I wanted to resurface this post Nick wrote several years ago as it’s proven to be one of the most useful tips I’ve learned.
Over the past few years my wife and I have stayed at Marriott brands ~20 times. We’ve sometimes been able to book straight into a one bedroom suite with either points or by finding a low enough cash rate, but more frequently than not we’ve ended up booking a studio king or queen suite.
That’s not ideal for us, especially since COVID hit. My wife teaches online and is sometimes up early for classes, while I’m usually up until 3am. Being in a studio suite means we end up being more likely to wake each other up at night or in the morning. Pre-COVID it was less of an issue because we could go work down in the lobby, but that’s something we’ve avoided since March 2020. Having a one bedroom suite avoids those problems as we can teach/work in the separate living room while the other one sleeps. It also means it’s quieter at night in general as you don’t hear anyone out in the hall; that’s useful for us as we travel with our dog and so she doesn’t feel the need to protect us from all the dangerous people that quite clearly want to break into our hotel room as they walk past our door at night 😉
That’s where Nick’s tip about the chat feature in Marriott’s app has come in handy. Any time we’ve been booked into a studio suite in the last few years, I’ve taken a look on Marriott’s website a day or two before to see if there are any one bedroom suites available. If there are, I’ll reach out to the property via the chat feature to ask for an upgrade due to my status.
With only one exception, that request has always been granted. The only time they didn’t upgrade us via an app request, their reply was that we’d need to wait until check-in to see if any one bedroom suites were available, so even that wasn’t a hard no (I forget if we got an upgrade in the end at that property).
Being able to do this a day or two before you arrive can make a huge difference. Studio suites tend to be the most common room type at the properties we’ve stayed at, so there are far fewer one bedroom suites available. Waiting to ask about an upgrade until you check in therefore risks that room type either getting booked by the time you arrive or earlier-arriving guests getting the upgrade.
A couple of quick things to note about using the chat feature in the Marriott app. First, when it brings up your reservation in the app, you don’t want to select the check-in option in order to ask about an upgrade. Instead, you’ll see a couple of speech bubbles in the bottom right corner – that’s what’s used to open the chat feature.
Secondly, it can sometimes take a little while to receive a reply, so it’s not worth sitting around waiting to receive one. That’s especially the case if you’re messaging them late at night which is when I seem to remember to message them as I don’t usually get an answer until the morning. In theory you should get a notification on your phone letting you know that you have a reply, but if it’s been 12+ hours try checking the chat feature again. I requested an upgrade last night for a stay beginning on Monday and didn’t get a notification, but when opening the app this afternoon I noticed they’d already replied at 7am confirming that we’d been upgraded to a one bedroom suite (which is what prompted me to republish this post).
Here’s Nick’s original post:
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My wife and I were pretty happy with how quickly we had transitioned our newborn son to sleeping in his own room/crib. As a result, we weren’t prepared for the detrimental effect it would have on our sleep when we recently decided to make a 2-week road trip to visit friends and family — with him sleeping in a pack-and-play in the same room during the trip. After two weeks of sleep deprivation, and the ride home seeming even longer than usual because of it, I was thrilled when Marriott chat came through with a nice room upgrade over the weekend.
When we were a couple of hours from reaching our drive time limit on Friday, I was happy to find the TownePlace Suites Quantico/Stafford had a room for just 10,000 Marriott points (versus the normal room rate of $118 + tax).
A few minutes after booking, I pulled up the Marriott app curious if I could make any special requests via the app. I was hoping for a slightly larger room; while the standard room is a studio, I saw that the hotel also had 1-bedroom suites. I thought that a separate bedroom would enable us to set things up in a way so as not to wake each other up repeatedly and get slightly better sleep.
The app gave me the option to check in and choose my room. I was pretty sure that as a Marriott Gold member, I wouldn’t see a meaningful upgrade over the standard room I’d picked (and Greg has previously written about this topic – See: Marriott Mobile Check In: Does it help or hurt upgrade chances?). However, I also I saw that there was an option to “Chat with us”. I clicked through to start a chat.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect someone to respond — and if they did, I figured I’d be getting a Marriott rep in a call center who would add a note to my reservation at best. To my surprise, I got a pretty quick response affirming that they would be happy to arrange a larger room.
Upon arrival, I gave my name at the desk. Niecey, the friendly check-in agent, said that they were expecting me. She informed me that she had upgraded us to a 2-bedroom suite! I didn’t actually ask if she was the agent with whom I had chatted, but I got the impression that she was the person who had responded to the chat. While the hotel itself shows a little wear, the 2-bedroom suite was exactly what we needed. We ended up being able to trade off sleeping in a bedroom alone with the door closed, allowing us to each get some uninterrupted sleep. That was awesome.
We even had plenty of room to eat dinner. TownePlace Suites is an extended-stay brand, so I knew we would have a kitchette, but I didn’t know we would end up using it. We had picked up takeout, not anticipating what turned into a need for an immediate bath for Baby Rey. Having an oven to heat up our food and a roll of paper towels (since I forgot to grab extra napkins) turned the TownePlace Suites into a great decision.
