Anaheim Marriott: using points to upgrade to Concierge

[Reepicheep]

I'm curious to know if anyone has used points to upgrade an Anaheim Marriott stay to Concierge level.

I phoned the 1-800 Marriott number, and was told they could send my upgrade request to the hotel, but the request would be subject to "availability at check in".

Is this the standard way of doing things in the Marriott program (i.e., we can put in a request for upgrade, but won't know until check in time whether we got the upgrade or not). Or, can I contact the hotel now (my stay isn't until July) and request a guaranteed upgrade?

At Christmas, we stayed at the Marriott for one night, and I asked at the front desk about upgrades. The employee I talked to claimed that I have to do the upgrade request through the 1-800 phone number. But the employee seemed fairly new, so I'm hoping he was mistaken. Be a major pain if a Concierge room on points can't be guaranteed prior to the instant of check in.

 

[Peanut Giggleface]

Yes, my husband travels a lot and we frequently have enough points to stay for an entire vacation. We have stayed at the Anaheim Mariott using points and stayed concierge level. We booked it up front and had no problems. I'm a little unclear on your question tho, are you asking if they'll upgrade you for free if there's availability or are you requesting to use your points for a concierge level room. If it's the first, then I can see why they would be hesitant as those rooms are prioritized by paying guests. If however, you're wanting to book it in advance using your points for the stay, there should be no difference booking that room vs. a standard room. It all depends on availability. For stays involving points we always book online. I don't think we've used the 800 number ever.

 

[ParkHopper1]

I stay and work at at Marriott properties with our clients a lot and got the inside scoop from a Marriott Event Manager that my help ya out. I am a Gold member and our client was trying to get lounge access for some of the special event VIP's that we were hosting at a Marriott. Their first priority is to be sure that there is availability and not over booked for their Gold and Platinum members in the lounge. If on that specific date they do not have a lot of Golds or Plats staying on site that would access the lounge, then they can possibly open it up to other guests and VIP's...which I would also assume be those wanting to upgrade on points.

Long story short...you are probably getting the run around cuz they won't guarantee it until day of your arrival unless you are a top tier member or paying cash for the upgrade.

 

[Reepicheep]

I'm a little unclear on your question tho, are you asking if they'll upgrade you for free if there's availability or are you requesting to use your points for a concierge level room.

Thanks for the reply. I'm asking about the second scenario (basically, paying cash for a non-concierge room, but using points to upgrade to concierge).

Using July 6 as an example, I can book the following four options on the Marriott website:

(1) pay $139 for non-concierge room
(2) pay $189 for concierge room
(3) get non-concierge room for 35,000 points, or
(4) get concierge room for 40,000 points.

What I'd like to do is book a non-concierge room at the $139 rate, then upgrade my room to concierge using 5,000 points. This particular option is apparently not available on the Marriott website. When I phoned the 1-800 Marriott number, they said they can put in a request to the hotel for an upgrade (using 5,000 points per night), but I won't know until check in whether my request is approved or not. Presumably, the hotel would prefer to have a guest pay cash for the upgrade, rather than have a guest use points for the upgrade.

I had a similar problem with my upcoming stay at the Sheraton Park in Anaheim. According to the people at the Starwood (Sheraton) 1-800 number, I can only request a point upgrade 5 days prior to check in. But when I contacted the hotel directly via email, I had no trouble doing a guaranteed upgrade now (using points) for my stay starting June 28.

In this particular case, I currently have a two night July stay booked at the Marriott for $189/night for a concierge room. I'm new to the Marriott program and have only earned 6,000 points (enough for a one night upgrade), so for my upcoming stay I'll probably leave things as they are. During my stay, I'll try to find a knowledgeable employee who can explain to me the "upgrade" procedure, and whether an upgrade can be guaranteed prior to check in. We really like the concierge lounge at the Anaheim Marriott, so I think I'd prefer to pay $189 for concierge, rather than $139 for non-concierge and hope an upgrade is available at check in (for 5,000 points, not free).

Hope that all made sense.

 

[Reepicheep]

Long story short...you are probably getting the run around cuz they won't guarantee it until day of your arrival unless you are a top tier member or paying cash for the upgrade.

I'd say you are correct. Most likely, my only Marriott stays will be (maybe) 5 concierge days at Anaheim in the summer, and 2 or 3 more concierge days at Christmas (also at Anaheim). I prefer to use other hotel programs for my non-Anaheim stays, and for my remaining days at the Disneyland resort. I'll likely never earn even Gold status in the Marriott program.

The (Canadian) Marriott credit card is currently offering 30,000 bonus points plus no fee for the first year for new cardholders. If I knew for certain that I could use the 30k points to upgrade six non-concierge nights to concierge, I'd go ahead and apply for the card. If the best I can do is put the 30k points towards one free night at the 40k point level, then I don't think its worth the hassle of applying for another credit card.

 

[Reepicheep]

I stay and work at at Marriott properties with our clients a lot and got the inside scoop from a Marriott Event Manager that my help ya out. I am a Gold member and our client was trying to get lounge access for some of the special event VIP's that we were hosting at a Marriott. Their first priority is to be sure that there is availability and not over booked for their Gold and Platinum members in the lounge. If on that specific date they do not have a lot of Golds or Plats staying on site that would access the lounge, then they can possibly open it up to other guests and VIP's...which I would also assume be those wanting to upgrade on points.

Long story short...you are probably getting the run around cuz they won't guarantee it until day of your arrival unless you are a top tier member or paying cash for the upgrade.

