A Wren Says

I decided to book my stay at the Knickerbocker Hotel using the MasterCard site. If you are not aware, if your credit card is part of the Master Card World Elite program, you have access to use their site to book travel and other experiences. The reason I chose to book through the program rather than the hotel site directly is that it comes with additional benefits, some which vary by hotel. For this one, the offer was for a complimentary upgrade when available, daily breakfast, a welcome amenity, and a $100 dining credit.

I was weighing multiple options in the area.  I finally made my decision at about 1 AM. As I proceeded to make the booking, I kept getting an error message. I decided to call the concierge for help, and someone picked up! The person I spoke with was very respectful and helped me through the process. She suggested that the issue might just be that I needed to clear the cookies on my browser. That worked. I hated and loved that the solution was that simple. I thanked her for the pleasant interaction and continued on to book.

The message came through from the Master Card site. I was concerned because I didn’t get a separate confirmation from the hotel. That made me nervous. What if they don’t know?

I can’t remember if I called to confirm, but things worked out fine when we arrived. At check-in, they let us know we had been upgraded from the superior room to the deluxe room. I assume the deluxe room has a larger square footage, but I couldn’t verify that for sure. From pictures, it looks like the deluxe room include a larger work desk area. For no other reason, then that was a useful result of the upgrade.

A couple things to note, we should have received a welcome amenity, but I didn’t notice a one in the room. We did get a daily breakfast through the hotel continental buffet.

That $100 dining credit? Only applied to in-room dining. I felt like a fool. I had been charging food to the room at the downstairs restaurant. Yeah. Not only had I left money unused from the credit, I was on the hook to pay for those meals. Alas. I know for next time.

And there will be a next time. The booking experience was easy, and I got extras I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I’m already thinking about the other hotels I can try out this way. If you have access to this program, definitely consider using it to book your hotel stays.