How to negotiate hotel upgrades

Plus, hotels always want to create customer loyalty or gain new business, so working some key angles may get you to the suite. Bringing up your loyalty to the hotel often works in your favor, especially if you’re a member of the loyalty group, McKinnon says. Alternatively, mentioning that you often stay at nearby hotel and are new to this one, gives the hotel incentive to impress you. Finally, if you are traveling on business, it may help to mention your title or company because hotels value higher-paying business travelers who are more likely to come back or spread the word.

Despite even your best efforts to be kind and engaging, sometimes the clerk just doesn’t have the knowledge or authority to grant your requests. “I ask to talk to the general manager or the revenue manager,” says Shirley Tafoya, president of travel Web site Travelzoo. Tafoya is on the road 40% of the year, so she doesn’t like to waste time. She goes directly to the power players. “They need to get those rooms filled,” she says. “If a room goes empty, [the manager] takes a zero.”

An industry insider, Tafoya knows that hotels pay commissions of $30-$40 per room to online travel sites like Expedia and Orbitz. She can sometimes talk the manager down in price, or she will agree to pay the rate but will ask what more can she get in return. Sometimes that means a room with a better view, other times a suite or extra amenities.

“It might just depend on who you get on the phone with,” Tafoya says, who recalls when her sister was planning a 10-day trip to Hawaii and considering three different hotels, all just above her price range. On Tafoya’s suggestion, she called the revenue manager and explained that while she had the other options, she preferred his hotel. He ended up cutting the price in half to gain her business.

At the end of the day, there’s no harm in asking. “I always assume the price you’re being quoted is an opening offer,” says Torkells. “Be open to what they might give you in this crummy economy. Think, What’s going to make this worth it?”