Bottom line
Will Marriott chat get you an awesome upgrade every time? I’m sure it probably won’t. Did it help that I was staying at an extended stay property in a place that isn’t a major tourist destination? I’m sure it did.
On the other hand, I’m equally willing to bet that it gave me a better chance at an upgrade than mobile check-in. I further wonder if chatting in the early afternoon or late evening might give you a better shot at an available discretionary upgrade. For instance, by chatting a couple of hours before I got there, maybe I scored an upgrade that someone else would have taken when they arrived before me. I have no way of knowing that’s true, but it’s probably worth a shot.
Following your outline, I asked for an upgrade to an available oceanview room at the Westin in Hilton Head. I received an immediate response saying I could get an upgrade for $50 a night. Had I reserved the room it would have been $150 a night. Since I was staying for 5 days on points anyway, I approved the $50 a night upgrade fee. Thanks for your help.
[…] we were due to check in, I reached out to the hotel using the chat feature in the Marriott app (read more about that process here). I asked if it would be possible to get an upgrade to a one bedroom suite due to having Titanium […]
Following this advice, I just asked for an upgrade at a hotel in Naples for this coming weekend. I’m Titanium and there is suite availability. I was told that they can’t confirm anything, but they’d “keep an eye open”. I suspect that the answer will ultimately be no, but worth a shot anyway.
The chat bubble isn’t present in the app today, only the location bubble. I’ll check again later in the week. Anybody else having this issue? Google Pixel phone, Android 11 and up to date.
Chat only comes up if you’re within a day or two of the actual arrival date. If you’re not, that might be the reason.
Is that true? That’d be nice info to have in a post somewhere! I haven’t booked Marriott in so long that I don’t remember, but it seemed to me that some properties have it and some don’t. I recall trying to find the “chat” while staying at some properties and not seeing it. YMMV as always?
It has ways been in my experience. And I don’t think I’ve had a stay in the last 2 years where it didn’t become available a couple of days out, specifically. But, yeah, Marriott might as well change their name to BonvoYMMV
I’m a fan of the chat feature and use it quite a bit. During Covid my family and I have been doing quite a few staycations in NYC, overnights here and there just to get out of our apartment (with 2 young kids). Just a heads up, I’ve been told by 2 front desk managers that the chat agents are NOT actually at the hotel, but Marriott CS reps somewhere else. (This came up because of the very issue of upgrades, being promised something on chat that wasn’t available or hadn’t been noted by check in). However, in our last stay, I’m fairly certain I got a rep at the hotel.
I’ve had good success using the chat for upgrades (Marriott Gold) but I attribute that more to Covid and low occupancy.
Chat is still nice to have as an option though.
[…] to Tampa Florida, I used the Marriott app to contact the hotel via the app’s chat feature. Nick has had good luck a few times in the past requesting upgrades via the app. And my request was simple. All of the rooms at this resort are laid out the same: two […]
[…] suites. It would have been possible to ask for an upgrade when checking in, but I’d read Nick’s post on Frequent Miler last year where he explained how he got a suite upgrade ahead of time by using the Chat function […]
[…] to the hotel via the Marriott app (I was turned onto this way to contact Marriott hotels from a post by Nick on Frequent Miler). In my message, I asked if there was a fridge in the room because I needed to keep some food […]
[…] A new SPG app will launch, mirroring the functionality of the Marriott Rewards app, including Mobile Requests. Great. We get more buggy Marriott technology. The good news is that it should still be possible to beg for upgrades electronically (see this post) […]
Tried this over the weekend at a Chicago Residence Inn. While we didn’t get an upgrade to a one or two bedroom suite, we were given an executive studio on a higher floor with a good view. I’d suggest at least trying Marriott chat.
[…] Gold member, I only recently received my first upgrade to a suite (via Marriott chat — see: Marriott chat upgrade success). Getting 5 guaranteed suite nights will be a big win for people who matched over from SPG Gold or […]
I’ve used chat before to ask a hotel for a welcome gift last minute – it was a special romantic stay, and as we were coming from another hotel I hadn’t had time to deal with this one in detail. So on the way there I chatted and asked if they could provide any sort of romantic welcome amenity, and they came through with chocolate-dipped strawberries and sparkling water!
My last stay at a Kimpton, there was also an option to chat with the concierge. I didn’t ask for much, but they did answer questions I had and it was quite the convenience.
If anyone knows a similar avenue for Hyatt, I would appreciate any tips.
I’ve been rescued so many times by Towneplace Suites. Having 3 kids under 4, I can totally relate to the benefits of having an extra room with doors you can close and the kitchenette. I don’t even think it can be put into words unless someone has experienced it for themselves. Glad you got the upgrade and were able to enjoy some rest!
Now you see why hotels have less value for families, especially if they don’t have suites with separate rooms. We had to get separate rooms when my daughter was 6 months old. She would wake up just from us slipping into the bed, even though we wouldn’t say a word.
Now with 2 kids we pretty much always go with Airbnb. One bad night in a hotel room after a flight cancellation was enough for us.