How does VIP upgrade work?

[Danlop88]

If someone is a VIP founder and with in 60 days of the booking, how would the upgrade work?

Let’s say for example the available is a 1 , 2 and 3 bedroom within 60 days.

If the founder went to book, would they be able to get the 3 bedroom at the time of booking while only paying for a discounted 60% of the 1 bedroom?

 

[PhilD41]

Close...you get one step up, so if they went to book the 1Br they would be offered the 2Br for the same price. It is also dependant on room type. For example, if there was a 1Br suite (not deluxe) and a 2Br suite and deluxe, the upgrade would provide the 2Br suite as the upgrade. All that said, if the next unit size is not available, it moves to what is available. So, if there was a 1Br suite and a 3Br presidential, VIP could booked the 1Br suite and receive the 3Br presidential as the upgrade. Does that help?

 

[tschwa2]

If a 1, 2 and 3 bedroom were available at 60 days the the vip founder would get a 2 br at 60% of the 1 BR. If a 1 and 3 br were available but not a 2 BR then it would be 1 to a 3 at 60% of a 1 BR. If only a 3 BR were available it would be 60% of the 3 BR. It is an upgrade to the next available size. If the founder wanted a 3 BR and 1, 2 and 3 were available, he could book the 2 BR at 60% off and take the upgrade to the 3 BR.

 

[Danlop88]

Close...you get one step up, so if they went to book the 1Br they would be offered the 2Br for the same price. It is also dependant on room type. For example, if there was a 1Br suite (not deluxe) and a 2Br suite and deluxe, the upgrade would provide the 2Br suite as the upgrade. All that said, if the next unit size is not available, it moves to what is available. So, if there was a 1Br suite and a 3Br presidential, VIP could booked the 1Br suite and receive the 3Br presidential as the upgrade. Does that help?

Yes this help thanks !

 

[HitchHiker71]

Apart from the examples given above - I'd also add that some resorts offer category upgrades in addition to room size upgrades - so for example at certain resorts - they differentiate between ocean front/view units vs non-ocean front/view units - or lower floor vs upper floor units - and sometimes you can upgrade to a different category as opposed to a bigger size. The higher floor units and/or the better view units sometimes require more points to reserve - so in these cases if you don't need a larger room, you could choose a one bedroom suite lower floor street view unit and then choose a one bedroom suite on a higher floor and/or with a better view. Not all resorts break down their room types in this manner though. Off the top of my head, Panama City Beach offers lower vs higher floor units, and Ocean Boulevard has both lower/higher floor units and different unit view categories. So for example, here's a screenshot of me reserving a one bedroom deluxe lower level unit at PCB - and I'm being offered a category upgrade to a one bedroom deluxe upper level unit as a free room upgrade. Currently there are no larger rooms available in my selected date range, so I have an opt-in selection I can choose if I want to receive a larger suite if one becomes available before my reservation start date. It only saves me about 11k points, but every little bit helps.

It's atypical to find room upgrades that skip from one to three bedrooms for example, but it does happen on occasion and those of us who are VIP owners take a certain amount of pride/joy in finding these types of upgrades. Over the years I've found several of these at National Harbor for example, especially with the accessible units, jumping from a one to a three bedroom or from a two to a four bedroom unit. One time I actually found a one bedroom suite to a four bedroom PR unit over a long weekend - which was a great use of points!

 

[Danlop88]

Nice Find for National Harbor, was just there 3 weeks ago!

So for you Panama City beach example, would you have the choice of the 1 BR Deluxe upgrade and a 2 BR(if it was available). OR is just one level up which would be the 1 BR deluxe.

View attachment 109676

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[Floridaman76]

You typically won't upgrade from 1 to 3 BR if a 2BR unit is also available. But I have upgraded from suite/studio or 1BR units to 3BR units at Ocean Walk, Ocean Blvd, Mountain Vista, Bonnet Creek and Governors Green and from 1BR to 4BR Presidential at Clearwater. So it definitely is possible.

It's all about what kind of units are available WHEN you are upgrading. In most cases, the likelihood of there being a 3BR unit available but NOT a 2BR unit available is pretty low, so a lot of this is about timing. I frequently check Ocean Walk and these upgrades are possible a lot more than you might think they would be, but usually last minute and sometimes not full weeks. A lot of the ones at Ocean Walk tend to be Sunday check in and Friday check out. But I live an hour and a half away, so it's easy to drive over for a quick getaway.

You will also find sometimes upgrading into a LockOff unit can be problematic because one half of the LO might not actually be available

 

[HitchHiker71]

So for you Panama City beach example, would you have the choice of the 1 BR Deluxe upgrade and a 2 BR(if it was available). OR is just one level up which would be the 1 BR deluxe.

Both would appear as options - it's simply the larger room option wasn't available in my example above, so the "Opt-in for future upgrades" appears as an option instead.

