things that can help

1. being part of the reward program
2. making your reservation through the hotel or hotel affiliate (IHG, Hilton, Marriott) going through a third party almost always will prevent you from being upgraded
3. day of the week, length of stay, time of year
4. be polite and ask the worst we can say is we are unable to do it

Hotel loyalty status. That’s pretty much it.

Loyalty status, regular, or just asking nicely.

Unless your a regular, or a member of a reward system your best bet is to book direct and let them know it’s a special occasion.

Being nice to the front desk! I work at a hotel and I give upgrades all the time to nice people. Bringing a gift also helps-could be as simple as a candy bar or treats.

1. always book direct. If you book on Expedia, Hotwire, booking, etc you won’t get a comp upgrade since your res is worth less to the hotel
2. never hurts to be super kind to the front desk checking you in. They have a lot of flexibility when assigning your room and usually upgrading 1-2 categories is allowed to balance the house

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Be very friendly and ask nicely, and if you know the room number you're asking for, or even the side of the hotel, even better. When I know I will be staying at the same place on multiple occasions for work, I always note where the larger rooms are and the better views. The next time I check in I ask for 'any room that ends in 23. I loved 823 last time I was here', or whatever. Definitely easier for them to give it to you if your request is specific.

make sure to sign up for the rewards program too! it helps if you travel a lot and can earn status!! 🙌🏼

It also helps if your booking on a weekday. Usually weekdays are slow and at least my hotel we are flexible with upgrades

It never hurts to ask! However, in my experience, these rooms typically cost a lot more per night and unless they just had a lot of vacancy, would likely not upgrade.

Complain!!! I hate to say it but that is the best way to receive an upgrade for free if you are at a high-end/luxury resort. Asking politely will come with an upcharge. It is cheaper for them to comp an upgrade than to deal with a bad review on Yelp, TripAdvisor etc.

Why do you think rich people continuously complain about things and ask for managers? Because they get free shit. I’ve watched it work, and the more dramatic (within reason) you are the better it works: “This room has ruined my vacation and I’m paying xyz for this rate, this is rediculous!” Don’t make a scene, keep your voice down and don’t be inappropriate by swearing or insulting anyone. If it’s a line of luxury hotels: “I’ve stayed at a number of (insert name brand) hotels and have never been given such poor treatment or brushed aside like this, I’ll never stay at (insert name brand) again!”

If they are at capacity then you are SOL, but they’ll probably give you a discount or voucher for their amenities at least.

I know it’s not easy to flip a switch and turn into a “Karen”, but in the right circumstances it really works.

1. Make sure you’re not staying on a busy night, during an event, or on a weekend in a busy area. An off night, like a weekday would make an upgrade more likely.
2. Book direct with the hotel. Do NOT use a third party booking site.
3. If it’s for a special occasion, put that in the reservation notes.
4. Never hurts to call and ask what their policy is on upgrades.
5. Hotel loyalty programs are free. If you travel a decent bit, it would be in your best interest to sign up. Good luck!

I usually book a middle range room, ask on check-in if there are upgrades avail. If avail, I’ll take one and they often do an extra upgrade for free. One thing that has been mentionned by others: be super nice! The amount of wasted/arrogant/entitled/meam people hotel people meet on a daily basis is insane. Just being a proper human being with consideration for others can do wonders. If it does not get you anything, it might cheer up someone having a bad day!

At my hotel we do room upgrades for members but sometimes we can upgrade but not for tips... Might be more rate wise.

Pay for the room you want.

You get what you pay for.

I have had this happen 3 times. One way is if you have a friend that works for a hotel anywhere they might be connected to Vegas ones. My friend worked at a Hilton in Orlando and so he was able to help with getting a deal.

Another way is, before your trip, you might be able to find a time share offer. If you sign up to go to the meeting while booking your trip, they normally give you a huge discount on the room, but don’t miss the meeting or you pay full price. As long as you don’t sign anything it’ll be a huge free discount.

A third way is the complain about anything that is actually an issue with the room. One time in Atlantic City, our room wasn’t ready and we complained that we had to wait and they gave us a way bigger room and a free bottle of champagne.

Honestly, just be friendly. When they ask for your CC just try slipping a $50 (while letting the 50 show at the bottom) under it as you hand it over and ask “are there any upgrades available today?” A friend of mine also does the same but keeps the bill in his hand and shows the number. They’ll understand exactly what you mean, and if they can accommodate they will. If not they’ll just let you know there aren’t any available. No harm no foul

Black mail the hotel staff with revenge porn. Years of research, hacking and bribes just to get a free room upgrade. Totally worth it.

“It’s my wife’s and I anniversary, is there any available rooms to upgrade to help celebrate?” Works for us sometimes. We have gotten room upgrades and sometimes just free Champaign.

I used to work in hotel maintenance. All I’m going to say is we are aware of the games, antics, and manipulation that goes into trying to get a free room. In my almost two years in the hotel industry I remember giving away only a handful of free rooms.

For hilton, literally bitch about everything especially to the Night Auditors. We throw points and upgrades/discounts like candy to shut people up.

Free? Hahahahaha! Now if you slide me a $50 across the counter, you'll have the Presidents Suite.

Great question! Never pay rack rate!

Basically, ask nicely. Be polite and understanding. Don't demand or insist. "Are there any complimentary upgrades available?"

You won't always get an upgrade, but if it costs you nothing, what's the harm in asking?

I'm Gold thanks to the AMEX surpass card, Back in Fall 2024 (Mid-September to Mid-October), I took a vacation to London and stayed in the Doubletree Hyde Park (2nd time there after September 2022) and originally booked a Queen Room for 28 nights.

