Lättare eller svårare med uppgradering med automatisk incheckning

[Grantroll]

Denna tråd häger ju lite ihop med tidigare men jag känner att en förtjänar eget fokur.
Strawberry (som alla andra hotellkedjor) vill ju vi skall checka in och checka ut digitalt. Absolut bra för mej men hur påverkar det möjligheten till uppgradering??

Personligen är min bild att uppgraderingen (har fram till nyss varit Guld) känns som att den uppstod vid incheckningen när personalen i disken kollar lediga rum. (Ofta i samband med att man får regga sitt nummer pga. Mindre bra bokningssystem.)

Men då kommer ju frågan: Om jag Checkar in digitalt, och därigenom tar en mobilnyckel så jag har 0 kontakt med personalen. Vad händer då med min möjlighet till uppgradering?

 

[hco]

Bra fråga, har funderat på det själv.

Min fördom säger att digital incheck minskar möjligheter till bästa uppgradering. Men har absolut inga bevis, enbart baserat på magkänsla. Checkar därför aldrig in digitalt, bara ut.

 

[intuition]

Nu pratar jag för platinum: Magkänsla och någon sorts logik säger att incheckning i appen minskar chansen till uppgradering.

Förr i världen gjordes uppgraderingarna av natt-personalen kvällen innan incheckning och bästa kund gavs bästa rum. Men rutinerna har väl ändrats tror jag. Och det finns inte kvar så mycket personal av den gamla stammen heller.

Nu ska platinum först ges ett steg uppgradering "om rumskategorin finns vid bokningstillfället, den sk garanterade uppgraderingen. Sedan, lite beroende på hur man tolkar reglerna ska platinum ha chans till ytterligare uppgradering vid ankomst.
(Tolkningen får göras utifrån Guld-regel 7.9.7 "Möjlig gratis uppgradering vid ankomst, möjlighet avgörs vid ankomst." utifrån regel 7.10.1 "En PLATINUM-medlem får alla förmåner som gäller för BLUE-, SILVER- och GOLD-nivån." )

Eftersom den uppgraderingen i praktiken görs av receptionen, som manuellt tilldelar medlemmen ett bättre rum när han/hon står där, uppstår aldrig den möjligheten om man checkar man in i appen.

Hade Stordalen gjort det ordentligt när de här reglerna ändrades hade man sett till att bokningssystemet gjorde platinums garanterade uppgradering direkt vid bokning. Det hade avlastat hotellen som nu ska sköta detta för hand. Vilket de gör lite när de känner för det, dvs inte alltid i samband med bokningen.

Sedan hade hotellen kunnat göra eventuella ytterligare uppgraderingar kvällen innan och man kunde känna sig trygg med att göra app-incheckning

 

[guwonder]

My best upgrades at the Strawberry properties happen when I check-in personally with front desk employees and they manually search for rooms to upgrade me after I come to them to check-in “the traditional way”. The later in the day I check-in then often the better the upgrade for me.

Self-check-in for me seems to mean worse upgrade chances and not as good upgrades for me as what I get when going "the traditional way" of checking in at these properties.

Friendly hotel staff from some of Strawberry’s big city properties tell me that I should see them in person to check-in and get better upgrades — including also on Amex FHR rates booked well in advance of check-in date — and so I do even when it’s a newbie working the front desk the next time.

 

[mrestes]

My best upgrades at the Strawberry properties happen when I check-in personally with front desk employees and they manually search for rooms to upgrade me after I come to them to check-in “the traditional way”. The later in the day I check-in then often the better the upgrade for me.

Self-check-in for me seems to mean worse upgrade chances and not as good upgrades for me as what I get when going "the traditional way" of checking in at these properties.

Friendly hotel staff from some of Strawberry’s big city properties tell me that I should see them in person to check-in and get better upgrades — including also on Amex FHR rates booked well in advance of check-in date — and so I do even when it’s a newbie working the front desk the next time.

Do you usually ask directly for an upgrade or does the front desk staff start the search on their own?

 

[guwonder]

Do you usually ask directly for an upgrade or does the front desk staff start the search on their own?

They usually start the search for an upgrade on their own without any verbal prompting by me, and it seems to mostly happen very soon after I flash the phone screen with status showing in the Strawberry app or even show my old plastic NCC Platinum card.

A minority of the times I do say I prefer a room with a certain view, prefer to be away from the elevators, or prefer a room with a bath tub; however, most of the times I don’t even do that and neither ask for nor even really care about an upgrade. I am perfectly fine even with ending up in the proverbial broom closet as long as it’s not too close to a too noisy or busy place such as right next to the elevator or very close to rooms used by housekeeping. I care about late check-out far more than about an upgrade at Strawberry properties, so I more often would indicate I don’t want an upgrade as I’ll be using the late check-out benefit and then I definitely don’t even prompt for a room with a specified view or bath tub.

Most of my own bookings at Strawberry hotels are one-night stay bookings, and I find that helps me with upgrades. If I find a hotel repeatedly non-compliant and unwelcoming toward giving upgrades per the program benefits and end up in a lousy room for peace and quiet when the hotel doesn’t seem busy, I will sometimes then or later put them on the spot after getting the keys at the front desk by returning to the front desk to ask for something different. Not really because I care about sleeping in an upgraded room, but because I really care about the loyalty program delivering what it markets to the customers and don’t like this “you are just your rate” attitude from those who should know that is in contravention with the representations made by the brand and the loyalty program of the brand manager.