@DrTerminus wrote:
I thought maybe you were supposed to then ask for a downgrade, so I’m glad to hear that unless they specifically ask if I want to be upgraded, which seems unlikely, it will be OK to accept.
I believe you are technically supposed to ask for a downgrade, but I decided early on that was ridiculous and potentially the biggest giveaway, ever...so I just never did, and have never gotten any pushback about it.
I would suggest to anyone doing these at the highest tier to have a back-story about where you usually stay and why you stay so many nights as well. Often, the desk agent will bring a hotel manager over to meet you at check-in. I just did my last one for the year yesterday and the manager had a note in my reservation to have the agent call them when I checked in. They upgraded me to a suite well beyond what is even required for the status, and it ended up in a long conversation about where I normally stay.
Since all of the current round of assignments are re-shops, that means the hotels failed the first tine around and will be on the lookout for a shopper in the next month or two. The room was amazing, but they still missed 2 items from the checklist, so it wasn't exactly a slam dunk if they suspected me....