The Secret Way Marriott Prioritizes Room Upgrades: Interesting Insights

Of course, we don't know if this is across the board or whether it's limited to Marriott-managed properties. Can all properties, including franchised or licensed properties, worldwide see this purported upgrade list? And are hotels required to follow it?

All of my domestic (U.S.) travel is for business, and since I travel alone, suite upgrades aren't a priority—they simply offer more space than I need. I would much prefer upgrades that grant lounge or concierge level access, which provide more practical value during work trips.

Of course, if I were traveling for personal relaxation—say, to a beach resort—that would be a different story, and a suite upgrade would certainly be appreciated.

I stopped receiving upgrades when I became a lifetime platinum. Still traveling just as much. Weird.

Yes franchise properties can see it but it is ultimately the property’s discretion who is awarded upgrades. There is no mandate to comply with it. GXP also places upgrade priority on members with status who had a poor prior stay (regardless if at the property or not). Best way if you need to confirm an upgrade if you have status is to book (and pay for) the room type you want. Second best (if you have status) is direct outreach to the GM (find them on LinkedIn) with subtle reference that you will post generous review of hotel. Outside of that, you’re at the rooms controller’s mercy.

Ben, as an ambassador yourself you should noticed from the night before your upgrade at a lot of properties specially outside of the US. They run the system the previous night and allocate the rooms that way. I can always tell the day before.

Surely, mathematically, someone booking a Best Flexible Rate direct with Marriott is more valuable (literally) than someone booking via a programme like STARS, which has more perks and commission to a middle-person? Simply by how much more profit stays with Marriott? And therefore the algorithm pushes them up the list from a value perspective?

I have no data to back this up, but I would bet upgrades are much more idiosyncratic than what is purported here. I also totally disagree that arrival time doesn't matter. It's a huge factor in which room you end up getting.

Length of stay matters ( well used too) in the past if an elite was staying more than 4 days they would be less likely to get upgraded than another elite staying 1 or 2 nights.

That’s the Marriott design at most, not a ranking of their properties, in my opinion:

Be a new guest (higher chance of receiving a survey) or a very loyal customer (return visits matter).

Communicate in advance as soon as the chat opens.

Act slightly like a "Karen" during check-in.

It is completely property-dependent. I was Ambassador for a number of years. I had an insane upgrade for which I am eternally grateful. Then, on more than one occasion, I had a manager say, "We're not simply going to give you a suite." This inconsistency that drove me away from Marriott. With lifetime status and a mountain of points, I only use certain Marriott properties for redemptions but nothing more. They'll be fine without me.

This is correct.

IMO, any property run by White Properties could care less about your Bonvoy status and will leave suites unoccupied even on a non-busy Sunday night. They are the worst mananged, stingy franchise I have experienced with Marriott as a 10 year Amassador and lifetime Titanium.

Never mind upgrades. I would like to start by being offered the room type I booked! I booked a premier skyline view room at a Marriott in San Francisco and the hotel assigned me a terrible room — low floor, noisy, nothing premier about it. Had to personally complain to the front desk to get what I had booked and paid for. Deceptive business practices.

Upgrades are subjective. The favorite room at the favorite hotel in Tokyo is a dowgrade due to the unrefurbished nature of the room category. Status provides leverage to negotiate the desired room. Travel is solo so the size of the room isn't as important as the view.

Reading yet another post about how overcrowded Marriott status is makes me yet again wonder if the people who still swear by it and torture themselves to get Elite Titanium (or whatever it is called) every year might actually be suffering from insanity.

My first year Titanium and the upgrades are significantly better and more frequent than platinum. I honestly didn’t expect many upgrades as a platinum, hopefully this trend continues as Titanium.

This may be well known but my experience as a Plat is night and day when I stay outside the US vs domestic.

This year:

I've had 4 (ex-US) stays and have been upgraded to a suite at every one. Nothing applied in advance, these were comp at check in. All were Luxury Collection properties.

I've had 5 stays within the US this year, and received a suite upgrade on precisely none.

Ditto here. Haven't seen a suite upgrade in several years.