 

[Floridaman76]

So for you Panama City beach example, would you have the choice of the 1 BR Deluxe upgrade and a 2 BR(if it was available). OR is just one level up which would be the 1 BR deluxe.

Panama City Beach is one of a handful of resorts that does "upper level" and "lower level". It also has 1BR and 2BR Deluxe and "standard" units, which further complicates things.

So if you booked a 1BR lower level and a 2BR or 2BR Deluxe lower level and 2BR Deluxe Upper level was available, you would upgrade into a 2BR Standard lower level.

If in addition to that a 1BR or 1BR Deluxe upper level was also available, it would give you a choice to upgrade to "better view" to a 1BR Deluxe Upper level, or "bigger room" in which case you would likely get the 2BR LL.

It's rare but I have seen instances that the "bigger room" option presents more than one room type option, and you have the ability to choose between suites. At Ocean Blvd I was once given the choice to choose between a 2BR Deluxe Upper Level Ocean View in tower 2 or a 3 Bedroom Deluxe in tower 3.

Upgrades seem to sometimes be more complicated than they should be. Flexibility in your travelling schedule and your willingness to travel out of season will give you the ability to get upgrades more often than not. At least that's been my experience.

The resorts with a ton of different room types, like Ocean Blvd are some of the most difficult to predict, but you can also get absolute value gems. I upgraded in January from a 1BR Deluxe Lower Level in tower 2 which is the cheapest room type in the whole facility, to a 2BR Deluxe Ocean FRONT Upper Level in tower 2, which is one of the more costly units. Combining that with the 50% off sale Wyndham was running in December, I got 8 nights in that unit for 22,000 points, which is insane.

 

[Danlop88]

Panama City Beach is one of a handful of resorts that does "upper level" and "lower level". It also has 1BR and 2BR Deluxe and "standard" units, which further complicates things.

So if you booked a 1BR lower level and a 2BR or 2BR Deluxe lower level and 2BR Deluxe Upper level was available, you would upgrade into a 2BR Standard lower level.

If in addition to that a 1BR or 1BR Deluxe upper level was also available, it would give you a choice to upgrade to "better view" to a 1BR Deluxe Upper level, or "bigger room" in which case you would likely get the 2BR LL.

It's rare but I have seen instances that the "bigger room" option presents more than one room type option, and you have the ability to choose between suites. At Ocean Blvd I was once given the choice to choose between a 2BR Deluxe Upper Level Ocean View in tower 2 or a 3 Bedroom Deluxe in tower 3.

Upgrades seem to sometimes be more complicated than they should be. Flexibility in your travelling schedule and your willingness to travel out of season will give you the ability to get upgrades more often than not. At least that's been my experience.

The resorts with a ton of different room types, like Ocean Blvd are some of the most difficult to predict, but you can also get absolute value gems. I upgraded in January from a 1BR Deluxe Lower Level in tower 2 which is the cheapest room type in the whole facility, to a 2BR Deluxe Ocean FRONT Upper Level in tower 2, which is one of the more costly units. Combining that with the 50% off sale Wyndham was running in December, I got 8 nights in that unit for 22,000 points, which is insane.

Say at worst your cost is 10/1000, that’s 220 dollars for a whole week!

 

[chapjim]

So for you Panama City beach example, would you have the choice of the 1 BR Deluxe upgrade and a 2 BR(if it was available). OR is just one level up which would be the 1 BR deluxe.

Generally speaking, its one level up although some places complicate things with views and location as @HitchHiker71 notes above.

Here's an example of what a Presidential Reserve owner can do now and then. Panama City Beach -- I book a Studio Upper or Lower Level several months before check-in and request an upgrade to a Presidential unit. The "one level up" in this case is a 2BR Presidential. I did that dozens of times back when I was renting Wyndham reservations.

We were at PCB for two weeks starting March 8, 2025. For Week 1, I booked a Studio Upper Level for 154,000 points discounted to 61,600 and upgraded to a 3BR Presidential. For Week 2, I booked a Studio Lower Level for 126,000 points discounted to 50,400 and upgraded to a 2BR Presidential. We could have had both weeks in the 2 BR Presidential but we wanted to see how the 3BR Presidential units were and didn't mind the move. Initially, I had booked a Studio LL for both weeks back in July 2024. That one was canceled and the above reservations were made on January 15 and 16, 2025, just inside the upgrade/discount window.

Stuff like this mostly works a bit off-season although the two weeks above are in Prime season. Also, PCB also has Deluxe Presidential units, the difference being the Deluxe units have a wider balcony. The non-Deluxe units have a bay window in the Master BR, which takes up half the balcony. We like the non-Deluxe units. My wife sets her laptop up on a little table in the bay window where she can do her things and keep track of what's going on outside. She's not a balcony person.