Securing a free or heavily discounted hotel upgrade is everyone’s wish. But not many of us are frequent travellers who have clocked higher tier loyalty programme status at hotel chains to get automatic upgrades which are often dependent on availability at the time of checking in.

There are an estimated 187,000 hotels in the world, of which there are 41,218 in Asia Pacific. Global hotel occupancy is around 67%, while that of premium rooms and suites are generally lower, according to an article by Hotel News Now. Some suites have occupancy rates of less than 25%.

Now there is an option to upgrade to premium rooms and suites at a fraction of its original cost with a new online system UPGRADUS. Upgradus is a free online service that connect hotel stayers with any hotel in the world to upgrade at a heavily discounted rate. This system is almost similar to airline upgrade systems accept that the airline systems require to bid a price for your upgrade and the upgrade usually goes to the higher bids.

This system helps hotels upsell inventory and make ancillary income on rooms that will otherwise remain empty while offering guests who are Upgradus members value for money upgrades and extra services.

In just four basic steps you could be on your way to a bigger and more luxurious stay. Log on to Upgradus and enter your bookings. After that, Upgradus contacts the hotel and lets them know that you are interested, and the hotel can offer a heavily discounted upgrade if there are empty rooms available. Once you get the upgrade offer, you can claim it if you are agreeable to the price. But be quick with accepting the upgrade Offer as upgrades may be in limited supply. Pay at the hotel as normal if you accept the upgrade so the process remains the same.

Paid upgrades are not common at most hotels today because communication with guests between booking and check-in is minimal, hotels want to process guests quickly and efficiently at check-in and hotels are concerned that it could tarnish a stay by creating a sales pitch.