Travel

How to Maximize Your Odds for a Hotel Upgrade

Here are seven tips that actually work. 

Aman New York is among the city’s most expensive lodgings.

Source: Aman

In cities including London and New York, it’s become normal for new hotels to charge starting rates exceeding $1,000 per night—with suites often going for at least twice as much. This makes a free hotel upgrade one of today’s most valuable and coveted travel perks.

While you can do certain things to maximize your odds of getting upgraded, hanging your hopes on a free pass to the penthouse suite will almost always prove fruitless—unless you’re a high roller on the casino floor at a Las Vegas hotspot. At hotels with few suites, an upgrade might mean a better view or a room on a higher floor. In others, bumping room categories could range from gaining a few square feet to acquiring additional bedrooms.