Marriott Is Testing a New Feature That Displays Available Elite Upgrades and Priority in Its Mobile App

Marriott is testing a new feature in its mobile app that will allow elite members to view available upgrades and their priority when checking in. It closely resembles the system airlines have been using for years, and may point to the direction the chain is heading in regarding elite benefits.

Let’s take a look at everything we know and what it means for you.

Marriott’s New In-App Upgrade Waitlist Feature

If you have elite status in the Marriott Bonvoy program (especially at the Platinum level and above), one of the highlight perks is the chance to score complimentary room upgrades when space allows.

Now, as first reported by One Mile at a Time, Marriott is testing a new feature in its mobile app that displays the number of available upgrades and your priority. This mirrors the system airlines have employed for years for seat upgrades on a given flight. The new feature from Marriott is in beta, meaning it’s not yet available to everyone.

As it stands now, this applies only to complimentary, status-based upgrades, not Nightly Upgrade Awards, which take precedence over complimentary upgrades.

If you have the feature in your account, you should be able to see a new graphic in the mobile app (iOS, Android) when checking in that shows the estimated number of upgrades available as well as your position in line to receive one.

The arrival of this new feature raises an important question: is this move to provide elite guests with more useful information ahead of their stays, or does it signal that the hotel chain is following the airlines’ lead by moving toward making complimentary upgrades all but impossible without paying more outright?

Marriott has seen a marked increase in the number of Bonvoy elite members in recent years, so a property could have dozens — and maybe more — of elite members staying on any given night. Because of this, Marriott has an automated system that assigns upgrades based on a combination of factors, including level of elite status, specific stay details, and a proprietary scoring model for each guest.

Another factor to consider is that individual hotels have a tremendous amount of leeway when it comes to determining which rooms count as upgrades, so even though elite members may have access to new information, it doesn’t display which rooms are available for upgrades — you could be in line for a suite or the same room type you booked, just on a higher floor or with a corner view.

Since the feature is still in beta, we don’t yet know what it will look like as time goes on, but we can’t help but wonder if Marriott will use this to attempt to sell elite members on upgrades, just as airlines do with their first class cabins.

Final Thoughts

While it hasn’t been rolled out at scale yet, Marriott’s mobile app has a new feature that shows elite members how many upgrades are available for a given stay, in addition to their position in line to score that upgrade.

With so many guests eligible to receive upgrades at a given property, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Marriott attempt to extract ancillary revenue from elite members by selling upgrades, a play airlines have been using for several years.