the joys of an upgraded room

the starwood preferred guest by american express is a nice credit card to have. i've already described its benefits in previous posts somewhat, so i won't talk about it again here. however, one of the benefits i found out about by accident two years ago was the fact that it upgrades your status to preferred plus. the three main status levels are preferred (i.e., entry level), gold, and platinum. on the starwood site, it doesn't talk about preferred plus at all. asides from having an spg-affiliated credit card, you can also get the preferred plus status by having various corporate affiliations or by being a member of your local auto association.

searching the web reveals a little bit about the preferred plus level. according to the starwood lurker on milepoint (the company representative on a frequent traveler message board), it essentially gives you gold status minus the 50% bonus points. in other words, you are entitled to:

• space available room enhancements (upgrades)
• 4pm late check-out where feasible
• a welcome gift (of bonus points or beverages etc.)

the problem with having an unpublished tier and an unpublished benefit is that whether you actually receive the benefit is hit-or-miss at the hotel. you can't pull out an official webpage or show the check-in agent your membership package that explains the benefits when those same benefits are denied. you simply have no ground to stand upon. for example, i've never gotten a welcome gift. i've been told that i was only allowed a 2pm late checkout instead of 4pm. i'm 50/50 for room upgrades. the reason for striving for gold status (or higher) is so that i can get more consistently delivered benefits that come with being a frequent stayer.

the sheraton bellevue on this trip gave me an enhanced room. they put me on a higher floor, which i suppose counts as being enhanced. the stay before that, they had upgraded my room to a sheraton club room, which meant that i had access to the sheraton club lounge with free breakfast and internet. that was a very much appreciated room upgrade that had a quantifiable monetary value.

the last time i was at the four points seattle downtown, they didn't do anything to my room. what i paid for was exactly what i had gotten: a regular room on a lower level. when we arrived today, we indeed got a room upgrade to a pseudo-suite -- all that was missing was a wall to the bedroom:

a living room with a hide-a-bed

a sink, microwave, and a fridge in the cabinet below. had we known we were getting an upgraded room, we would have bought more cold snacks from the QFC next door!

our bed with another tv, just in case your eyes weren't good enough to see the other tv located 12 feet away

the nice, spacious bathroom with two separate entrances

now that's a benefit worth striving for. as the boyfriend says, "this room is bigger than our apartment." and indeed he's right ...