Tuesday, December 16, 2008

How to score a hotel upgrade, PCSguy style

Let me make one thing clear, the quest for the free upgrade falls entirely on PCSguy. ShallowGal is thrilled just to be out of the house, and would happily vacation in a cardboard box as long as she was with her loved ones. (1)

Quick free travel lesson: When you redeem Marriott points to stay someplace like a Residence Inn, you have a choice of rooms; for enough extra points you can upgrade from a studio to a 2 bedroom suite. When you use them at a Ritz Carlton, you get a standard room, no view. Consider yourself lucky that you don't get the room with the roll in shower (2)

When we made our reservation at the South Beach Ritz, they asked if we were celebrating any special occasion. PCSguy informed them it was our anniversary. Rule #1: It's always your anniversary. Prove it's not. Who travels with their marriage license? Last year on our "anniversary" the Ritz in Naples upgraded us to a suite and sent us chocolate covered strawberries.

This year, however, we messed up:
Check-in agent: Happy Anniversary. How many years?
(Simultaneously)
PCSguy: Four

ShallowGal: Twenty (3)
Rule #2: Get your story straight before check-in.

Other mis-truths that may or may not have been told during our stay; that ShallowGal is a thoracic surgeon, that we met in Spain while SG was on spring break and PCSguy was on a layover returning from the a stint with the Peace Corp in Iceland.

Rule #3: Thoracic surgery is a good fake career, because nobody really knows what it means, and even if they do, it's not like they're going around asking for help with their esophagus. And thoracic surgeons receive way more respect than stay-at-home moms / bloggers. Go figure.

Our small free upgrade to a standard room with a pool view was much appreciated as both PCSguy and ShallowGal succumbed to a nasty cold. And it rained the entire time. (4) Our faux-anniversary was spent in bed watching a Saved by the Bell (the college years) marathon and eating matzoh ball soup delivered from Jerry's.

And enjoying the pool view. Suckers.


1) Did anyone actually buy that? I thought it was convincing.
2) Until this very second, SG didn't realize it meant roll in, like wheelchair accessible. She thought it meant a bunch of rooms so cheap that they had one shower between them, that they rolled from room to room as needed. Live and learn.
3) Correct answer 12 1/2. The couple checking in behind us also claimed it was their twentieth anniversary. Too late losers, they've heard it before.

4) SG wonders who will be the first to use the word Karma in their comment.

7 comments:

country mouse said...

I *totally* know what a thoracic sugeon is! Because I'm in the "medical" field. "Medical" being loosely translated. At best.

Anyway, thoracic surgeons don't work on esophoguses. Esophogi? At least I think they don't. "Medical" school was such a long time ago . . .

Happy 4th/20th anniversary!

Oh--and p.s. Beautiful *loved* the baby outfit you sent! She'll be sending thank you cards as soon as the baby is potty trained . . . or graduates from high school . . .

Marinka said...

Aww..happy anniversary of your lies! Wishing you many more!

I'm Julie said...

The couple that lies together reaps karma together!

(ooh ooh I said karma first!)

Anyway, you got away with your main squeeze, so that's something! Sorry you caught a cold but you deserve a break!

Anonymous said...

Did I ever tell you guys I was a hotel manager before I got in to the dynamic world of printer cartridge sales?

A rainy, sick weekend with ShallowGal beats the hell out of just about anything!

{sue} said...

So Happy Anniversary?! I know someone who is a thoracic surgeon AND a blogger. Go figure.

You don't mention the kids, so I'm hoping that you at least got a sick day without having to take care of anyone. And maybe you even got to eat that soup while it was still warm.

Anonymous said...

Karma schmarma. It was surely the anniversary of something.

Please note that I was the first to use "karma" in a rhyme.

SK

dpaste said...

It sounds like divine justice "karma" calling while you were at the hotel.

See, I'm the first to use "karma" as a pun.