Upon checking in, I was pleasantly surprised to get upgraded to a King Suite room with a Park view.

That upgrade was completely unexpected as I hear the hotels don't usually upgrade you if you have a long stay.

The only hint I gave them at all about asking for any upgrades was in my special requests, when I asked to be put in my previous Queen room that I stayed in from 2 years prior if that particular room was still available and I didn't get any Gold Upgrades.

So, maybe that extra request to get upgraded worked, or maybe it was just coincidence that they were going to upgrade me anyway.

Try doing that in the U.S., lol

Front desk here… yes, always communicate the desire! Some people really don’t care either way, so it’s good to know who would appreciate it most. Or put it in the notes! Mentally prepare for the inability, for various reasons. Not saying we pick favorites, but the right approach goes a long way!

Yep, as long as you don’t come off as entitled then they normally accommodate as long as they have availability.

I pretty much get upgraded every stay using this method as a diamond member, usually in a Hilton every week

The two things that sometimes work for me: 1. Book through AmEx Platinum (though you have to travel a lot and use the benefits to make the yearly fee worthwhile). 2. Ask for an upgrade when you check in. That’s it. Hope you get some other good tips — I’ll be checking back.

I'm a diamond member with Wyndham so they always give me upgrades if I ask.

Got diamond status because they partner with Ceasars and I'm a diamond plus member with them because of online sportsbetting.

Plant a dead body in your hotel room and complain to the front desk that there’s a dead guy in your room.

Masturbate in the lobby while listening to Taylor Swift hits

I always use the same hotel or hotels within the same affiliated group and get upgraded automatically. I think it's in the computer to upgrade me becauce I have never asked. I've just been a steady customer for over twenty years.

Not all Hilton Hotels are on the auto upgrade program. Even the ones that are have some discretion.

Hiltons auto upgrade is pretty cool since it tends to generate more $$ for the hotel. For the three nights prior to a stay it's looking at demand for each room and profiling a stay against all other stays.

A stay may have upgrade opportunity for the first night, but not on the second night. That disqualifies the reservation. If there's solid potential for the stay, it adds you to an upgrade list.

The upgrade prioritizes based on tier and total spend. Say two diamond members have the same room type but one paid BAR and the other paid a discounted rate, the BAR reservation gets priority.

Upgrades start at the top of the house and, if the algorithm doesn't think the room above it will be sold within a guardrail, the upgrade is yielded. That naturally opens another room for an upgrade that works it's way down the chain.

Some hotels have lots of upgrade paths, others practically none so the real opportunity is at bigger brands/locationa or unique hotels.

The end result is the lower price rooms become available and those tend to sell more/faster closer to a particular night.

Each hotel can set guardrails or availability. Moving from one room type up a level typically doesn't change the variable cost to turn a room (house keeping and consumables). That isn't true of big suites though.

TLDR - Upgrade priority is honors tier, spend on stay, history at hotel. Still - be nice or at least don't be a dick and the front desk may hook you up still.

My understanding as a Bonvoy Titanium and Lifetime Plat is that the Marriott corporate algo is for the Nightly Upgrade Awards (NUAs) that are for upgrades to premium rooms and suites, one award per night; NUAs are the default benefit (there are other options) for qualifying Plats (5 NUAs) and Titanium (additional 5).

The properties themselves are also free to upgrade the guest. I’ve been upgraded by the hotels (on more than one occasion) to Junior Suites when my NUAs failed to clear and also when I did not redeem NUAs.

It’s not uncommon for a member to fail to use up his/her NUAs before their one calendar year expiry. Anecdotally, it’s not unusual for members to claim that they’ve never been able to redeem their NUAs.

How the algo for the Bonvoy NUA works is a matter of much speculation.

Every hotel brand upgrades based on discretion. Nowadays it all comes down to whoever stands at reception and whether they like your face or race. I always choose carefully who I approach behind the desk as you can often see in one's face whether they are nice or simply standing there to boost their miserable existence.

Back to topic; Hilton has certain hotels which always upgrade their Gold and Diamond members to Executive level with lounge access. One of such hotels is Hilton London Bridge in London. Their Gold and Diamond members will always be placed on the executive floor and in the lounge which is nice because you get to meet your fellow tier members, in an exclusive setting. It isn't a luxury hotel per se so that kinda sucks.

Other hotels are more reluctant to do this and gatekeep their lounge as if they serve something worth talking about and refuse upgrades even if the hotel is empty. Marriott is in my experience the most greedy of all brands and barely ever gives you an upgrade at all. At a Marriott in Bangkok, I once was refused an upgrade so I challenged them on it. After a whole lot of unnecessary debates going back and forth, they upgraded me to the next category room which was the executive room WITH lounge access as per the description on their website/app. I was gobsmacked when they wrote on the confirmation paper that I opted out of longe access and wanted me to sign for it! I refused and this again turned into a lot of back and forth until they ran stuck and gave me the lounge access that came with the room. It's a brand that I would strongly advise anyone to spend their money on to grow with because it would be in vain. At least Hilton gives free breakfast as standard.

For Hilton I recall a post on here stating that the “room upgrade” is really a hidden $20 voucher towards an upgrade. You know how you can pay a bit extra per night to get a better room? That’s where the $20 gets applied to.

As far as who gets upgraded, it’s up to the hotel itself. I’ve seen posts on here mention there are so many gold and diamond members (especially because of the credit card) that they can’t upgrade everyone. What ends up happening is they can upgrade a few members per night and usually upon request.

Yes, Hilton has similar software that automatically upgrades people. We use it at my hotel and I’ve received auto upgrades when traveling to other hotels.