The wealthy dont stay in the queen room in a hotel. They usually end up in the Penthouse or one of the larger suites. But the trick is, they usually dont pay for those rooms. If they don’t get it free with points then they usually get it some other way. But very rarely do they pay for it in cold hard cash.
There are lots of articles on the internet about getting the best rooms, and when you click on them it’s usually something to do with signing up for multiple credit cards and amassing a ton of points. But you can only do that once and then what?
Why not just use points?
Well because those fancy flashy rooms usually take up a lot of points. As an example lets say I want to stay at the St Regis in Toronto (a very nice hotel if you are ever in Toronto) it can cost me 50,000 points. That’s just for a basic room. Although even a basic room here is very nice. But still you are going to burn through your points very quickly.
So yes we can use points but it’s not the whole plan and what happens if you aren’t signed up for points or you don’t have any left.
So How is it done?
Simple. You just ask for the penthouse. Okay it’s not always that simple but it can be. The wealthy just ask for the best everywhere you go. So get in the habit of doing just that. You can finess it a bit too so this is what I would do to up your chances of bagging that top room:
- Sign up for the Hotels points program. This all works way better if the hotel thinks you are a frequent flyer and stay there all the time. I recommend the Marriott Bonvoy program and in particular their American Express. Yes there is a fee but you get one free night voucher every year which easily covers the fee and you get probably the best signup bonus in the industry.
- Use the American Express for EVERYTHING and start amassing those points. Plus whenever you stay in a hotel for anything always use the Amex and the Bonvoy card. Build your reputation within that brand of hotels. Become a regular. Usually you can get a free upgrade with the Hotels lowest member band (Silver) but definitely when you get to Gold status you get automatic upgrades everytime.
- Book a room thorugh the app – you can use points if you like or just pay cash. Ether way as a frequent member you should easily be able to ask for the upgrade.
- Shortly before arriving go on the hotels website and look to see what the most expensive available room is. This could be the penthouse or one of the upper floor suites.
- On arrival go up the desk and whilst going through the check-in process simply ask if that room is available, “I was wondering about the possibility of an upgrade. It’s my wife’s birthday and this is a special occasion and I was wondering if we could upgrade to the Penthouse [insert top available room] if it’s available? That would absolutely make her day” Smile sweetly and be super friendly but also with an air of nonchalance.
As a member of their loyalty program (and especially if you’ve made it to the next level) the guest services were already going to upgrade you anyway so it’s not too much of a stretch to bump you up to the room you requested. And in their eyes they are probably more likely to be able to rent out the cheaper rooms at the last minute than the higher end penthouse type suites.
Does this really work?
Well this isn’t always guaranteed to work (there’s no guarantees in life) but as the saying goes it never hurts to ask and you absolutely wont get that Penthouse if you dont try.
And in my experience with Marriott Bonvoy (my preferred chain) I get an upgrade every time I stay there and quite often do get the big upgrade to a suite or Penthouse.
In my most recent stay at the St Regis at Toronto I got a $1,000 a night Butler Suite just by asking. And that was a points stay too so basically a $1000 night for free.
In case you were wondering spending around $1,000 – $2,000 a month on the Bonvoy Amex, plus the annual free stay gets me around 4-5 free nights a year depending on when and where I stay and I get upgraded every time. So $24,000 spend can get me around $4,000 worth of hotel rooms. Beats that lowly 2% cashback credit card anyday! (2% of $24,000 is $480 in case you were trying to figure it out).