Move Up -- Tie Goes To?

[ggo85]

Apologize in advance is this has been asked and answered . . .

 

Assume two people both make the exact same Move Up bid for the exact same category of cabin -- both moving up only one category from their current cabin.  There is only one upgrade cabin available.  How does X decide who gets it?  Is it who bids first?  Who paid the most for their current cabin?  Who has most loyalty points? 

 

This has to occur occasionally and X has to have some basis for a decision.  As an aside, I realize the "losing" bidder will likely never know they lost, but I'm still curious and didn't see anything in the X FAQs on the program.

[Bo1953]

There is no real 'tie' in this situation, because the MU is not awarded automatically, so if the bids are exactly the same, then it is the time which the bids arrive in X's system... so it is system time which determines who gets it as it would be very, very, very rare for two (2) or more bids to arrive at the same time on the same day for the same sailing. There would have to be a millionth of a second difference, do you think?

 

bon voyage

[ggo85]

Agree they would never come in at the same time, but as you note, it's not awarded automatically. 

 

So, for example, Person A bids $1000 on June 20 and Person B bids $1000 on July 1 -- currently A and B are both in the same cabin category and both bid for the same upgraded cabin category.  They are the two highest bidders.  One cabin opens up on July 10 and X is going to give it to one of them through the MU program.  Are you saying, Person A gets it b/c he/she was first to bid?  Is that X policy?

[Gonzo70]

I doubt anybody on Cruise Critic would know X's policy (if they even have one). All people could do, as b did, is make a guess.

Edited June 19, 2019 by Gonzo70

[ggo85]

21 minutes ago, Gonzo70 said:

I doubt anybody on Cruise Critic would know X's policy (if they even have one). All people could do, as b did, is make a guess. 

Was just wondering if X had stated their policy anywhere -- agree that, if they haven't, we are all just guessing. 

 

My personal opinion is that they should state the policy -- for example, if it's first to bid, that might encourage folks to bid earlier.  But then again, not having a policy or not providing it allows X to do whatever they please.

[bEwAbG]

The terms & conditions do not state how they make a determination as far as I see.  In fact, it says "Celebrity reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to determine if an Offer is accepted or not, regardless of stateroom availability."

 

My guess is that they may look first & foremost at the base rate and determine who will be giving them more cash overall.  Loyalty may come into play, too: either rewarding loyalty or perhaps moving a new customer from an inside to a balcony in the hopes that they'll book a balcony from now on, for example.  

[Bo1953]

1 hour ago, ggo85 said:

Agree they would never come in at the same time, but as you note, it's not awarded automatically. 

 

So, for example, Person A bids $1000 on June 20 and Person B bids $1000 on July 1 -- currently A and B are both in the same cabin category and both bid for the same upgraded cabin category.  They are the two highest bidders.  One cabin opens up on July 10 and X is going to give it to one of them through the MU program.  Are you saying, Person A gets it b/c he/she was first to bid?  Is that X policy?

Just a guess, as that, IMO is the most equitable way of doing it...

 

Now you are asking specifically about policy, I have no idea, nor have I ever read their policy on this type of speculation.

 

bon voyage

[ggo85]

So as I see it, Move Up is really just the upgrade fairy reinvented.  X can pick whomever they want, regardless of the bid.  So even if you are the highest bidder, i

24 minutes ago, bEwAbG said:

The terms & conditions do not state how they make a determination as far as I see.  In fact, it says "Celebrity reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to determine if an Offer is accepted or not, regardless of stateroom availability."

 

My guess is that they may look first & foremost at the base rate and determine who will be giving them more cash overall.  Loyalty may come into play, too: either rewarding loyalty or perhaps moving a new customer from an inside to a balcony in the hopes that they'll book a balcony from now on, for example.  

 

Which really means that X need not even pick the highest bidder -- they can pick anyone they want who makes any bid or, in theory, even someone who didn't bid at all if they don't like the bids they receive.

 

Thus, MU is nothing more than the upgrade fairy, reinvented -- only now we get to pay for the "privilege," but there's no alignment of payment and reward. 

 

They are even more clever than I gave them credit for.  Seriously. 

