HRH Plat/Gold Upgrade Frusterations

[RyGuy]

Those of us that have put our time in and have achieved gold or platinum status want to reap the benefits and receive upgraded rooms or suites on future visits right? That extra space to unwind after a day in the parks is wondeful especially when it's free. After reading several different threads I noticed that many of you are frusterated with not getting upgrades at HRH when you have had success at PBH and RPR. There are several reasons for this but the main one is that HRH only has 12 king suites and a minimal amount of deluxe rooms. RPR has 36 executive/king suites while PBH has 12 portofino suites, 18 kids suites, and an entire wing of deluxe rooms. Since king suites and deluxe rooms are very limited at HRH you don't have a very good chance of getting one unless you book way in advance. HRH operates between 85%-100% occupancy every day of the year and also has the least amount of guestrooms of the on-site hotels with 650 rooms. PBH has 750 rooms and RPR has 1000 rooms. HRH also has 14 kid suites but as many of you who have tried know, they are very difficult to get and are not considered a LoewsFirst upgrade suite. At PBH, you can in fact upgrade to a kid's suite through LoewsFirst giving you even more upgrade options and making PBH the easiest hotel to score an upgrade. I have stayed at HRH 15 times and know everyone there including upper managment. I have only received a king suite upgrade twice and a kids suite upgrade twice. I have received several club level upgrades but the rooms are the same size. Don't get me wrong free club access is great but I prefer suites. Now at PBH, I don't even know what a standard room looks like unless it is attatched to a large parlor. HRH suites are almost always occupied because there just aren't enough of them to go around. Because I pay discounted rates I usually have to wait until check-in to receive an upgrade which doesn't really help my chances. If you are platinum and want to better your chances, book very far in advance and make sure to request your upgrade at the time you make the ressie. Staying during off-peak times and during the week is much better too. Unfortunately, that is hardly ever convenient. It can't hurt to email or call the hotel or Chris Garcia who is the LoewsFirst manager and let them know of your past loyalties to the Universal/Loews hotels along with your upgrade requests. Make your presence known to management so you can reap the benefits on future visits. Otherwise try staying at one of the other hotels to better your chances of an upgraded room or suite.

 

[tricky1]

very informative, I have a question maybe you can shed some light on.

I am a loews gold member if you book using a ap discount can you still
receive a upgrade? I always book with ap discount and get the perks
(cookies & milk e.t.c) sometimes . most often not.

I always e-mail any requests that I want , but don't always get them.
I have stayed on-site a total of 25 nights in the past 3 years. but am told that ap rates disquailfys any loews perks most of the time is this the norm?
thanks in advance.

 

[bjakmom]

tricky1 - my experience has been that AP rates do not qualify for the guaranteed upgrades (Gold - std to deluxe/ Plat - std to king suite) - only AAA will put those upgrades through at booking. When gold, I also received my wine/fruit/cookie perks even with AP rates - but only for 1 of the rooms when I've booked multiple rooms.

Thanks for the info, RyGuy - I also recommend to call the hotel directly once you've booked the room if you book through Loews- Loews reservations were unable to give me the Plat upgrade at both Phila and Coronado - told me there were no suites avail - but when I called the hotels directly they were super helpful and didn't understand why I had been told that - they both had suites and sent me a new e-mail with confirmed upgrades- I love Loews first!

 

[RyGuy]

tricky1,

For the most part they will not upgrade you if you are not paying a qualifying rate and I always book with an APH/FLO rate. That's why I find out whos in charge and contact them by email before each stay. They take care of everything for me sometimes upgrading me in advance or if something is available when I check-in. Desk clerks could care less about frequent repeat guests. Management values repeat business much more, you just have to make yourself known to them.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Thank you for this great post, RyGuy. It explains a lot.

BTW--I always book at the lowest rate I can get--AAA, AP, Ent (RIP ) and discuss upgrades with the hotel directly if I cannot get an upgrade in advance due to a non-qualifying rate. RPR has always been able to accomodate--one time even calling me in advance of my stay to see if I would mind an upgrade to a King Suite. Another time when I gave a room request for a standard room, I was informed that they had upgraded me to a King Suite!

 

[morningstar]

I find that most of my frustrations are over the fact that the HRH is so inconsistent in their "rules". I always book with a AAA rate and I am a platnium member. I think I have received my welcome gift about half the times we have stayed. I received an upgrade to a king suite once after complaining to Mark Shrouger about the front desk staff. They told me no upgrades were available to club level. Five minutes later when our friends were checking in (two separate families), they were both upgraded to Club!

This past vacation, I was upgraded from a standard club to a deluxe club. This was great. I called the day of arrival and asked for an upgrade to a kids suite (and inquired about cost of the upgrade) and was told none were available. I then tried a few hours later - same thing. Third time I called (same day); I never mentioned that I was staying and looking for an upgrade, but instead asked if any kids suites were available on the club floor. Can anyone guess the answer?! I told them great, now what would be the cost to upgrade from my existing deluxe room on club. They told me over the phone the cost would be $100 per night. Well, silly us, we decided we would wait until we checked-in (thinking it may be less at check-in). Upon arrival the kids suite was still available, but at a cost of $240 additional per night! The deluxe room was great and hopefully we will be as lucky to get it again.

By the way, our friends that were checking in with us (same rate, same everything) - did not receive their welcome gift, but we did. They were initially told that they could not have a late check-out because of the discounted rate they booked at, but we were given one no problem. They argued and did get the late check-out, but never the welcome gift. I love the Hard Rock, but this is what seems to happen to us every time and makes me crazy.


