status whore

One of the undercurrent's of last year's excellent "Up In The Air" was the protagonist's desire to hit a certain frequent flyer mile level. He and his lady friend also compare their status levels with various airlines, hotels and car rental companies, and compare perks and benefits. This may not mean much to you unless you travel a lot, but it certainly means a lot to me now that I spend a lot of time on the road. I've worked up to gold status on Delta, and will probably cross the platinum threshold within a trip or two. I've also attained gold status with two different hotel chains.

Again, this may not mean a lot to you if you travel, but if you've experienced what it means to have a high status with an airline/hotel/car rental company, then you know all too well what it means to get better seats, better rooms, faster check-in, free food and other perks...and you probably giggle to yourself as you watch the statusless chumps around you that have to deal with the pain and suffering of perk-free travel.

I'm in London now, and checked into my usual hotel on Tuesday afternoon. I wasn't too pleased when I found out that my "executive level" room wasn't available, as it's supposed to be guaranteed with my gold status. Not only that, but not getting the room meant that I couldn't access the executive lounge, as the keycards are tied. As compensation, the hotel offering me coupons for a free drink at the bar every night of my stay. Since I will only drink lemonade or bottled water, the total value of the tickets to me is like $10. Lame, but better than nothing.

I was pretty excited when I found out yesterday morning that I would be moved to an executive level room. I happily packed my bag and left it with the concierge so that I could check into my new room at the end of the day. That evening, I was pretty bummed when I discovered that this supposed "executive" room was no different in size or layout than the room I had vacated. Not only that, but they hadn't moved the fan and the small refrigerator that I had had in the previous room to my new room, as per my request. The only edge that I would give this room is that its air conditioning works better. I guess that makes up for the other misses.

I had been told that the executive lounge has really good snacks, so I decided to hit it after work this evening. I must have arrived too late, however, as there were no snacks to be found. There were free drinks, but most of them were alcoholic, so there wasn't much for me. Another disappointment.

I suppose I should be happy that I have access to such perks and freebies, but that's a thing of the past. I've now spent more than 20 days in this hotel in the last couple of months, so I demand better. At least I know for sure that I'll get free appetizers and a big room in my next hotel. Istanbul is only nine days away...