George asks:
Point Man – I recently booked a trip using Marriott points and am looking to upgrade my room. I’ve offered to pay cash for the upgrade but they declined. Assuming there are vacancies, any ideas?
George, I recall a few instances when I was upgraded due to my Platinum status with the Marriott even when I used points to book the room. It’s always at the hotel’s discretion on whether they want to upgrade you if you haven’t actually paid for the top floor suite. I have not come across any way to pay additional money on top of points to get a better room. In my experience point-based airlines also follow the same rule - if you use frequent flyer points to book a flight, you cannot pay to get upgrade. You need to spend the points to get the first class seat. I don’t believe hotels are setup to handle that type of transaction.
I do recall staying at the W in Montreal and getting upgraded from an already amazing room to the "WOW" suite (and quickly understanding why it was given that title). The reason? Construction from the building next door kept me up all night. I politely explained the poor circumstances to the front desk manager and was quickly upgraded.
Your best bet is to be polite and friendly - perhaps pay the front desk manager a compliment while he/she is checking you in. If it isn’t a busy weekend, you might get a free upgrade since rooms are a fixed cost. I suppose you could complain about your room, but without proper justification that would be lying :-)
Any readers have better suggestions - feel free to comment. Great questions - keep them coming.
Dear *point* man:
I thought you would be the perfect person to ask this question. In your view, what is the best way (website or otherwise) to keep tabs on all your miles and points?
Sincerely,
Faraz Q
Honestly, Faraz, there is no real benefit to keep tabs because points are not the same as cash. They cannot be economically used for anything else besides flights, free stays, or free rentals. Therefore, I would just check the balance when planning trips. In the case of Southwest, where coupons can expire, just sell them on Craigslist or give them as gifts before their expiration date. I would also add that points actually decrease in value these days with all the restrictions and additional "processing fees" so it would be in your best interest to use them as soon as possible and avoid having a balance at all!
Keep those questions coming.