So your strategy is convincing the front desk clerk that you're crazy and possibly dangerous? I can see how that might work.

.

Hahaha, you'll get to see me in action as you sit back laughing.

Does what work? Oh, you mean the $20 trick?
Are you paying any attention? Did you read the thread?

cliffs notes:
Does this work at the excaliber?
yes, sometimes. other times, no.

What in my explanation would make you or the front desk clerk think i'm crazy and dangerous?

Like Eco said,be upfront, be a man, tell them what you want. I have about a 95% success rate. The only time that I get turned down is when they actually don't have a better room that they can give me or if management is around and they are not allowed to do it.

I checked 2+2er Pablo Gutierrez in to PH back in june, I told the check in guy basically what I posted. He said they weren't allowed to accept tips to give out free upgrades. I asked him or he told me he could accept a tip for great service though. He gave me an upgraded strip view room and he got the $20.

Nothing I said is violent, threatening or crazy. You sound like my GF, sometimes she gets embarrassed cause i'm so upfront with people but I have never heard her complain when were chillin in a 1600sf comped Palazzo suite with a jacuzzi tub, formal dining room, living room and strip view or when I get her interest rate on her CC dropped down to 0% for 12 months.

It was the combination of the all-caps and the HAHAHAHA! at the end that gave me a picture of the pitch being said very loudly, very quickly and without blinking (except for perhaps a brief twitch).

As for the secretly-slip-them-the-$20 procedure, I'd imagine that the success rate might not be that much better than asking without it or for paying up afterwards. Of course, what the person (and I've done it) is partially paying for is a brief feeling of being a smooth insider and possibly a story afterwards to tell friends. Not a bad package deal for $20.

The all caps part was because it is the most important part, I don't know how to bold something on here.

like this

oh wait

LOL at people saying you don't need to give $20 and can just ask nicely. Yeah you probably can, but jeez, throw these guys a bone. I don't want this to turn into a tipping ettiquette thread, but I mean come on. I could open a door to a cab by myself, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the guy doing it for me and gladly give him a buck or two.

Give me $20 and I'll get you the best room Binions has to offer. guaranteed.

KingBBinLV, u seem to be a genius! great posts so far.

staying at mgm at the end of this month, anybody got some kind of experience there?

Is Binions even open anymore

Thanks but i'm no genious, just good with words. I have no experience trying at MGM. I checked my friend in at Mirage today and the girl said there were no upgrades available. She wasn't budging at all.

Last weekend at Paris the lady looked really pissed off when I tried the upgrade. She said she wasn't risking her job to upgrade me. Me and my gf both came to the conclusion that she was allergic to money and was perfectly happy making $8 an hour. I think that bitch was just having a bad day cause i've gotten upgraded at Paris before without even offering a tip.

Checked in at Flamingo on Friday and the guy upgraded to a nice remodeled room with an awesome strip view, no tip offered and no tip needed. He just did it after I inquired about what room they had me in. I think our room was in Marie's mouth. (They have a picture of Donny and Marie covering the front of the hotel facing the strip).

Reading here and reading on the $20 trip site, TI has a high percentage. I'm stoked to try it in November

Worked at Luxor for me.


At Harrah's I didn't even need to tip and got upgraded cause the tower we were originally in was ****.

Epic fail at Monte Carlo. Not only didn't get an upgrade but got a room on the 3rd floor that had a view of a brick wall. So pissed.

Tried $20 trick at ballys with success, rio with success twice, and harrahs with success ... i think. I am not really sure if any of my upgrades I could have gotten if w/o the $20 if I just asked nice for an upgrade. Nothing wow'ed me thus far. First time I tried this at the rio the front desk girl said "im so sorry all of our 1600 sq ft suites are filled"... tried asking for this again 2nd time no luck though she did call upper mgt to ask. $20-$50 for a upgrade to a 1600 sq ft room would be sick. Will try again next time

This thread should almost be locked until LV rates go back to equilibrium / Bellagio has some $79/ 99 mid-week rates going on their promo calendar. Absurd prices to begin!

did it at caesars last saturday, checked in at 1:30 in the afternoon, the lobby was dead. me and my friend with with our girlfriends, we looked for which check-in person looked cool enough and did the trick with him, since we had 2 rooms and were staying 5 nights, we gave him a 50. He typed on his computer for about 5 mins before we knew if we had gotten an upgrade but we were pretty sure it worked. Went from classic room in old tower to nice room on the 25th floor of the Palace tower, elevator took you right to the pool, bathroom had 2 sinks, 2 person jacuzzi tub and a nice view of the strip.

Talked to a kid at blackjack one of the days there and the subject came up, he said he didnt even know about the trick and he paid 50 dollars extra per night at check-in to upgrade to the same room I had.

Noticed that also, Ill be at TI with the wife 11/23-26. Gonna try and get upgraded to a suite, I gotta great smile

Question;

A friend of mine used to be a host at Hard Rock Las Vegas so she would book me through the VIP system. I usually paid the discounted rate, but I was never really comped much besides meals because I mainly play poker, not table games.

She has since left, and I was given a new host even though I'm not a big player. I booked my room through the Twitter Tuesday deal but I still show up in the VIP system for when I book rooms.

If I go to the VIP check-in and try the $20, does anyone think it will work?

Cliff Notes : I check-in at the VIP check-in, but I'm not a VIP. Will $20 trick work at non-standard check-in?

i checked in at TI yesterday and got shot down. The girl didn't even look at the money! Maybe I messed it up. I put the money+CC sandwich on the desk and asked "Do you have any free upgrades available?" She looked at the computer and said "Well you already have an upgrade because you're only paying half price for your room...." She offered a room "But it will cost you an additional $50/night" bahhh

I usually ask if there are any complimentary upgardes available and see how they respond. If I encounter the slightest resistance, I will then say something to the affect of "I am not afraid to tip if you aren't afraid to upgrade". By not showing the money, you stand to lose nothing and you have peaked their curiosity as to how much you are willing to give them. I generally have good luck with this approach. I then tip appropriately based on the level of upgrade and the number of nights.

Lol, I did it on Thursday at TI with 2 rooms and got them both upgraded to "31st" floor (really the 14th or 15th) with pirate ship/strip view. 4 nights. Holiday weekend... only $20 for the upgrade.

Oh, and I raped them with a Priceline rate even before I walked in the hotel.

...But they raped me back with the resort fee I'm only staying at Harrahs properties until everyone has resort fees or nobody does.

free tends not to be the word you want to use...and a little bit of shmoozing (or flirting in some cases) never hurts either. Just avoid the "I basically want something for nothing" approach.