We've been Titanium for 6 to 7 years. Our upgrade experience is consistently awesome with Luxury or our International travel in London, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Koh Samui Thailand, Hobart Tasmania and Auckland. Less upgrades but not bad in the USA and Canada - Whistler, Redding, California = Presidential Suite, Albuquerque - unbelievable upgrade, San Francisco, NYC, SeaTac, Denver and others. But we've also had disappointments and absolutely incomprehensible experiences at the front desk. The other inconsistency is submitting Suite Awards in advance and getting no upgrade and arriving at the hotel and receiving a upgrade. Go figure??!!

Ambassador here. It is really rarely that I do not get an upgrade. (i do not travel much in the USA). I think this year 54 paid nights already. I think maximum of 3-4 without upgrade. Actually 4 more but I checkedin early and could change to a suite in the afternoon but I said give to someone else. I was alone and only sleeping in the room. Also; most of the time; I see upgrades already in the app a day before sometimes two already.

Titanium this year and have been platinum in the past and I very rarely get an upgrade if I do not ask at check in. Ive had several Suite upgrade requests go to waste as well. For me only benefit to being higher status is banking points and late check out

What’s your definition of an upgrade? A “high floor room” (which Marriott likes to tout in the US) doesn’t count.

I don't see where it states a higher status member would get upgraded before a lower one. I can see that being "generally" the case, but a Platinum who didn't get any Marriott ccs, and qualified doing 60 or 70 nights mostly at RC Reserves, and dropping tens of thousands in just incidentals, would potentially be higher in the algorithm than Titanium (or even potentially Ambassadors), depending on how spend is weighted compared to everything else.

If someone is spending "tens of thousands" at Ritz-Carlton Reserve properties they probably don't care about points or elite status.

The take-home message is to have no expectations of an upgrade, no matter what your status.

Ambassador here. Average nightly spend over the last two years is about $800/night. 200+ eqns a year. Checked in to a Westin resort. Just booked a cheap room because I'm Casper come morning. No upgrades for me despite plenty of higher level rooms for sale on the app.

That guest experience software seems to be not so good.

Book the room you want. Anything else is dependent on so many factors. There is a huge difference between a suite at a lower branded hotel versus a resort which vastly differs in product and price. Also. During slower times a resort may be busy with group guests and oversell their entry room category forcing upgrades. To one person point if you give. A longer stay an upgrade it takes away from room revenue.

Titanium here. The real message here is to go where you're valued. I do most of my Marriott stays, and I can't think of a time when I *wasn't* upgraded. I've even been given the presidential suite before. This is a European/American problem.

And yet you keep throwing money at them? I am a Lifetime Globalist with Hyatt and can assure you I get decent (not view) upgrades 80% of the time at mid to top level properties.

Yes, I still also attain with Bonvoy and am a Lifetime Titanium, mostly due to to the footprint. But after some years as Ambassador I gave up caring other than there being no other choice. It's a lost cause.

But, hey, you do you....

Bloated number of elites is only an issue in the US. I’m Bonvoy Gold and get upgraded to club suites, rooms with a runway view, etc… about 1 in 3 times in Europe. The US is without doubt the lowest value travel destination in the world, any way you look at it.

It seems likely that the order on the list is defined by Marriott, but what a hotel does with that is a separate matter.
I do wonder from conflicting anecdotes about even within the USA, whether that is between different hotel ownerships/management.
Another reason why it would be good if the Management Company had to be displayed as prominently as the brand before booking.
Perhaps someone can set up a user-populated database of which companies manage which hotels?

It seems likely that the order on the list is defined by Marriott, but what a hotel does with that is a separate matter.
I do wonder from conflicting anecdotes about even within the USA, whether that is between different hotel ownerships/management.
Another reason why it would be good if the Management Company had to be displayed as prominently as the brand before booking.
Perhaps someone can set up a user-populated database of which companies manage which hotels?

As Ambassador I have hight priority. I stay 80 ish nights a year in each of 2 properties. I generally get the upgrade. Often it is not reflected by the description in the app. But I get the better room

Wonder if there aas a change in recent years. Or mre likely Lifetime platinum does not mean as much because more have it....

