Marriott Bonvoy Confirmed Suite Upgrade Downgrade

Just had a somewhat related experience at the St. Regis Bal Harbor. Used my suite upgrades to request an Astor room, which is the best upgrade they offer. They do not offer true suites as an upgrade. They also offer the Grand Luxe room as an upgrade, which is a very minor upgrade slightly closer to the ocean. They generally charge a premium of about $20 for this room and usually upgrade Platinums and above to these rooms. I feel it is a waste of a suite upgrade to request one of these rooms and did not do so. I called the Titanium service line immediately after receiving the email informing me of this upgrade and explained that I had been upgraded to a room I did not request and they used my suite upgrades. I was told that when using suite upgrades the hotel can upgrade you to whatever they want, even if you did not request it. It simply does not matter. The Titanium Line rep called the hotel to attempt to reverse this. She was told that the only way to get your upgrade back is to cancel the reservation, which in this case would have cost $2,000. The T & Cs are quite clear that you can request the level of upgrade you want so I have no idea why this happened. Guess I have been Bonvoyed.

It sounds to me like the hotel probably had a request for the suite after the award had been confirmed and the hotel decided that they could not pass on the opportunity for the additional revenue. It is certainly strange since the suite should have shown as unavailable after the redemption. Maybe a regular guest or some VIP made the request directly with the hotel. I would expect something like this to happen very rarely.

I don't think there is much benefit in arguing with the hotel. It's unlikely that they would ever abandon their glitch theory if they did indeed bend the rules. Might be better to write to Bonvoy with the evidence of what happened and see how they sort it out. At least they should put the 4 suite upgrades back into your account.

By the way, I never claimed the welcome amenity penalty either since I also feel that the process is weird and I am worried about getting some hotel employee into trouble over this. I discussed this with Bonvoy at one point, but they seem to like their system as it is. Maybe they are aware of the fact that they created a rule that looks quite generous in print, but is actually so awkward in reality that hardly anyone ever makes a claim.

In a sense, I do believe that the hotel should act on this error. Compensation in one way or another should be provided. And knowing hospitality at this level, they generally don’t disappoint. Following up after the fact with a friendly but firm reminder should do the trick.

However, the colourful response by Mr. Brant is only partly true in my view. Not addressing the issue might lead to negligence, yes. However, entitlement to anything on behalf of status is nothing more than a hobby - it’s not a right. It’s a privilege and remains at the discretion of the hotel. If you want to be treated a king, pay as one (and don’t trust on status through your employer or client). My experience as an ambassador is that you get more if you are friendly but firm: it’s all about asking, not demanding. I’ve seen plenty of screaming members that were not helped, whilst I got that upgrade straight after them by just smiling to the receptionist. Acts of kindness are rewarded.

Bottom line, you can kindly ask for some compensation and underline your loyalty. But if you don’t, that’s at your discretion. Loyalty programs are certainly not that important to become un-gentlemanly.

I just stayed at a Marriott in San Jose and was happy to finally be able to use my suite night awards (it is Mission Impossible in my experience). An hour after the confirmation email from Marriott the hotel sent another email saying they couldn't honor the upgrade.

That was better than a past stay in Bogota where they used my suite night upgrades to put me in a smaller room with an upper floor view to a low floor smaller room facing the parking lot. Thanks for the upgrade!!

Marriott has never recovered from the incompetent roll out of Bonvoy unfortunately. I'm lifetime Titanium and Marriott is relegated to third choice for my trips now.

To Brant...rude! I guess for some, it truly is a challenge to be nice to others. What would you do Brant, not how would you criticize the author of this article!

In communicating with corporate in regards to your experience, you need to have your voice heard. If you planned a family trip around certain accommodations, then those should be honored and upheld with a guarantee. That's part of the service you're paying for... the entire package.

Status with an airline or hotel for example, come from loyalty to that particular product or service. I'm not saying they need a complete compensation of sorts, but some type of reimbursement for the inconveniences.

