The $20 Trick thread

i will let you know if it works at harrahs and will update after i check in next friday

 

The hotel

Any idea what the 20 buck trick would accomplish at the THE HOTEL? Would they upgrade to a V/H suite or just give you a better view of the strip/higher floor?

thanks

 

Does this trick usually work for the first time vegas visitor? As in the person with no rewards points, or a new member to the rewards program? Considering trying this at the IP in Sept, ( I know, IP upgrade probably isnt much of an upgrade) I am beginning to think I might get a migraine while there and that LUV TUB might be exactly what I need to soak the headache away. :evillaugh

 

Shelbymae, yes it should work fine for a first time visitor.

This has nothing to do with player's club status or anything like that. It is strictly about the front desk clerk, who generally has access to upgrade your room for free.

So if there are upgraded rooms likely to sit vacant for your stay, the trick is likely to work.

 

Anyone have any luck at the mandarin oriental/have heard anything about the MO in regards to this trick?

 

Maybe this thread should be required reading for newbies! LOL, imagine how long it would take for someone to start with post #1 to get here! Just a crazy thought!

Jimbo338

 

i stayed at harrahs this past weekend had a classic room booked and went to check in at 3pm on friday went up to the lady got kinda nervous cuz she looked mean and i was sooo wrong such a nice lady but did the 20 dollar trick asked if there was any complementary upgrades she said we are all sold out let me check guess there was a convention and something else going on so io chatted with her a bit told her we were there for my bday and our 3 year anniv talked about her kids and what not and then she tells me ok i have a luxury room on the 19th floor with a strip view mardi gras tower thats the best i can do so i said hey thanks alot i appreciate it and she even gave me back the 20 and said just keep it and have a couple drinks on me lol such a nice lady so that i chalked up as my first win in vegas

 

V Suite, yes, but we prefer THESuite after having stayed in both, H Suite no way in Hades for a 20 and yes I did give it a try once. :evillaugh

 

Hi all, first time poster here!

Background: I'm going to Las Vegas day after tomorrow with a group (my son's basketball team is playing in a tournament). We got cheap rooms ($40 a night) at Bally's because our coach's mom is a High Roller. The rooms are in the North Tower and my family has reserved two rooms. We would like our rooms to be connecting and to be near the other 10 families.

Question: If I try the $20 trick, do you think it would work for both rooms? What should I ask for? It doesn't look like Bally's has suites other than the junior suite which is basically just a room with a jacuzzi in it. Is it likely that we would be upgraded and then they would upgrade all (or some of the other) families when they check in because they requested to be near us? I guess what I'm wondering is that my son wants to be near his friends, and if we ask for an upgrade, would that take us far away from where his friends would be? Or are we likely to be far away from his friends anyway since it's a huge hotel? And we will probably go to the pool -- is it worth it to ask for easy access to the pool?

All recommendations are welcome! Thanks in advance!
JULIE

 

They should be able to put you in connecting rooms, or at least adjacent rooms without any problem. Other than that, you are already in the 'nicer' tower. Normally upgrade is from South to North tower. I am slightly doubting that you would receive a suite in the North Tower (sometimes they do offer those in South) - and remember some suites may also only be set up for one bed. So you may be better keeping regular rooms with 2 beds for a family situation. If they did offer any type of suite upgrade on one room, at least you would probably have a living room type area for gathering.

Did the high roller arrange so that all rooms are near each other? If so, then you could be moving yourself away from the group with any special requests other than adjoining or adjacent. If she didn't & you are one of the first to check in, you might be able to get them to at least try to keep the families on the same floor, etc.

You may want to see what type of view room you could get. The best fountain & strip views are from the south tower, but those are the older dated rooms. But there are some rooms in the north tower that face at least partially towards the fountains. (Mine faced Flamingo Rd & was directly across from Stage Door so it really had no view other than the Flamingo).

 

I will hopefully be getting married in Vegas by the end of the year and I'm wondering if the $20 trick will work for newlyweds? Is there one place better than others?

 

Sure, it's always good to have a story I find it works best at the hotels that mainly have larger rooms. Like, Vdara and Trump for example, they have probably more than half the rooms are 1 bedroom suites, so when you get the cheap rate for the studio on like Priceline, it's pretty easy for them to upgrade. Since they have so many. Most of the other large casino hotels the upgrades seem to be to higher floors, or view rooms. Mandalay Bay, you could get upgraded to a suite at THEhotel.

Ultimately, if they can upgrade you, they will. if it's a no it's either they don't have the rooms, or their hands are tied, probably with their boss or something.

 

Bally's help requesst

• Booked a South Tower room @ $33 per night/5 nights
• Today I got an email to upgrade to North Tower for $10 per night. Booked it.
• What might the $20 trick get me at check in, if anything? Is it worth trying?
  
  Thanks!

 

Checked in at Cosmopolitan Monday morning at 10:00. Had a Terrace studio booked. Handed the clerk the 20$ sandwich and was given a one bedroom with a fountain view on the 58th floor!

 

Probably pretty much what I answered her above. You are not spending too much to get a guaranteed newer refurb room. I would expect you could ask for something with a nicer view (mine was of Stage Door Deli) - perhaps you could get one of the rooms that can see the fountains. You read a lot of upgrades to suites in the south tower, but not generally the north tower, so I would think you would be going more for view OR ease of access to the elevators (mine was a LONG way from the elevator & I wasn't even at the back part that faces parallel to the strip - I faced parallel to Flamingo).

 

Balley's

Thanks Jgates8, I was kind of hoping for a soaking tub, but I Do know what you mean about long halls!

 

Its a mental issue.

You already have a smoking deal and you are happy with it.

If you try the $20 trick and they say no, it will cheapen the good deal you already have.

You will then look at your good deal room as no so much of a good deal.

its a mental game.

If you want the potential of dissapointment they go azhead and try it.

Or just be happy like you already are with your great deal.

 

I have found if you check in EARLY the $20 "trick" doesn't work much

HOWEVER, if you check in LATE and the later the better.....well then you can score big time with $20 trick.

 

I think you are right. As an example, last week I checked into Bally's at 2 PM which is 2 hours earlier than their stated check in time. My daughter and I both had reserved South Tower rooms. With the $20 trick the best I could get was an upgrade to a standard room with a fridge in the North Tower, which was OK with me. My daughter, who arrived around 7:30 PM, was able to get an upgrade to a junior suite in the North Tower.

 

That makes sense, they will have more rooms clean, etc. We are moving there from Golden Nugget so I think we will check our luggage whenever we get there and actually check in later in the evening. Thank you for all the input! I was planning on trying it, was just curious if anyone had been in this situation before.