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Marriott Hotel caught playing games with loyalty perks and upgrades
We were contacted by a reader to investigate a Marriott hotel where suite upgrades were being offered. We decided to investigate the matter after reviewing all of the evidence that he had provided. We both saw the same thing, and we began writing this article.
And then, it all changed.
Marriott HQ issued a warning to a property in Hong Kong that was caught playing games. We wanted to inform you about the property that was being played games, and let Marriott know that our customers are paying attention. This is what happened.
The Perk of Refusing Suite Upgrades
People with elite status in the Marriott Bonvoy program are entitled to room upgrades upon check-in.
Gold Elite members can be upgraded within a room category, but not in suites. More information here.
At check-in, Platinum/Titanium/Ambassador Elite members should be upgraded. This includes eligibility for suites. More information here.
This is subject to availability. If the hotel is full when you check in, all suites will be sold to paying customers. You won't be upgraded if the hotel is full.
The Hotel Involved Courtyard, Sha Tin Hong Kong
The Courtyard Sha Tin Hong Kong is the Marriott hotel that was playing video games.
We were contacted by a reader who provided us with months of evidence that the hotel was refusing to upgrade eligible loyalty members. To refuse to upgrade members, they must not have any upgrade rooms. Let's take a look.
Different Room Types
The Marriott Courtyard Sha Tan Hong Kong boasts 39 suites. Studio rooms are also available, which can be upgraded from standard hotel rooms.
For studio upgrades, Gold members are eligible. However, Platinum status is required to receive a complimentary upgrade to the suite.
What the Hotel was doing
Our research based on the mountain of evidence sent to us by a reader shows that the hotel removed all suites from its inventory just after midnight. The suites, and often the studios, are now unavailable. You won't be able to upgrade for free. Sorry, but the rooms are not available.
This was the first time I looked into it. I found INCREDIBLE suite availability for the next few days, next week, or even several days. There are tons of suites available.
All suites that allow for same-day check in are removed at 00:01 AM, one minute after midnight (based on the local time at the hotel). It was possible a minute ago but it is not available now. It's quite conspicuous.
This is even more obvious when a reader records it for several weeks on his computer, and then sends us a video. We won't publish the video publicly because the reader can be identified in it.
This is to say, that if you check in at the hotel, you won't be able to upgrade to a suite. They are not available. The hotel will inform you if there is no suite for today. The hotel does not have to offer elite members free upgrades.
It gets worse
This isn't the first time that someone has noticed the Marriott Courtyard Sha Tan Hong Kong playing games. A TripAdvisor review posted here (March 2021) stated that no suites are available for check-in by a Platinum Elite guest. She was able to find suites on 3rd-party booking websites and she was able check for the night/through the end of her stay.
Front desk staff refused to allow guests to escalate. The staff said that the manager would contact them upon his return. According to the review, management never reached out to the guest. When Marriott HQ attempted to escalate the matter to corporate, they received a very generic response.
This raises some questions: Who knew that this Marriott property was hosting games? Did every suite sell out at midnight every day for several weeks? Or were they being pulled by the hotel to refuse upgrades? How high up in the food chain is this if that's true? Management is telling front desk staff to lie about availability. Do they just pull the covers and expect others to fall in line and see no availability?
The bigger question is: Why didn't Marriott HQ really investigate this matter to determine if the property in Hong Kong was playing games after trying to escalate it to corporate?
Analyse
It is impossible to say with certainty what's going on. This is very suspicious. How can a hotel possibly sell every suite within hours of midnight, for weeks? It fails the common sense test. It seems suspicious that there are 0 suites available at midnight, when there are a lot of them available at 11:59pm.
It is impossible to know for sure without more information, but it is a perception that is true in customer service. This creates the impression that the hotel won't offer suite upgrades. To avoid having to argue and say "no", the hotel can just make all suites inaccessible on their computer system. They are refusing to honor the key perk of their loyalty program but they can pretend they aren't.
After Meeting with Marriott HQ and Hotel Manager
After collecting data and verifying with Bonvoy elite members that they were denied upgrades, the customer contacted Marriott HQ as well as the general manager of the hotel. This was all part of our research for the article.
Our reader and the hotel manager (Mr. Peter Sih), met with someone from Marriott headquarters on September 11, 2021. They reviewed the data and discussed what it looked like. It seems that the hotel is playing tricks.
The hotel has now changed its ways without admitting any wrongdoing. For the past week, I have checked every day and found that there are always same-day suites available. Amazing that the hotel claimed they weren't doing any wrong but things have changed after the meeting.
Last Thoughts
After writing an initial scathing review of the hotel's activities, something miraculously changed the night before the article was due to be published. We collected more data to be fair to all parties. We believe the hotel has stopped doing what it was doing. We hope that people at Marriott headquarters will be able to monitor this in the future.
We have had to bring attention to the anti-customer practices at Marriott properties this year. This isn't the first time. After speaking to corporate, I was able to stop the Ft. Lauderdale property from fleecing customers.
Our intrepid reader convinced the hotel manager and Marriott Headquarters to end their games with suite upgrades. People are watching. This can be a lesson for Marriott to ensure that its hotels are being watched. We hope that it serves as a warning to other hotels not to be dishonest, as people will discover and report them.
