How to get a Hotel Room Upgrade

Getting a Hotel Room Upgrade is much easier than you might think. Most good quality hotels (and by that I don’t necessarily mean expensive) want you to enjoy your stay, after all, if you enjoy your stay you are much more likely to return. Larger hotels are likely to have better rooms than yours sitting empty and if the hotel feels it is unlikely to fill them on a particular night then they might as well let you stay in one instead. But here’s the thing - only if you ask !

I have seen suggestions that you can’t get an upgrade when you have booked through a discount hotel website and whilst it may well make it slightly more difficult, I have managed to get lots of upgrades even when I have booked through Expedia or Hotels.com. But only when I’ve asked !

Of course it’s not always possible to get an upgrade, the hotel may be completely full or may not have any rooms available in a category higher than the one you have booked. For this reason it’s important to keep things in perspective and never get upset with the hotel receptionist as this could damage any chances of getting any upgrades in the future with that particular hotel chain. It’s also a good idea to research the hotel you are going to before you arrive to see what types of rooms they have on offer. That way you can tailor your request to a specific kind of room and increase your chances of success. For example, many hotels have rooms with views and rooms without and often the rooms with views are also slightly better rooms overall. Often by asking for a room with a view even though you haven’t booked one, an upgrade is forthcoming. But only when you ask !

Ok so you get the picture, you have to ask. But how do you ask ? Well there are a number of different tactics you can employ.

1 Ask for an upgrade because of a special event. You can make it known that it is your Birthday or Wedding Anniversary or other such important celebration. I only use this tactic when it’s genuinely true but I suppose less scrupulous people could just make it up. Of course if you were to suggest that it was your Birthday you would need to remember what date of birth to put down on your check in form and also what documentation they might require from you for checking in - often a passport is required when staying overseas. If it genuinely is some sort of special occasion

2 Be disappointed with the room. Find something wrong with the room that they have given you. It doesn’t need to be a major thing. Perhaps it’s too close to the lift and you are a light sleeper or perhaps the room is at the front of the hotel and you would MUCH rather be at the back (or vice versa). Maybe the room only has a shower and you would prefer a bath tub (you need to research this before you try for a bathtub in a hotel that only has showers!) Maybe the room is much smaller than you had hoped or maybe you can find some evidence that the room has not been particularly well cleaned. Any excuse to go back down to reception and ask them if they have another room. In my experience you don’t have to ask for an upgrade specifically, if reception feel you are unhappy with the room then provided they can, they will often give you an upgraded room. The key here is to be disappointed, not angry. Also, don’t give up straight away if they say they can’t do anything. Maintain a mournful presence at the reception desk and reiterate why you don’t like the room. If the reception clerk returns to their computer and starts typing things in, it’s a good sign. This means they can and probably will give you an upgrade.

3 Mention that you are a member of the hotels reward scheme. Many of the larger hotel chains have reward schemes for frequent visitors. These schemes are usually free to join and you can join on line before your stay. This in itself increases your chance of an upgrade, but mentioning it at check in and asking for a nice room will often result in an upgrade. If this doesn’t work then you can still try tactic 2 above.

 Finally, and most importantly, don't get so hung up on trying to get an upgrade that you don't enjoy your stay when an upgrade is not forthcoming. It's only a room after all !