I recently made a road trip to Nashville, Florida and back via Hilton Head. I have 10 suite night awards. While booking many stays for this trip at many hotels including JW and Ritz, I was able to use confirm 8 suite nights. However everyone of these was ultimately changed to not available during mobile check in. These awards are fairly useless. In the past three years I have never been able to actually secure one. Marriott is very good at offering what looks like a great perk, but the rug gets pulled last minute. I find the Suite night award program some what insulting but consistent with the level of service by this organization. I have submitted three actual complaints over the past few years and I never received any response. They need to kick it up a notch.

This is ridiculous. The Bonvoy program has stated rules. Rules that assumably both we and Marriott properties have to abide by. For as much as most of us stay at these hotels, they should be bending over backwards to make good on the program they put out there.

I agree with one of the other commentors - as a well known and followed travel blogger, if you don't stand up to this kind of bait and switch then what hope do the rest of us have when we run into this ourselves. And for what it's worth, I like many others continue to run into challenges regarding the rules of this program. There continue to be many instances when Marriott properties push the boundaries of "forgetting" or *overselling " or whatever they claim to not honor what they have promoted. And the "we don't have any more upgrade availability" or "it's a system glitch" schemes are the most typical ones out there.

LOL, at first I thought we all have been Bonvoyed with a massive devaluation on suite upgrade benefit. Or has it?

In your case (and hopefully an isolated one), I see this is between the property and Bonvoy not you. One of these party needs to compensate you for the confirmed downgrade.

Maybe solicit help from other blogs who specialize on demanding (and surprisingly often get more than fair) compensation.

I know your ethical standards on receiving special treatments and trying to avoid such situation, and I respect that very much.
But I think this is crossing the line. You are not demanding compensation for petty stuff such a broken light bulb, or missing soap, or the front desk line was long, or kids making loud noise. (on every visit)

Please escalate this and share us the outcome of it.
Personally, I feel this is 10x worse than being lied to at check-in that no suite upgrades are available at 11pm when the property is selling 3+ of such rooms.

As a current Accounting Manager for a Marriott branded property, I would definitely speak with either Accounting or the hotel manager. Once a SNA has been confirmed there should never be a change after unless and unforseen issue (like the previous guest flooded the room) yes that serious. You should definitely be compensated if you have the proof. I have been a manager for just about every hotel department and the manager in mean says to make this right! Be polite about it to whom you speak with but stress the essence of how upsetting it was and the inconveniences caused by it.

Hey Ben, I’ve had issues and successes with the Suite Upgrade awards and recently had a hotel confirm with me that it’s actually Bonvoy who confirms the suites, not the hotel. I would recommend reaching out to Bonvoy first and explaining the situation, forward your confirmations and ask for a solution. It always makes a difference when Bonvoy goes through their channels to rectify something vs an individual. Just my thoughts.

I agree on the $100 compensation benefit, it’s awkward. I’d email the front desk manager, explain the situation and ask what steps to take. If they offer the $100 great, if they push back then contact Bonvoy.

It’s never a good feeling to have to fight for a benefit or Bonvoy guarantee, but if they won’t honour it then why have us work hard to gain status?

My guess is that they were able to sell the room, and then justify it as a system glitch. Usually, platinum and titanium concierge is the best route to go to resolve this. I would either take the junior suite for four nights and get my voucher back (as it was not the requested upgrade) or if I didn't mind moving rooms I would ask them for the status based upgrade for the first two nights, and have those two vouchers returned. When Marriott gets involved on your behalf, the hotel tends to hold themselves more accountable, and whatever solution is agreed upon typically happens with documentation to back you up if it doesn't and need to call in again.
With almost all properties offering limited housekeeping during your stay, changing rooms is like instant service, so there is that benefit. No waiting for someone to come clean the room, or having to leave for that to happen. I hope it all worked out for you.