This is an old thread, but I figured I'd do an update using information I learned when I stayed in a Anaheim Marriott concierge room in July of 2015.

Basically, ParkHopper1, you are correct. The employee I talked to at the front desk confirmed that the hotel's first priority is to meet the needs of the business guests (which, for the most part, would correspond to the Gold and Platinum members). The Anaheim Marriott hotel is very reluctant to give concierge upgrades to families using points.

During our July 2015 stay, I witnessed an excellent example of why this is the case. On day 2 of our stay, there was a large extended family group of at least 25 people from what appeared to be four generations, ranging in age from infant to 80+ years. During "dessert hour" one evening, the horde came into the lounge to watch "American Gladiator" on TV. They were loudly hooting and hollering as they cheered on their favorite competitors. Whenever a new tray of desserts was brought out, the family (especially the teenagers) descended upon the tray like a bunch of locusts.

A couple of times I saw an apparent businessman come into the lounge, take a look at the family, and immediately leave. Obviously not a good environment for businessmen to conduct business over a couple of drinks.

I just now booked a two day concierge stay in early August 2016, but instead of putting in a request for concierge upgrade using points, I decided to just pay the $50 daily fee. For my family of four including two teenagers, the breakfast, snacks, supper, and desserts are an excellent deal for $50.

 

[ChrisParker]

We are staying at the Anaheim Marriott for 4 nights in July during Dh's convention (and my DL time ). His work won't pay for Concierge but I was thinking about upgrading at check - in. Does anyone know if they would let me upgrade and pay with a different card and/or if they have gotten the value out of it? What are the advantages... is it just food in the lounge and how far would that be from our room? TIA.

 

[Reepicheep]

We are staying at the Anaheim Marriott for 4 nights in July during Dh's convention (and my DL time ). His work won't pay for Concierge but I was thinking about upgrading at check - in. Does anyone know if they would let me upgrade and pay with a different card and/or if they have gotten the value out of it? What are the advantages... is it just food in the lounge and how far would that be from our room? TIA.

I don't know if they will allow you to pay for an upgrade at check in time using your credit card. I know, from my research, that concierge access consistently costs $50/day. If you are the only person making use of the lounge, then I'm not sure if a daily fee of $50 would be worth it.

We've stayed at the Marriott in a concierge room three times. The first time, the concierge lounge was being renovated, so breakfast and dinner were served in a main floor conference room. Very inconvenient, and there were no snacks offered during the day.

The second time, we received a free upgrade to park view (which is essentially a view of the Hilton across the street, so not much of a big deal). But, our room was directly across from the concierge lounge, so it was literally 6 feet from our room to the lounge. Wifi isn't free except in the lounge, so one unexpected benefit which made my teenage daughters very happy is that we could access the lounge wifi from our room.

The third time we were on a floor either above or below the floor the lounge is on, so going to the lounge involved a walk down the hall to the elevator, a one floor elevator trip, then a very short walk to the lounge which is essentially adjacent to the elevators.

In terms of food, the breakfast was excellent for people who like scrambled eggs, sausage or bacon, and potatoes. A couple of times they offered excellent fruit crepes of some sort (blueberry, I think). Also the usual other items such as bulk oatmeal, cold cereal, juice, coffee, pastries, toast, and jam.

Snacks during the day were bulk goldfish and a couple of varieties of trail mix. They also had giant jars of four or five types of candy (individually wrapped chocolates and rockets are the two types I can remember). Also cans and bottles of juice and soft drinks suitable for taking to the parks.

The main evening course during our last two day stay was a type of coconut shrimp with rice one day and spaghetti with meat sauce/balls the second day. On previous trips we've also had salmon and a chicken stir fry. They also always have cheese and crackers, vegie trays, probably a few more items I can't remember.

For two or three hours ending, I believe, at 10pm, they brought out both simple (e.g., large chocolate chip cookies) and more elaborate (e.g., little cheesecakes) desserts. Every fifteen or twenty minutes they'd bring out something new, so maybe they offered eight different desserts over the two hours. My daughters liked the fancy desserts, so we'd head to the lounge every half hour or so to sample the latest desserts.

In terms of other benefits, nothing significant springs to mind. They had free newspapers (USA Today and Wall Street Journal) in the lounge, but I think those are available to all hotel guests. There are four computer terminals in the lounge for accessing the internet, plus free wifi. Excellent coffee available all day, but the blend is a bit strong for my taste. Also a wide variety of tea bags. Alcoholic drinks are available for purchase, but to save money I always just buy a case of beer somewhere and keep beer in the room fridge.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, at $50 the lounge is definitely an excellent deal for a family of four. For one person, hard to say.

 

[ChrisParker]

Thanks so much for the amazing report. I'm thinking that $50 will buy a lot of dole whip and mickey bars in a day. Thanks again!!!

 

[Reepicheep]

Thanks so much for the amazing report. I'm thinking that $50 will buy a lot of dole whip and mickey bars in a day. Thanks again!!!

Yes, I agree.

On all of our recent trips, we've tried to stay in a concierge room at not only the Marriott, but both Sheraton hotels as well. Since we have two starving teenagers, the extra $ for concierge is certainly worth it.

It won't be long before our two daughters won't be coming along on our Disneyland trips, and once that happens I think my wife and I will stop paying for concierge. I'd say it's definitely not cost effective to pay for concierge for one person, and only borderline cost effective for a couple.