Dolphin upgrade question

[lsayd]

We have a res. for a room at the Dolphin on 7/4 and we're spg members. I made the reservation straight through the hotel since this is actually a free night due to a problem we had at the Swan on our last stay. When I made the reservation (was for a standard room) I wanted to redeem points to upgrade to a club room and was told to call spg. They told me I could not redeem points for an upgrade until 5 days prior to arrival. I've read many of the threads here and never noticed this time limit - and being this is for a holiday I'd like to upgrade as soon as possible. Any words of wisdom will certainly be greatly appreciated!!

 

[stringercapecod]

We were at the Dolphin Feb.16-24, 2003 and I was charging like mad in the few months before our trip to accumulate enough points for an upgrade. When I called SPG in Jan. they told me about the 5 days before check-in and when I called 5 days before they said there were no upgrades available. The person at SPG could tell I was not happy to hear this and said not to be disappointed that an upgrade may still be possible at check-in. By now I had given up hope, we wouldn't be arriving at the Dolphin until around 6:00pm on President's Day weekend.

At check-in we had a really nice desk clerk named Jason. When I showed my SPG card and a big smile and asked about a free upgrade, he showed me a binder with maps of every room in the hotel and pointed out which ones were available. We could have had Club Level on the 12th floor but we took the balcony room instead. And didn't have to use any points.

The moral of the story in this case is: Don't even mention the points until your all out of options. There's also something called "Instant rewards" where you can apply points towards things like meals, massages,etc. but I forgot to ask about this cause I was so excited about the free room upgrade!

Sorry this is so long, but I hope it helps...
I know you will have a wonderful time at the Dolphin.

 

[lsayd]

for the info - would have never thought of a "free" upgrade. Hope it works out for us a swell as it did for you!

 

[glo]

I called this week too, and was told by spg the same thing about the 5 day rule for the points upgrade to CL. I do not remember this from before, so I think it is something new.