Elite Members: Are You Walking Away From A Hotel Reservation If You Aren’t Being Upgraded?

Many hotels deny upgrades to the top tier elites in the Hotel Loyalty Program because they are playing games with availability.

One contentious issue is how to deal with these situations and we have advocated here on LoyaltyLobby to just cancel the reservation and book elsewhere if the property isn't honoring the program benefits.

I used a Hyatt Milestone Cat 1-4 certificate to make a reservation at the Grand Hyatt Seoul, but on the day of my arrival, there was no upgrade visible in the app.

I decided to email the hotel and inquire about the room assignment and the time when the room would be available instead of going there and seeing how it turns out.

This was the reply from the Grand Hyatt Seoul Grand Club.

Warm greetings from Grand Hyatt Seoul.

This is Judy, Grand Club Assistant Manager.

First of all, thank you for your reservation today at our hotel.

Regarding your room, we regret to inform that room upgrade for Globalist will not be available since we are expecting full house today.

However, we will do our utmost to arrange standard king room with beautiful view and room will be ready around 2pm.

Once again, thank you for your reservation and we are looking forward to welcoming you soon.

Should you need any further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you very much.

Best regards,

Grand Club Assistant Manager 그랜드클럽 과장

GRAND HYATT SEOUL 그랜드 하얏트 서울

322 Sowol-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, 04347, Korea

This is ridiculous. Globalist members can't expect any type of upgrade, aside from still selling a decent amount of various room types. Not a suite, not a club room, not some kind of premium room.

I replied to the email that they should cancel the reservation and return the free night certificate to my account. They did it quickly without any questions.

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Room reservation for today has been cancelled accordingly as you requested.

And, we have checked that the award already has been returned to your account.

Thank you very much and have a pleasant weekend.

Best regards,

JUDY

Grand Club Assistant Manager 그랜드클럽 과장

They don't seem to be bothered by a customer canceling and walking away. If they were really at capacity, this would have been a rather high reimbursement from World of Hyatt. The hotel revenue seems to be doing well.

The higher room categories were on the website when I received the mail.

There is no point in having an argument at this hotel. The best course of action for hotels that cheat and don't want to honor the rules is to cancel and book a new room elsewhere.

I copied the GM, who is also the Area VP for South Korea. There is no way random hotel staff can do this without the clear direction of the hotel management.

I canceled the reservation at the Grand Hyatt Seoul because it wasn't worth it. The hotel didn't seem to mind. Carry on. I'm able to travel on leisure without having to make appointments or have a family with me, which gives me more freedom to make decisions on short notice. I need space for my family, so I would rather stay elsewhere where I can get a suite.

You have to call the hotel company to get your points back. It was done automatically.

I decided to stay at the Andaz Seoul.

Conclusion.

I had this discussion with people many times. I expect the hotels to do the same as well because I have to abide by the rules of these programs. If the on-property benefits are no longer available, I can just walk away. I have elite status with all of the major hotel chains so there will always be another option.

At hotels where it makes a big difference in value and comfort, I insist on receiving my benefits as described under the tier schedule. The Hyatt Cat 4 Award can be used at a range of destinations I have coming up and even under the worst of circumstances, it will be worth $200.

Have you ever had an argument with a hotel that refused to give you any benefits?