Here’s the scenario: You come in on a 3 night comp for a standard room set up by your host. At check-in, the person at the desk offers you a complimentary upgrade (say, from a standard room at Mirage to a Tower room). Does this upgrade affect the play required to pay off your comped room before earning F&B comps? Does your answer change if you accept an upgrade for a fee (say, $50/night for an upgrade to a Penthouse suite)? Would you just have to pay off the $50 with your play or the entire comp value difference between a standard room and penthouse suite? I’m asking, because I’ve been in the latter situation before where I upgraded at Mirage to a penthouse suite for $50 per night when having a comped standard room booked through my host. I typically wouldn’t be able to cover a suite comp based on my play ($150 BJ at the time), but would be able to cover an additional $150 (3 nights at $50 per for the upgrade). I was comped my entire bill at check-out (limited f&b), so I figured that they included only the extra $50 upgrade charge when considering the comps to give me (otherwise, I would have guessed that I would still have a portion of my bill to pay). However, I recently read a comment on another topic that may have implied that you would need to play enough to cover the entire comp value of the room upgrade at check-in as if you came in on a comp in the upgraded room, regardless of what the hotel actually charged you. Although I may be confusing people who are given a suite that is booked but not promised versus an upgrade at check-in. Thanks for straightening me out.
Not sure if you will get straightened out (LOL!)... but hope somebody with good knowledge will jump in.
If it is comped up front then it will be comped at check out. The only time play could effect your comps is if you charge stuff to the room and want them to evaluate your play at checkout and potentially comp everything over your up front FB comps... They wont offer you a comped suite up front and then look at your play at check out and say you didnt play enough to cover it so you own them money...
I have had hosts tell me that if I upgrade a Comp'd room at check-in that I would need more play to get additional comps. I have no idea if this is true, but that's what they tell me. Of course, either way, the room itself is still comp'd regardless of your play.
Good to know, I recently posted in another thread that this is the reason that I never attempt the $20 tip upgrade. I've always assumed that I'll have to play more to receive back end comps, since I now have a more expensive room to "play out of" before additional comps can be applied. I'd much rather have all my dining paid for, rather than a slightly bigger room, better view, etc.
I don't know about your second question, if you actually paid the $50 for the upgrade itself, but for the first part: I talked to hosts at Excalibur and Monte Carlo about this and yes, you would have to play off the value of the upgraded room before you started earning additional comps, even if the upgrade was complimentary (or if acquired through the "$20 trick").
Exactly. You are just sleeping there, right? This past weekend, we arrived at Bally's and were given an "upgrade" on our comp'd room. I got to the room and it was ridiculous. Much more space than we needed. I thought about going back down and asking for something smaller, but since this was out first stay with a new host at Bally's we kept the room. I don't chase comps like I used to, so I figured the room was going to be it. Turns out I had a great time the first night and gambled for 22 hours straight at an average of $122/bet and we got the room, cabana, food, etc all comp'd in the end. Still, I generally do not accept unneeded upgrades on comp'd rooms. One other consideration to remember is that the comp value of the upgrade could be very small, such as during a slow midweek stay. Hopefully someone will chime in on what happens when you actually pay for the upgrade. I would do this at Aria every time if I could.
I think the only way someone would be able to answer this would be if they did what you did (take a paid upgrade to a standard comp) and then were told they didn't play enough. I doubt that would happen anyway; the "negative" comp balance would just be factored into future offers. But here's the way to think about it: You say you upgraded from your standard comp for $50 a night. So the question is, if someone who was paying full boat for a standard room wanted to upgrade to the penthouse suite on that same date, what would they have been charged? If they would have been charged $50 a night same as you, then you didn't receive any special upgrade discount, and I don't think the casino would expect any additional play from you to play it off. If they would have been charged $100 a night, then you got the equivalent of a "casino rate" discount on the upgrade, and yeah, I'd think the casino would expect you to play that discount off.
This is exactly why I'm asking the question. If I'm offered an upgrade again (which was very nice, btw), I want to know if I should decline it if I'd prefer to get more charges dropped at check out. I don't think I got a special deal because of my original comp offer. I'm not sure, but I think anyone off the street could have gotten the $50/night upgrade (as an aside, I was using the $20 trick at the time). I agree that it would be rational that all I'd have to play off is the extra $50 and not the full value of the suite, but we all know that casino comps are not necessarily rational! Thanks, all, for your thoughtful replies.
If someone off the street could have gotten the suite for the same $50 upcharge, then there's nothing extra for you to play off, you already paid for it out of pocket, same as everybody else.
While this thread has strayed from the original question, the answer is YES. When you go to ask for food and bev to be comped off at the end of the trip, they look at the comp value of the room you are actually in. It doesn't matter whether you were originally booked into that room type by them, got it by the $20 trick, or paid for the upgrade. If you haven't "played off" the comp value of the room you are actually in, you won't get any additional f&b comped off. If you don't care about this--upgrade away. If you do, be careful about pushing for an upgrade at check in. Clearly you won't be expected to pay for a room you were comped into and subsequently upgraded (by whatever method) even if your play does not measure up. If you have some fixed food and bev attached to your comped room on arrival this won't be taken away either.
Thanks for the direct answer to my initial question. I would rather get some f&b comped on the back end than get an room upgrade, and your answer is what I'm worried about. I suppose I'll end up declining any upgrade offers at check-in.
Ditto, this is the info I was looking for as well. I've always assumed this, which is the reason I've never tried the $20 tip upgrade.
My told me that is offered before check in is already comped. When I arrive and play then I start earning more comps. She said they base it off of ones history as to what they give you prior to check in. When I go to check out I send her a text and she lets me know what room charges they will take care off
does CET do this too?? i am diamond this year and get upgrades automatically,but i dont care about a upgrade because i drop my bags inside and hit the casino! should i say no to the upgrade so i can have more comps? they dont even ask me they just upgrade without asking so i thought it didnt matter.
A little bit, yes. I think CET is more cautious about placing you in rooms based on your expected play in the first place so it probably doesn't come up as much. But, yeah, if you can't cover the comp, they will either not offer as much in F&B or it will affect your future offers.