How to score the best hotel room

There was a great article in the New York Times over the weekend about how to score the best room possible for your next hotel stay. Quite honestly, it was a concept that I haven't thought much about personally, but I am going to try some of these tricks during my next stay...

Some tips:

• Ask the check-in staff for a preferred room. If you state your expectations upfront, surprisingly, they are often met.
  
• Consider asking the check-in staff to let you view a few rooms before you make your final selection. Oftentimes rooms on several floors - and with several views and noise levels - can be reserved for the same price. (Also, if the check-in staff doesn't want to be bothered by accommodating this request - and if the hotel has availability - sometimes you can score a free room upgrade just by asking to do this...)
• Want to increase your odds? Consider offering a $20-$40 tip. It works. If you feel uncomfortable tipping, find out how to do it more effectively. Tipping really is a required skill for every savvy world traveler.
• Women are pickier. I guess that's true about a lot of things, but when it comes to room selection women are more likely to ask for a better room than the dudes. Dudes just want a minibar...
  
• Visit TripKick - like one of my favorite sites for choosing the best seat on an airplane, SeatGuru, TripKick aims to provide the same guidance for hotels. For the hotels they list - and yes, the pickings are slim today, but they are growing as fast as they can - TripKick will tell you want hotel rooms to seek out and what hotel rooms to avoid.

Finally, I will put in my two cents for my favorite hotel chain, Starwood. I'm a low level member in their loyalty program and even carry their AMEX card. This means that I'll get upgraded to their nicer Club Floors if a room is available during my stay. For my 2+ week visit to Kuwait City where I stayed at Starwood's Le Meridien, it was absolutely fab. So, I stay loyal to Starwood properties as they treat me well on room selection. If you are loyal to any hotel chain, I suspect you get the same treatment.

But I guess even among that preferred status, I could still spend a little more time choosing a room with the best view. Good to know!

Heads Up - You're giving me that room? No way! [New York Times]
TripKick [Official Site]
TripKick's Insider Tips [Official Site]
International tipping etiquette [BBC]