Ever had the luxury of being upgraded to a better hotel room?!
Well, this luxury is not just for the people with the high elite statuses. And it does not require a credit card or built in perks. The trick is to just ask!
The template below is my travel hack to hotel room upgrades for free. This template and strategy has worked numerous times across all brands of hotels, luxury to budget. My strategy is to normally wait until about 30 days before my stay and search for the main hotel contact or marketing contact with that specific hotel brand. Then, you can look to send the request. Once I find their email, I use the template and send a polite and straightforward email to them asking if they are able to upgrade our room. The worst they can say is no!
Hotel Room Upgrade Template
Subject Line: Special Room/Surprise Request- [LAST NAME]: [RESERVATION NUMBER]
Hello [OR HELLO IN OTHER LANGUAGE]!
My name is [NAME HERE], and I am emailing in regards to our reservation for [DATES OF RESERVATION]. The reservation is under my name, and our reservation code is [CODE]. We are traveling for our [OCCASION] to [CITY/COUNTRY].
I wanted to send a message with how excited we are to make it to [NAME OF HOTEL]. [ADD A PERSONAL TOUCH] (Our example: It is our first time visiting London. We have many exciting activities planned all across your city. My wife used to work at a travel agency and always knew how exclusive the Great Scotland Yard Hotel was in the area.)
We are both [LOYALTY STATUS WITH HOTEL BRAND (if applicable)] as the [HOTEL CHAIN] brand is always one of our preferred places to stay when traveling. We are currently booked in a [HOTEL ROOM TYPE]. If there is availability, would an upgrade to a suite or room on a high floor with a view be possible? Or any kind of surprise? I would love to make this a special surprise for [TRAVEL PARTNER OR YOUR TIME TRAVELING TO CITY/COUNTRY] We have read many positive reviews about [NAME OF HOTEL] and are very excited for our stay.
If I need to reach out to someone else, please send me over the information, and I will follow up. Thank you in advance for everything, and I hope that you are able to do a little special for our [OCCASION].
See you soon!!
Where to find contact info:
**Most hotels (especially international ones) have a generic info@hotelname.com email address on their website you can write to, and they will forward your email to the appropriate department. If you can’t find an email contact, I recommend just calling the hotel and asking for the email address to the reservations department or concierge.
Reach out to me with any questions you may have. The success rate has been high, so let me know of your success stories! I always love celebrating your wins.
