks and benefits I am entitled to as an elite guest if I actually want them? I’m tired of being that guy.
Earlier today I wrote about my first impressions of the lovely, brand-new Munich Andaz. Being a new hotel and still low season in Germany, the hotel was practically empty. Only a few tables were occupied at breakfast and I had the gym, sauna, and pool wholly to myself during both an evening and morning visit.
So when I checked-in, having also noted that every suite category was available, I was expecting a suite upgrade. To be clear, this is not because I am special, but because I am a Globalist member of the World of Hyatt program. Among the published benefits:
- Enjoy an upgraded room based on availability at check-in, up to standard suites
At the Andaz Munich, the Andaz Suite is a “standard suite” (see below). There were many Andaz Suites available. Thus, I expected one…again, on the basis of what the World of Hyatt program promises in exchange for my loyalty.
When I checked, I ran into a familiar face…a lovely agent who had transferred over from Amsterdam and remembered me clearly. She was kind, courteous, and professional. But she didn’t offer me a suite…
I’m very much a reluctant believer in the concept of being more vocal. I perfectly understand that if you do not assert your rights, others will often take advantage of that, consciously or unconsciously. I get it.
But here I just took the deluxe room she offered me. I did this primarily for the blog, figuring that a review of a room instead of a suite would be more helpful to more people. Plus, I was traveling alone, arrived in the evening, and was leaving in the morning. Had my business partner or family been with me, I would have certainly asked specifically about the suite.
I Don’t Want To Have To Ask!
So the issue is (likely) not that I could not have procured a suite, but that I was not proactively offered one. This was a well-trained, otherwise brilliant check-in agent. Was she instructed by management to deny Globalists suite upgrades unless they asked?
Whatever the case, I don’t want to ask. I don’t think I should have to ask. Is it too much to ask that hotels proactively offer their frequent guests what the loyalty program promises? I am uncomfortable asking for a suite when the agent already says, “I’ve upgraded you to a nice deluxe room.” I’ll do it, but why should I be made to feel uncomfortable asking for something I am entitled to?
CONCLUSION
I am sure I am not the only one in this boat. How do you deal with a hotel not offering what you are technically entitled to under its own elite program rules?
image: Hyatt
None of the hotel brands seem to care about enforcing adherence to their policies regarding upgrades for elites at their properties, and their property managers know it. It’s a bad enough situation that I’ve completely given up on seeking top-tier status with a couple preferred brands, and have started picking hotels strictly based on location and pricing. It makes accruing points go a little slower, but I’m almost certainly making up the difference in cash savings.
I am with you on this. I recently had an incident at a Hilton property where the sink had a small leak and the front desk was not responsive to requests to correct the issue. I asked for a manager who was proactive in moving us to a different room. I did not ask for compensation as mostly I just wanted the issue resolved. The manager did provide many drink and snack coupons to use. While I probably could have asked for more I did not do so. They ended up being most useful as my partner ended up sick for a day.
Can you at least inquire at check-out why they didn’t?
Hyatt should be the exception vs. Marriott and Hilton. If there are available suites and you were not offered one, call them out on it politely or call WoH and inquire.
With the exception of some notorious Hyatt properties, Hyatt staff tend to go the extra mile for Globalists. If I got mediocre treatment like some Marriott members are receiving, I’d leave Hyatt and not look back.
Having said that, I’ve stuck with Hyatt for the last five years as their top level elite, and I’m more than happy to spend my leisure dollars with them.
Hyatt sucks lately. They are not enforcing elite benefits. It seems they want to be just like Marriott. Hyatt should be better.
You know what hotels do care about? Their survey results and TripAdvisor reviews. I don’t understand why exactly, but they do and they will bend over backwards if they think they can get you to undo a bad review. Not receiving promised benefits is, I think, a legitimate grievance to detail in a review.
Completely agreed – and the thing that irks me most about it is that the larger premium hotel chains (Hilton, Hyatt, etc.) seem to enforce an elite greeting (i.e. “Thank you for being a Platinum member”) relatively strongly compared to other benefits because their research has shown that people want that recognition and it is essentially free to give out. I honestly couldn’t care less about those words, I care about the actions. If a hotel really wants to recognize me, proactively offer the elite benefits without me needing to pry.
I was at the Moxy Chelsea last month and they offered me a business card spelling out my elite benefits (both the standard ones and couple extras that aren’t expected) and provided them. It was great, and exactly what all hotels should do.
Many hotels are independently owned even though they may be managed by a large hotel chain such as Hyatt.
Therefore, the owners have little incentive to upgrade guests to more expensive rooms, even though they may be contractually required by the chain to honor their rewards program rules. Analogous to this is flying on American as an Exec Platinum. I’m supposed to be offered complimentary food and one alcoholic beverage while sitting in coach. It is is seldom proactively offered to me and it is not in my nature to call the flight attendant and ask for my “free food and drink.” Like Matthew, I’m slightly embarrassed to do that even though I have every right to do so.
I never thought about it this way. On United, 1Ks get a free food item and a drink in economy. I usually just order what I want without mentioning the “free” part, they hand it over, type something into their iPhone (I’m guessing a program to bill the customer, which then alerts them that it’s a 1K benefit), and we’re done. I’ve had a few occasions where they tell me that I’m entitled to a snack and drink, but I’ve always assumed that most 1Ks know about this .
I always assume you have to ask because what’s easier to clean – standard room or a suite? So they’ll use the standard room unless you ask for better.
I 100% agree with you. It’s exhausting. I had a nearly identical experience at Andaz Tokyo Toranomon Hills. Unlike typical work travel, I was with my fiancee and actually did care about getting a suite this time. Every room category was available. After getting the “we’re fully committed” line and pushing back – twice – I was upgraded to a room with a view of Tokyo Tower (but basically the same room) and then finally a suite. But this took time. All of this occurred after much deliberation from the hipster iPad clad Andaz agent, who twice disappeared to a back room to discuss my request with the kingpin Andaz hipster. I showed the available rooms on the Hyatt app and had to “be that guy”, which I find so unnecessary… “as a Globalist, your property includes suites as an upgrade category, correct?”. Meanwhile, my fiancee is sitting in a lobby after the long flight while I manage an amateur hour check-in process.
Why can’t we just honor benefits and skip the negotiation?
>Why can’t we just honor benefits and skip the negotiation?
@Kevin ORD: Because the major brands are running their operations in the same manner that Uber or Lyft does. One brand with a bunch of hit-or-miss contractors that have many incentives to cheat the system.
These days, I’d rather just toss $20-30 a night at a boutique, collect 3x points on my CSR, and be done with it, rather than be disappointed with my Marriott-SPG/Hyatt/Hilton stay.
Working for an Ihg hotel ( crowne plaza) thats the first thing we start our day on! We upgrade all spire and platinum, till we run out of the rooms. The heartbeat scores are very important. If they did not get an upgrade management will pull the front desk agent to ask why. If you dont have anymore rooms to upgrade them to you tell and ask them what would they like because we dont have it. I was a pm supervisor and night auditor. I would give them upto 5,000 points.
You say there are/were many reasons why you chose the standard room versus the suite. Writing the blog article was one of them. I think a better blog article would have been covering the discussion between the employee and guest. Knowing the process and rationale from *her* perspective would be gold!
This (not honoring status and status benefits) is sad.