I can get a $20 trick in front of my house.

My bad, I was obviously not taking enough info in.

Next week wife and I have 3 nights at Flamingo and 1 at Golden Nugget. I know that Flamingo is tough to get an upgrade. How is the Nugget? Since I'm only there one night, do you think $20 will get me an upgrade and late checkout?

Trying at T.I. tomorrow and will ask for a tower suite. Far-fetched? Checking in late and close to midnight.

I've been successful 100% of the time at TI but that's a big upgrade. I normally get a corner room with 2 big windows or a nice Strip view when I booked a no view room etc.

Hey it never hurts to ask. Please report back and let us know!!

$20 tip at TI. got me 34th floor, corner room strip view south tower and resort fees waived. Suite wasn't happening given march madness weekend. Always try...but I thought it was great for 4 night stay

Nice! I got the same treatment last Spring Break with my wife. That corner room with a view is sweet.

I got same at TI by asking for a quiet room without $20 last fall but I think it was a slow weekend - rainy and weekend before Thanksgiving.

Got an upgrade at ceasars to a corner suite on the 30th floor with a strip view on Monday by just asking nicely, but I still tipped her $20 anyway.

Checked-in yesterday for a 5-day stay at the Luxor & got upgraded from a 'Pyramid Deluxe' to a 'Tower Suite'. (MLife Gold card, so that may have helped(?)).

How are we doing re: free upgrades at Bally's these days? I nave a near-perfect record there, but I'm wondering if the recent tightening of comps/increase in rates has also brought a reduction in gratis upgrades.

Anyone?

Bueller?

No dice for me Friday 03/28, but they were showing as full on their website that weekend so it wasn't unexpected.

What are the upgrade possibilities at Aria? Going May 4 - 6

I've got 3 midweek nights booked at Bally's later this month and am hoping to bink a nice upgrade upon check in. Any thing special I should know since you seem to run like God at this property.

Is it too much to hope for not only an upgrade, but also for the resort fees to be waived?

I haven't stayed on my TR account since before the RF days, but I'm pretty sure if you're not Plat or better you're payin' 'em. My last trip a local Diamond buddy got me better rates than I could get, so I stayed on his TR...no RF.

In the past however, I'm pretty sure I'm 100% re: tip-for-upgrade. I try to be very personable and make a bit of pleasant small talk. Lots of people are asshats at the desk for all sorts of reasons, so upgrade or not, I just like to give the person a break and let them know early in the conversation that I'm gonna make this 10 of the easiest minutes of their day, and to a man they genuinely appreciate it.

So that said, I just ask nicely "what sort of complimentary upgrades might be available?" I follow it up with "I'm always happy to tip for the great service I get here" and that's that. Once I had the lady jump through ridiculous hoops for me (story below), but the minimum I ever get is the upgrade to the good tower. Of course the good tower is now the lame tower, so I don't know how that will work out.

In general, the $20 "trick" isn't a trick at all. I just like to be nice to people who get a lot of crap at their jobs, and as it happens, the check-in person has it in their power to upgrade for free. There is no need for "the sandwich" or any other sort of subterfuge. The hotel you go to can either accept tips for upgrades, or they can't. So be nice, and be straight-forward.

Ok so my story...a few years back I was checking in alone, but my wife was in-coming in a few days for our anniversary. I told the lady this, and that if there was anything she could do to help me make it nicer for her, I'd sure appreciate it. I had the cheapest room booked.

She monkeyed around for a few minutes and said,"ok, so I can't upgrade you to a suite directly from this booking you have, but here is what I can do. I'll check you into a room that I can upgrade to, then you go have some lunch, and come back and see me in 30 minutes. Then, I will upgrade you from _that_ room into a [I forget the name of it] suite for your stay. I'm sorry (?) for the inconvenience, but that's the only way I can do that."

How awesome is that? I gave her $50.

Oh, I meant to mention that I've probably stayed at Bally's 25 times over the last 6 years or so...no idea if that helps or matters, or if they even see that when I check in.

2 for 2 with $20 trick. PH and Paris, both within last year, both were very nice room upgrades with views

What kind of upgrade did you get at PH? Heading out there in May so I'd love to know the details! Thx

it was one of the Natural Born Killer rooms, larger, with a nice view. it wasn't baller, but it was a nice upgrade from the lowest price online

yeah, Ive been giving a bigger room at PH with a view according to guy at front desk. It had view of 3/4th of the B fountains.

Have a room in Caesars Palace Augustus Tower for midweek. What would be the most reasonable room/suite to ask to be moved up to with the $20 trick?

This was also in the Augustus Tower, so my advice would be to ask for a corner suite.

Any tips for Harrah's? Like, what type room to request with $20 trick?

I checked in at the TI (Treasure Island) on Monday, April 16th at 10:15 pm for a 5 night stay. I offered the 25-ish gentleman $100 if he could upgrade my wife and I from a standard room to a suite (any suite). Unfortunately he was unable to accommodate us. The guy was even on the phone with the "comps" people and sincerely appeared to be doing everything within his power. In the end, we couldn't get a suite unless we paid $80 additional per night.

For a $50 tip however, he did get us into a strip view room on the 20th floor (even though I had requested higher). In addition to the strip view room we received 4 free buffets and 1 bottle of (inexpensive) champagne.

After spending over 30 minutes checking in, I was CONVINCED that tipping the front desk for room upgrades was simply a myth. That was until I was speaking with a couple in Kahunaville who, with simply a smile, got upgraded to a 35th floor suite for FREE. This couple arrived the day after we arrived and was checking out the same day!? Argh! BTW... they had never stayed at TI before.

Would I try tipping the front desk again... yeah I suppose, but I was SURE disappointed last week. I'll chalk this experience up to bad luck. Next time I'll avoid young male front-desk employees like the plague AND, if I don't get exactly what I want, I don't think I'll tip at all.