Final note, the Club staff was once again wonderful with the exception of the new supervisor Davida. She made us feel uncomfortable to be in the lounge, she was the only person that never greeted us too. She even kicked us out one night at 11:00 (closing time) when their was 1:30 minutes left of the BC/Duke basketball game (they were 2 points apart!) She definately has let the "power" of her position go to her head. Never a smile, but we did get the roll of the eyes from her a few times! We ended up calling her "Chuckles" by the end.

 

[RyGuy]

morningstar,

Next time contact Mark directly or maybe Chris Garcia (LoewsFirst Manager). Mark's right hand man is Sem Cuevas. He is quite possibly the nicest guy you could ever meet and always very helpful. The desk staff pulls answers to upgrade questions out of the air. Speak with someone who can "make things happen."

 

[morningstar]

Thanks RyGuy once again for all your helpful information. Chris Garcia was off the day we were arriving, but he was the one that requested the deluxe room for us. This of course was after I got the info on deluxe rooms from you! So thanks again for all your help. I will store this info for the next trip

 

[jim and meesie]

I have a 3 nite reservation for HRH which has already been upgraded to a King Suite (yes I know I am fortunate so should I thank my lucky stars and leave well enough alone?). How do I go about adding another day at the beginning of the reservation. I don't want to be in the situation where I have to switch rooms and I don't think I want to pay the "rack rate" for the King Suite (I'm currently paying $309., since it's vacation week which is quite enough!). Right now I have a separate reservation for 4 nites at $279. in a standard room (because they wouldn't let me book the one night as a stand alone). In an ideal world I want it all, the $279. rate for all 4 nites in a King Suite (but of course that sounds awfully bratty of me) You people seem to have the best information on who to talk to and what to ask for. Thanks

 

[steevo]

I get the feeling that its very hard to get upgraded if you are already in a premium type stuation.
For example, I am booked Club Level at the HRH Presidents week. Would love to get upgraded to a Deluxe queen or Kids suite.. but.. my feeling is that the club deluxes will go to people with exising NON-club ressies as upgrades before they upgrade existing clubbies. Am I wrong?

 

[RyGuy]

jim and messie,

How did you upgrade to the king suite? Loews Platinum? I would call reservations and ask about the rate switch if thats the case or about adding another night to the beginning of your stay. You could also try Chris Garcia. If it was a random upgrade then I would call the hotel and ask to adjust the rate and add an additonal night and see about keeping the suite. Let us know what happens. I'm interested to find out how they handle this. I will think about other ways in the meantime in case they won't accommodate you.

steevo,

Club deluxes are not an upgrade. They are considered a regular club level room and those that get them are lucky enough to have the extra space. They can be requested but not guaranteed and most people don't even know they exist. You just have to hope somebody is checking out of one when you are checking in. Being a frequent guest of the hotel or Platinum LoewsFirst can't hurt your chances of getting one if multiple guests make requests for the same time frame. There are two kid's suites on every floor of the hotel. The way the upgrade usually works is the same as the club deluxes. If you book a kid's suite, you may be one of the lucky ones who gets one on the club floor and therefore free club amenities. Again, being a frequent guest or Platinum LoewsFirst would give you first dibbs on an available club kid's suite. Upgrades usually follow a certain heirarchy of guidelines but sometimes you can just get lucky.

 

[pauldents]

RyGuy, thanks for your very informative post.

I am a platinum member and have stayed in a King suite four times at the HRH.

As you say, staying at non-peak times is a great time to get an upgrade to a KS.

We usually arrive mid week in the middle of September when occupancy is running at 30%. On our last trip we stayed 17 nights in a King suite.

During the first week of October, when HHN started, it seemed like the hotel was running about 95% occupancy at the weekends. They couldn't wait to get us out of that room!

 

[ladybugz11]

I have received a non qualifying rate for the Portofino 3/11 - 3/14. We have booked a deluxe room. Whom should I talk to at the Portofino regarding an upgrade? We are Loews Gold Members. Also what kind of upgrade would we be given since we have already booked a deluxe room???

Thank you in advance

 

[DisneyMomOK]

RyGuy and other Loew's Experts:

I am a Gold member, but have not been able to travel for a couple of years. I just made a AAA res at RPR for May 26-28. The reservationist took my Gold number looked me up in the system and immed upgraded me from garden to WV. However, I noticed on their res site that Club was available, so I called back and asked if I paid to upgrade to WV could I then be upgraded to Club. She stated that (and got mad at me for asking in the first place) RPR NEVER UPGRADES HIGHER THAN WV FOR LOEW"S MEMBERS!!!! I have never been upgraded at any of the Universal Hotels, despite numerous stays over the years, so I just meekly hung up and decided to ask the real hotel experts here at the DIS. Was she just having a bad day or what?

TIA

Sharon

 

[RyGuy]

DisneyMomOK,

She may have very well been in the middle of a bad day but what she said was correct. Gold members get an upgrade to a premium room and since there are no deluxes at RPR the upgrade is to a water view. Platinum gets the king suite. When you check-in, you may be able to upgrade to a club room if one is available for an additional charge usually between $50-$100 per night.

 

[DisneyMomOK]

Thanks, RyGuy. I am thinking seriously of doing the AAA upgrade to club. It would be $80+tx, but the perks might be worth it (we are a family of 3).

Sharon