Holiday Inn Express

Some of you might remember my post about the Twenty Dollar Trick, which can be used to get upgrades at hotels all across the country. Well, after reading through (almost) all of the comments, and after receiving an upgrade at a hotel recently *without* using the Twenty Dollar Trick, I decided that it was time for another entry about this topic.

I’m in the process of planning a wedding, and upon arriving at the Inn at Key West in Key West, Florida, we were initially assigned a standard room (at an outstanding price, I might add, which we found online.) But, we had a friend with us who works in sales, and she was able to get us a nicely upgraded room for the same price. How? She basically told the hotel, “Look. We are deciding between your hotel and one other hotel for a room block for over 50 people for next May. Let us stay in one of your bigger, nicer rooms. It’s summer and slow season, I’m sure you have bigger rooms available?”

And, guess what? We got what we wanted.

So, here’s the deal to getting a hotel room upgrade – with no money exchanging hands at all

1. Just Ask!

Sounds simple, buy many people are afraid to ask for what they want. What’s the worst that can happen? The hotel will say no. Or…they could say yes.

2. Frequent Flier Credits

This isn’t the best way to get a hotel room upgrade, because there are better ways to use your frequent flier miles, but it’s worth looking into if you have a bizillion of them.

3. Join those “Frequent Visitor” programs

They work! I’ve gotten upgrades through these programs a number of times.

4. Stay in the same hotel chain

I love Holiday Inn Expresses because they’re usually a good value and have large rooms. If you always stay with Holiday Inns, it’s more likely that the hotel will give you an upgrade upon check-in – they can check their computers for how many times you’ve stayed with them easily.

5. Don’t be afraid to complain if something is really wrong

Let’s say you get to your room and the bathroom has not been cleaned well, or there’s food on the carpets. Talk to the front desk – politely- and explain that you want another room, and an upgrade is possible. This often works, especially on non-busy weekends or weeks.

Photo: Eddie~S