Quote:
Originally Posted by Buff
Congrats on the wedding!
Definitely fold a $20 and put it between your credit card and drivers licence when you're checking in at the front desk. Smile and be friendly and ask if there is any complimentary upgrades for the newly weds. If there isn't any upgrades you'll get the $20 back. However at this time of year, I suspect you have a good chance to get a room upgrade. Especially with a mid-week check in... depends on how long you're staying though.
Even if they can't upgrade you, you'll get some sort of perk or commemoration of your wedding. They may send up complimentary chocolates and/or cheap wine and flowers. My friends were recently there and staying at Mirage. They were there for one of their birthdays and their room keys weren't the typical hotel advertisement of their restaurants or shows, it was merely "Happy Birthday!".
Where are you staying?
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Here's some "stats" on the $20 trick, but honestly I feel like the stats are close enough where it works about the same essentially everywhere.
https://frontdesktip.com
Other things to keep in mind:
- Be aware of who you target as a receptionist. Certain people definitely look like they are more likely to pull strings than others. Just pretend you're waiting on a friend and let a guest behind you move up if you want to avoid a certain receptionist with a seemingly lower chance. If you can't tell, don't worry about it.
- Try not to go when it's a crazy lineup at the front desk. Take a spin over to a nearby casino for a few minutes and return when it's a little less crazy and the receptionist can take time to look up the options.
- Try to target the veteran looking individual without the manager looking over their shoulder. Higher chance of failure (ethics) or you might get less since the manager would want a cut. Targeting the newbie also just seems like a recipe for failure as the newbie might not even know how to upgrade you.
- If the $20 trick fails, be polite and wander off to the room. If you are bold enough, you can consider returning after a shift change, ask for some recommendations, then try the $20 trick again and ask if there's a way to upgrade the room (more difficult). I guess you could complain about the room, but I think it actually causes hassle for the front desk who has to send people to investigate it, so I wouldn't suggest this. Sometimes it's also along the lines that they just can't do anything.
- More than $20 doesn't improve your odds. TBH, I've always used $5-10 and even without an upgrade (sometimes the timing just isn't right with the manager floating around), I tell the receptionist it's a tip at the end. I think Vegas is used to $20 though.
I've tried this in Vegas, SF and Hawaii and had reasonable success each time. Sometimes the trick doesn't seem like it's working, but it's kinda working.
Spoiler!
Vegas, money was returned. "Sorry sir, no upgrades available. Too many conferences." and even though I said it was lost property and the receptionist should find the owner, she refused. Yet... somehow the room seemed like it was better than what I had booked on Expedia. I returned later to ask for "recommendations" and I tried to give her a $5 tip for her fantastic help/recommendations (she was actually awesome) and she again refused. I'm pretty sure she upgraded us, but refused tip/trick every time even with no managers around.
Honolulu (honeymoon), we targeted the surfer bro looking guy who slid the bill out and within a few moments he told us there was a "problem with our room". He also said due to the "problem" he could not keep us in a single room for the duration of our stay and we'd have to be upgraded and would stay in two separate rooms for the duration of our stay. We had an ocean view duration and city view duration. He then asked if we had a vehicle (yes) and said they would significantly discount the parking fee to (X) as part of the apology for the inconvenience as long as we used valet and not to forget to tip them.
SF, the manager was floating around, so the receptionist checked us in. She then handed us a pair of complementary drink tickets and asked us to return in 30 minutes as the "room wasn't ready yet". After walking over our luggage to the luggage storage (literally 2 seconds away from the front desk), I guess the manager left so the receptionist called us back over and said, "There's a problem with your room, so I am going to book you into a new room." a few minutes later, we were upgraded to a higher level/better view and bigger room. I slid her another $10 and she said, "Sorry sir, we don't accept tips here." (She'd obviously taken the first $10) so I replied, "That's not a tip. I found it in the lobby, you should find out who lost it." (so she took it) and I went up to the room plus had complementary wifi and drink tickets to their new restaurant ($15 minimum a cocktail).