What Does a “Confirmed” Suite Upgrade Mean?

September 29, 2012 By 13 Comments

I pissed off a lot of people with my post yesterday describing my experience at the Grand Hyatt Singapore. I certainly didn’t mean it as a description of all the ways the hotel failed to meet expectations. It was supposed to be about how generous they were in accommodating someone like me who hadn’t planned his arrival very well. As I said to a friend on Twitter: “The mark of a great hotel is how well the deal with a dolt like me.”

No room available for an early arrival? My fault. I’d heard that early check-in usually wasn’t a problem, but I also didn’t know that Formula 1 was going on that weekend. I definitely would have booked the preceding night if I had done my homework. I just asked for some water and a WiFi password while we waited.

Hospitality room while our suite was being prepared? Totally unasked for, but generous. We didn’t really use it because we spent most of our morning exploring the city, which was our original plan and why we felt like taking a risk there might not be a room available for an early check-in.

All the background I gave about switching rooms was really just providing context to a larger story of how much they had already done for me, unasked, before getting to the one real problem: I didn’t get the suite I wanted, the one I was told I would get when I made the reservation and the reason I didn’t just use points for a standard room. If I was to complain about anything, that’s the only thing that would have come to mind. I even offered to move my one-night upgrade to a different night when the preferred room was available, but I didn’t have to because the hotel’s resolution was better than that.

So now I’m curious to get some feedback from you. What do you think is a reasonable expectation when using a confirmed suite upgrade? (We’ve already determined I’m a jerk, so think in the abstract case.) Does the confirmation apply only to the fact you’ll get a suite–any suite? Does the fact the reservations agent describes the suite you’ve been assigned mean you should expect to get that room type? We know that suite upgrades are extended to subsequent award nights at the hotel’s discretion, but do you think Hyatt should make a change to the Gold Passport program allowing suite upgrades to be applied to award stays?

Diamond members only get four upgrades a year, so how do you decide which stays you’ll use them on, and what are your expectations?

Filed Under: Hotels, Soap Box Tagged With: , , ,
About Scott Mackenzie

Scott founded HMT while traveling on a budget during graduate school and stays loyal to United, Alaska, Hyatt, and Starwood.
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  • http://www.willrunformiles.com/ Kathy K

    I’ve been reading up on this a lot, and think that, when I go there in November, I should spend a few hours at a transit hotel at the airport before arriving at the hotel. This way, I can walk in to the hyatt at a respectable 8 or 9 am, have breakfast, leave my bags and go out wandering.

    I also am unsure of how to handle my last day./night My flight out of SIN is at 6am. There are no lounges or hotels (other than the rather expensive Crowne Plaza) on the landside of the airport, and check in isn’t until about 3am. So my thought is to get a late checkout, leave my bags with concierge, stay out late in Singapore, then take a taxi at 2 or 3 am…. Does that sound insane?

    • Scottrick

      I like the idea of staying at the transit hotel. I’d do that again on a future trip. But don’t try to just hang out in the terminal. Airport police run a sweep around 3 AM. I’m not sure if the transit hotel requires evidence of an outbound flight since this is what the airport police were looking for. Double check this before you pay in advance.

      For the last night, how do you know check-in is 3 AM? What time is departure? With Star Gold status or business/first class there are airline lounges that operate 24 hours. If you want to stay out in Singapore, be aware that alcohol is outrageously expensive. A good alternative may be the night safari, which closes at midnight.

      • http://www.willrunformiles.com/ Kathy K

        I am flying on Delta. and, although I’ll be gold by the end of the trip, I will be in economy. I’ve been told repeatedly that you can’t go through security at Changi until you’ve checked in, and that is usually 3 hours before the flight. so, I’m stuck with whatever at the airport is landside – which isn’t much after midnight. It would be so much easier if I could check in earlier – but I heard that’s not the way its done.

        whats the night safari? how expensive is alcohol?

        by the way, a lot of my info I got from this flyertalk thread:
        http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-skymiles/1389487-changi-airport-delta-checkin-times.html

        p.s. scott – I’m looking forward to your notes on sightseeing, restaurants, etc.

        • Scottrick

          Sorry, I didn’t catch earlier that you already mentioned your departure time.

          The night safari is near the zoo. They do a great job putting the animals in “natural” habitats without fences. Mostly moats and things like that. You can even see bats! (Megan freaked out.) Some people recommend doing the zoo and safari the same day as a package; they are technically adjacent and separate venues. It’s about $32 Singapore dollars for the night safari.

          Alcohol has a huge sin tax in Singapore. I paid about $25 Singapore dollars for every cocktail, even ones that didn’t have much booze in them. This was one of the great benefits of the Grand Club because they had tons of wine and liquor for free every day.

    • Singapore flyer

      The airport is open 24 hours and the “land” side has 24 hour stores with food and drink. At a minimum Starbucks is open. My wife used to Ho there and study for their finals. Getting a cab at that hour is usually a call. You can down apps for the various can companies or have the hotel call or you.

      • Singapore Flyer

        I meant go there. Hahha. Not sure my wife would appreciate that stupid autocorrect.

        • http://www.willrunformiles.com/ Kathy K

          too funny!

  • brad

    yea, your post yesterday wasn’t the best… in every situation where the word upgrade is used, i only think of it as a bonus, and a bonus that can disappear if something goes wrong. it’s not a right; if it works out fantastic and if it doesn’t then well, better luck next time.

    • bradR

      and to be clear i’m a different brad than the one that was commenting yesterday. will ammend in the future to be bradR

    • Scottrick

      Point taken. That is usually my approach. I don’t even bother to track my upgrade success rate with United or Hyatt. I guess I had more specific goals in mind this time.

  • Damon

    Just something I have to point out by playing dumb on the check in thing. How does it reflect their preception of you considering you are a Diamond member – either you are an idiot because despite staying in hotels to reach that status, you still don’t know the check in time or you are just playing them.
    Also I was surprised that you did not linger in the gold / silver lounge. Even my 19 yr old sister who travels alone know to hang out at the lounge or book a transit hotel during long layover (she is a star gold member btw).

    • Scottrick

      (1) I wasn’t an idiot. I called first. I said I was at the airport and the transit lounge was booked full. I said some friends had stayed at the Hyatt recently and were accommodated because a room was available. All of this was true. I asked if it was possible to accommodate me even though my check in was later that day. They said, no, all full, so I said thank you and hung up. I didn’t head to the hotel until the police kicked me out. By “play dumb” I meant it’s surprising how helpful people can be if you just ask. In this case it didn’t work out.
      (2) I knew the check-in time. I figured I would arrive at the airport, call the hotel, and if that didn’t work out stay at the transit hotel. It turned out both hotels were full. Bad planning on my part. I didn’t know the Formula 1 was in town.
      (3) Lots of people check in early. Is 1 hour too early? How about 2 hours? What’s the threshold? Since it was the next “day” I decided to call and give it a try.
      (4) I was denied access to the lounge because I wasn’t transiting. I had a three-day stay in Singapore. The *G lounge is only for departing passengers. I went to all the lounges and was denied access.

      • http://twitter.com/kziel Kris Ziel

        That the *G Lounge (KrisFlyer Gold Lounge, I’m assuming) didn’t allow you to enter means I got really lucky the both times I was there for three+ hours after my arrival or for some crazy reason they didn’t want to let you in. And while it was a layover for me, they didn’t know that, as I only gave them the boarding pass from NRT-SIN (and wasn’t yet checked in for SIN-NRT).