Moopere
Established Member
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2010
- Posts
- 2,653
I didn't want to derail the main "how does Hilton treat elites" thread, but I will reference a recent post I made there:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....do-hilton-treat-you-18502-161.html#post726313
In that thread I say "I've been pretty lucky" in relation to upgrades recently, despite many many reports starting to roll in of meagre or no upgrade from other AFFers. In fact, whilst I may have been "lucky" in some respects, with relation to room upgrades, no, I've not been lucky for some time ... since around May 2012 actually now that I think about it.
Checked into the Hilton KL last night, it reminded me that I've been getting the same tired old line from SYD, MEL, KCH and now KUL... no mention of an upgraded room during the check-in process which then forces me to raise it with them ... and I give them a chance to do it themselves, always give them my gold card and wait until the check-in conversation is coming to its natural end and the room card/key is being handed to me.
So, last night I again had to ask... no upgrades available? No sir, sorry, the hotel is full. I pressed a bit more, and probably looked pretty disappointed (I felt pretty darn disappointed). So I asked if I could keep the room I had already been allocated but gain Exec lounge access ... which I realise is really only a diamond bennie ... yes, that was fine....
So, a good news tale for me, I do always manage to get into the exec lounge for my stays and this _is_ important to me, its really what I meant when I said in the thread linked above that I thought I was still getting "lucky".
So went up to the room, which is lovely by the way, but no way on earth is it a "preferred room", its simply the room I booked and paid for. Opened the laptop and had a look at the booking site. Its wide open, pretty much every room they sell is available, including several types of executive room and other variations on the room I have for a few sheckles more which provide higher floor level or better view.
So its obvious, to me anyway, golds are still being recognised, my stays have been good (particularly KCH), I'm getting into the lounge, and this is a big win for me personally, breakfasts are free and usually good, etc,etc, I don't want to appear ungrateful as I realise I'm outside the guaranteed bennie list...
However, GM welcome cards seem to be gone, small trinkets /chocolates at turn down appear to be gone (even turn downs seem to have gone at some properties), and the much enjoyed (previously) exec level room upgrades, even now that they have morphed into 'preferred room' upgrades, appear to be gone... at least for me as a gold. Perhaps Golds will still benefit from this type of upgrade if the hotel oversells the lower end rooms? Who knows.
Looking at the other thread it appears to me that those folks who are still getting room upgrades appear to be mainly diamonds. Thats fine, I don't begrudge them their bennies at all. Diamond is no trivial status level to achieve and, as written, offers really quite few official benefits over gold.
But it saddens and disappoints me that behind the scenes, whether by direction or omission, the written bennies for gold appear to be slipping.
Its been suggested that probably part of the reason is the plethora of golds around now, given freebie gold attainment all over the place. Probably true. Gold is the new silver ... much like credit cards are all pushing towards platinum for even basic service level cards.
Before I nip off this afternoon I'm going to have a snoop at the Le Meridien property which is the sister building and shares many of the facilities of the Hilton in KL. SPG is beckoning me ... I wonder if they'd status match?
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....do-hilton-treat-you-18502-161.html#post726313
In that thread I say "I've been pretty lucky" in relation to upgrades recently, despite many many reports starting to roll in of meagre or no upgrade from other AFFers. In fact, whilst I may have been "lucky" in some respects, with relation to room upgrades, no, I've not been lucky for some time ... since around May 2012 actually now that I think about it.
Checked into the Hilton KL last night, it reminded me that I've been getting the same tired old line from SYD, MEL, KCH and now KUL... no mention of an upgraded room during the check-in process which then forces me to raise it with them ... and I give them a chance to do it themselves, always give them my gold card and wait until the check-in conversation is coming to its natural end and the room card/key is being handed to me.
So, last night I again had to ask... no upgrades available? No sir, sorry, the hotel is full. I pressed a bit more, and probably looked pretty disappointed (I felt pretty darn disappointed). So I asked if I could keep the room I had already been allocated but gain Exec lounge access ... which I realise is really only a diamond bennie ... yes, that was fine....
So, a good news tale for me, I do always manage to get into the exec lounge for my stays and this _is_ important to me, its really what I meant when I said in the thread linked above that I thought I was still getting "lucky".
So went up to the room, which is lovely by the way, but no way on earth is it a "preferred room", its simply the room I booked and paid for. Opened the laptop and had a look at the booking site. Its wide open, pretty much every room they sell is available, including several types of executive room and other variations on the room I have for a few sheckles more which provide higher floor level or better view.
So its obvious, to me anyway, golds are still being recognised, my stays have been good (particularly KCH), I'm getting into the lounge, and this is a big win for me personally, breakfasts are free and usually good, etc,etc, I don't want to appear ungrateful as I realise I'm outside the guaranteed bennie list...
However, GM welcome cards seem to be gone, small trinkets /chocolates at turn down appear to be gone (even turn downs seem to have gone at some properties), and the much enjoyed (previously) exec level room upgrades, even now that they have morphed into 'preferred room' upgrades, appear to be gone... at least for me as a gold. Perhaps Golds will still benefit from this type of upgrade if the hotel oversells the lower end rooms? Who knows.
Looking at the other thread it appears to me that those folks who are still getting room upgrades appear to be mainly diamonds. Thats fine, I don't begrudge them their bennies at all. Diamond is no trivial status level to achieve and, as written, offers really quite few official benefits over gold.
But it saddens and disappoints me that behind the scenes, whether by direction or omission, the written bennies for gold appear to be slipping.
Its been suggested that probably part of the reason is the plethora of golds around now, given freebie gold attainment all over the place. Probably true. Gold is the new silver ... much like credit cards are all pushing towards platinum for even basic service level cards.
Before I nip off this afternoon I'm going to have a snoop at the Le Meridien property which is the sister building and shares many of the facilities of the Hilton in KL. SPG is beckoning me ... I wonder if they'd status match?