The idea of free upgrades is to share resources which would otherwise be wasted.
Hence why NUAs don't clear until 5/3 days before staying.
For a longer stay, there is a greater chance that someone would be willing to book and pay cash for at least one night in the suite before the stay is over.
And it would not be a great guest experience to be upgraded for 2 days and then be back to booked room.
So it makes sense that upgrades are less likely for longer stays.

The discussion is about upgrade priority, not whether a specific customer cares about it.

Also, you need to define “care”. Would they pick an inferior experience just to be loyal? Unlikely. Do all of them absolutely not care about extra value they can get without altering their travel pattern at all? Try meeting some UHNW individuals, everyone likes value.

Bonvoy platinum. My expectation for upgrade is zero. I like the lounge/ breakfast and late check out.

I agree this article is written in the prospective of the Marriott. Also agree if you frequent specific properties and they know you you are more likely to be treated better. Further agree that it depends on the number of nights as well. I would add that with elite members having a late check out, if some of them use it, it makes scheduling for new check ins difficult.

Hospitality Online has a good database of USA/Canada properties showing who manages them.

Internationally, most full-service Marriott branded properties (so, Marriott, Renaissance, Delta, Sheraton, Westin, JW Marriott, Renaissance, W, Edition, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis) were until recently managed by Marriott. In recent years, Marriott has started to franchise or license more of its brands internationally. I would guess that a majority are still managed by Marriott but that number is coming down every year.

Worldwide, including the USA, across all brands Marriott manages fewer than 30 percent of its properties.

When I want a suite, I book a suite...and then try to apply my NUAs for a better suite. The NUAs have always cleared for a 5-night stay...in Asia.

Titanmium elite with life time plat here, I've seen cases where I do not get upgrade and platinum family member received a suite with arrival after me. Happend in US multiple times.

As a Titanium / Lifetime Platinum, we get upgraded often. It seems to me that the front desk staff do have some say in who gets upgraded to what. Many times I just ask and the FD will check and change my room to something nicer. Mind you, I am very polite and extremely kind to everyone that I do business with (by nature) and this may impact my experience (an all facets of life).

I've worked at the front desk of multiple Marriott hotels. GXP gives us information about the arrivals and we have to basically guess... there is nothing clear for us when giving upgrades. Cobalt, Ambassador, Titanium, then Platnium obviously get priority, but typically at US luxury properties there is still only a handful of rooms to even upgrade to. Usually those selected are based on the discretion of the rooms controller or Manager blocking the rooms... and number of nights you are staying and any special occasions play a role in those choices... Honestly, being nice to the person checking you in can even help in making that stuff happen, but it depending on the policy of each hotel.

I am titanium for life. I am lucky if I get 2 upgrades a year. The only perk I get is the club lounge and 4:00 check out (which is the best perk but no longer a given). Marriott has destroyed the program.

Yeah but the type of UHNW individual that cares enough about value to go out of their way for an upgrade (worth maybe $1000 at most) they might not get, probably isn’t the type of person staying 60-70 nights a year at RC Reserves either.

I am a "platinum for life" member and I have reached the "ambassador" status every year since 2017.

When travelling in Europe (and Japan last year) I get a significant upgrade slightly more often than once every two stays. I have been to the USA only twice since Covid and on those two lengthy trips I have the impression of having received fewer upgrades than when travelling in Europe.

On the definition of an "upgrade". I recently had two surprising experiences in France.

My wife and I we attach a lot of importance to the size of the bed. We require a king-size bed or, at least, a bed with a width of 180 cm. Whenever there is a doubt about the size of the bed, I call the hotel before making a reservation.

On these two occasions we had an upgrade to a suite. But on both occasions the suite had a very narrow bed (around 160 cm) and we had to request a return to the room we had booked (which we obtained).

This raises two issues. Suites are expected to be better than normal rooms. How can a suite have a smaller double bed than a normal room ?

Second issue. How can an hotel "upgrade" a guest to a room with a narrow bed when he has explicitly booked a king-size bed ?