"I work for the front desk, at a Marriott, & have for the last 8 years .... So when it comes to room upgrades; it goes based on AVAILABILITY... sometimes no matter the tier, if we have it available - I will upgrade the guest. Now of course, higher tiered members get dibs on the upgrades first but after we go through the higher tiered members, Ambassador, Titanium, Platinum - then we go through the other ones. I cannot express this enough : BEING NICE & POLITE AT THE DESK GOES A LONG WA"
— [deleted]
"I occasionally try to get the corporate rate for a company I'm visiting in the area (for sales/consulting). Only once has a front desk clerk asked me to prove my eligibility, and she was satisfied by me giving the name and telephone number of the person I was visiting."
— FlyerTalk_User