[bEwAbG]

Yes...quite clear it's a way for them to increase yield.  I don't think they came up with the idea (airlines have been using it for years), but it was smart of them to adopt it

[bkbarrym]

5 minutes ago, ggo85 said:

So as I see it, Move Up is really just the upgrade fairy reinvented.  X can pick whomever they want, regardless of the bid.  So even if you are the highest bidder, i

 

Which really means that X need not even pick the highest bidder -- they can pick anyone they want who makes any bid or, in theory, even someone who didn't bid at all if they don't like the bids they receive.

 

Thus, MU is nothing more than the upgrade fairy, reinvented -- only now we get to pay for the "privilege," but there's no alignment of payment and reward. 

 

They are even more clever than I gave them credit for.  Seriously. 

Do you know this for a fact and have examples of this? My guess is that it is not as arbitrary as you think. I think that there is some sort of algorithm in play here in order to maintain integrity of the program. At least I hope so.

[BettyPC]

I bid $30 more for my move up bid - I really wanted to get the upgrade & I believe bidding up a bit worked.  Have no idea about policies etc.

[jelayne]

Bid $30 more than minimum?  Did your bid get accepted?

[bEwAbG]

47 minutes ago, bkbarrym said:

Do you know this for a fact and have examples of this? My guess is that it is not as arbitrary as you think. I think that there is some sort of algorithm in play here in order to maintain integrity of the program. At least I hope so.

 

Why?  Corporations are not typically that altruistic.  To the extent that there are "rules," it would most likely be built into the programming of the underlying software.  This is a third party that's handling the program, and I'm almost certain that most of the decision-making is automated to the extent that if they're not relying solely on the software to make decisions, the humans who do make them are working off a list generated to produce the maximum yield with very little effort needed on the part of the humans to finalize the upgrade.  Perhaps it is programmed to look at submission date when two offers are otherwise exactly the same, but I doubt we'd ever really know unless someone with direct knowledge provided that information.

[hvbaskey]

If anyone is interested in results; visit the new sticky thread for the MoveUp.  Compiling data (successes, failures, even those who decided not to bid, or to withdraw).

 

As the data entry grows - we may (or may not!) see trends.

[NantahalaCruiser]

2 hours ago, bkbarrym said:

Do you know this for a fact and have examples of this? My guess is that it is not as arbitrary as you think. I think that there is some sort of algorithm in play here in order to maintain integrity of the program. At least I hope so.

My assumption would be that the algorithm would be designed to maximize profit rather than whatever your definition of integrity maybe. 

[bkbarrym]

30 minutes ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

My assumption would be that the algorithm would be designed to maximize profit rather than whatever your definition of integrity maybe. 

Agree. My point was that they likely work to formula instead of awarding arbitrarily. I'm sure the goal is to maximize return.

Edited June 19, 2019 by bkbarrym

[miched]

What would a tie be?    The minimum amount to move up depends on the category you are moving from.  

 

if I am in a suite and my min bid to move up to a CS could  be $1000 and the min bid for to move up from a veranda could be $2500 to move into a CS.   They  both submit at the same time. Who would get it?   Plus now my cabin is vacant for a potential move up adding more revenue thru the chain.    

 

Example with the same situation someone in AQ min bid for a suit  might be w$1000. And someone bid for  a AQ move up is $750, my bid for CS is still a $1000 and the person in the veranda is still $2500.    If I got the CS for $1000 then someone from AQ would get my cabin for $1000 and  someone  would get the AQ for $750.   That equals $2750 total in move ups.  

 

What scenario would they offer it to?  

 

Don’t worry about it.  If you look at the overall picture the move ups aren’t really what they appear to be.  

 

Book the category you are comfortable with and don’t spend more than you wanted to because it is a “bargain” 

 

happy cruising 🌅🚢🇺🇸🌅

[LovetheSea]

I think if they do not need your cabin, you would not be "moved up". If there are not people wanting to book your cat of cabin and they don't have a shortage of those cabins, they wont need to move you. The cabin right next to the one we booked, has shown available for weeks now. So unless things change. They probably wont except our bid. 

[JFontaine]

I agree that it’s impossible for “us” to know how they are running this, but in an attempt to avoid what appears to be a tie, I don’t bid with a zero or five as the last number. 

[helen haywood]

I have been upgraded twice in the past, once from a GTY balcony on Carnival to a suite and once on HAL from a balcony to a Concierge balcony.  Both times it was the first time I’d ever sailed that line.  That made me think the occasional upgrade back in the day was given to new cruisers instead of loyal customers.  I wonder if the algorithm for the upgrade bids uses that philosophy.