Absolutely not a whale.

I only get a free stay at Venetian once per year for 3 nights and only select dates.

in one of my first few trips (2019?) I had a bad night of low-roller poker and VP at Aria and in desperation I asked the host if they could waive the resort fee and she did.

This also has nothing to do with up front discussions.

I could ask a host to waive a $32 margarita, but it won't get me a better view 4 days from now.

Be sure to implement that level of courteousness at the front desk.

late check out , is that 1 pm or you guys get later? seems some hotels already offer noon-1pm late check out sometimes

1pm is standard, but 4pm is definitely available at Cosmo.

this is what I was referencing, it gave me something during my stay, which was resort fee waived for an already comped room

so should or shouldn't I do it at orleans?
im not expecting a ful on upgrade to suite but if what that person said, they don't have multiple diff rooms just the two iirc

what are you looking to get?
what are you trying to avoid?

I suspect the room you originally book will be sufficient.

Nah you nailed it

Good lord what bad advice.

Alright this is what you need to know.

1) I’ve been doing this for 20 years in vegas and most hotels while traveling. 15 or so years ago, this would net amazing results. Slip the twenty (or fifty if you are high rolling) between the cc and license, ask if they have any complimentary upgrades. Small suites would be very common, but occasionally you could hit it big and get some crazy upgrade that wasn’t being used. Now the front desk people have less authority but this can be used for views, late checkout, resort fee waived, early checkout, big bathtub etc. although two summers ago in San Diego this worked in an ocean front room which was about 1500 dollar upgrade a night!

2) this op should help some of your confidence, look at it as a challenge to appear comfortable and relaxed. If your single, talk to someone you find attractive you otherwise wouldn’t, tip a cocktail server bigger than normal for better service. If you valet pull up with a ten or twenty in your hand and ask if they can help you. Crowded restaurant talk to maitre d with a tip.

Just some advice from a dude over the hill and married now.

I find that the $20 dollar trick works with the older front desk workers, the under 30 y/o's not so much.

Ok, long time Vegas regular here, have stayed at most major companies properties (mostly Caesars props, and Boyd). In my last few trips starting from last years WSOP up until now, I have noticed some things, and here are my suggestions.

1. Weekday check-ins always afford you more options whether you intend on tipping for upgrades or not, if you are checking into any fairly busy property on a Thurs-Sat, you are likely wasting $20 unless you are going to increase that to $50+ (I have made friends with some front desk workers who have given some insight), because most of the nice rooms are already taken up or being reserved for last minute high rollers etc.
2. The casinos are almost always oversold when any events/conferences/concerts are in town, meaning that between their site, and the 3rd party sites, the communication is not real time and they have more reservations than rooms. In some cases they do it on purposes expecting cancelled flights etc. The 2 queen rooms are highest demand for weekends due to the group travels, however the single kings can be oversold during the week for the more solo gambler crowd and retired couples as well. If there is an oversell on queens, generally they have to upgrade you or they may ask if your ok, and vice versa. (These options are usually more likely when you don't book weeks ahead of time, and in my opinion this is the situation on the front desk side that most $20 tippers don't see, they are likely giving you a change/upgrade that they had to do anyway. This may not be useful for people who booked weeks or months in advance, but could be useful if you maybe extend your stay while you are there).

If you are going to try the $20 tip to get anything at all upgrade/view/food, the most important thing (that I don't think has been mentioned in this thread but probably in the old thread), is.....
Recognize the experienced worker while you are standing in line, notice who types fast and works quickly, who goes through the proper customer service queues like showing people the direction of the elevators etc. If you see that you are next up and potentially going to someone who has been working slow, and looks confused, or is taking a long time explaining charges etc. let the person behind you go to them. New employees to the hotel industry are not familiar with the computers or the systems to do anything for you, OR they are very afraid of pushing boundaries that they may have just been trained on and will end up calling over a superior to handle something. The experienced worker understands the tipping side, they most def can accept, and at bare minimum they may give you a late check out of 12pm (all casinos have been cracking down on this, either completely refusing such as boyd, or charging such as caesars).

Random things that I think matter but might not:
Looking like you are there for vacation (standing in the line with bunch of luggage, rolling suitcase, duffel, backpack) is detrimental to your success. You don't look like the gambler, you look like one of the convention attendees or festival dudes, who are understood to be terrible tippers across all aspects of the casino.
Use the bell hop, tip them to hold your luggage and potentially bring it up, approach the front desk without all of the luggage and ask the agent can the bell bring your luggage up later etc (of course we already know the answer).
Mention you are ready to get to the tables etc. Both of those things lets the agent know that you are spreading money around and anyone with experience will see this as the kind of customer they want to retain and help other employees potentially benefit.

As an earlier post said, it is more nuanced than handing someone some money nowadays, conversation is key and not mentioning poker helps lol.

Nope, it gave you something after your stay. If you would have tipped up front, then you might have gotten a better room or known that you didn't have resort fees.

Good advice except the last part makes no sense.
The front desk employee cares what you can do for them and what they can get away with. That's it.

Most people even big gamblers check in with bags. It doesn't matter.

you are splitting hairs pretty obnoxiously. I was just commenting on an experience I had getting fees removed, which was relevant to the conversation.

I was replying to the guy staying at Orleans.

wow, people are sensitive *******s here today

But getting things off your bill isn't remotely what this discussion was about.

I normally agree with foatie, but probably have 4-5 Cosmo's front desk's personal number in my phone who are under 30.

And Hell2Heaven's post is not right. Anyone that is working at the front desk will gladly take $20 or $50 multiple times a day. Looking like a tourist or a poker player is irrelevant. It might make a difference to the casino, but not to them.

There is a % of "big" gamblers have the bags off loaded by bell, and sitting waiting for their room to be determined. Not lugging them around. That is a differentiation that friends in the industry have explained to me. The person lugging around a bunch of bags sliding a $20 on the counter, vs the person who strolls up no bags pulls out the roll and asks about potential upgrades is noticeably different to someone on their game and looking for an opportunity for potential tip.

Hotel workers to me: "You lugging these bags lets me know you may have already bypassed the bell because you didn't want to tip."

And I never said that any workers "wouldn't" take the money, I'm saying you may not get anything different than your reservation, for the properties I am familiar with at least.

Or they didn't even bypass it depending on the property or they just wanna get you to their room and not waste their time with 2 separate transactions.

I'm not sure what part of someone has a 20 or 50 out asking for a room upgrade says "this guy doesn't want to tip"

Just seems weird to me.

The actual big gamblers getting picked up in casino limits don't need room upgrades,they already have the high end room.


On the topic of tipping the baggage people im amazed at how many people I see not tip them.

So a person with no bags and tipping is different from a person with bags that is also tipping?

You give them money, if they are nice enough and don't have an upgrade, then they will give you it back.

The person at the front desk has no idea if you have luggage.

Don't worry... I will stop posting when Cosmo changes over to MGM. I guess I won't have to be concerned about tipping!

Phenomenal post! This is the stuff I was hoping to get. Many thanks.

If you tip up front, then it might give you a better room/floor. If not, maybe resort fees or whatever. You can still get a better room with the tip AND get resort fees waived at checkout. That is why I am saying you are getting something after your stay and not during your stay.

You are assuming resort fees will be waived at checkout... they are not.

I honestly don't know what's going on. I wasn't even platinum at this time and we stayed on a 51st floor wraparound and were in the room before 2pm. This was July 4th (obviously).

EDIT: I did pay for the wraparound, but on the 4th..... have fun staying on the 20th floor.