$20 Trick - A Tip or a Bribe?

So, would this apply to:

tips for valet
tips for room service
tips while playing table games - that go to the dealer
tips for a good seat in the showroom
tips for the bellman
tips for taxi guys opening the car door
tips for the cocktail waitress

??????

 

How is the hotel side of the casinos governed by the gaming commission? That is my question.

 

None of these affect the income stream of the property. The money earned is by the individual not the company. The upgrade on the room could affect their income stream, and it is not owned by the person giving it away. Unless they are given permission to do this as part of their job, it's a bribe, not a tip.

 

The only people getting tricked by the $20 trick are the people paying it.

its a trick devised by a handful of smart young front desk workers who have access to the same websites and forums we all use.

They used to do the same thing for free.

 

That's the best thing about the Excalibur! I have to have one KK Doughnut per visit. That's the only reason I go there!
As far as the $20 trick goes I've always considered it a bribe!

 

I have never personally used the $20 trick...if people want to try it I say go for it. Before I was comped my room I just used to ask for an upgrade and always got it, just by being friendly. I look at it this way if the front desk clerk accepts it then good for them, the $20 in their pocket is still helping the economy.

 

Seems pretty straightforward to me. If you flash the money beforehand, it's a bribe. If you pull out a $20 bill after they have given you an upgrade, it's a tip.

 

Does bribe/tip really matter? Its just a word game in this contest.

No law forbidding you to do it either way. This isn't like bribing a cop or a judge.

And morally? The hotels are aware of the issue and still give their employees the discretion to upgrade rooms for free.

I don't doubt that the official stance is that they disapprove. But the simple truth is they don't care enough to make the effort to stop this, and that tells you how little it costs the hotels.

 

I feel I would be risking someones job by asking them to do something they should not be doing. I have never done the $20 trick. I am not that picky about my room. I could care less about a view. I have seen Las Vegas. The only thing I might ask for is a big bubbly tub. I have always got every upgrade I have ever asked for.

 

+1, Well said.

 

A bribe? Really?

The hotel/casinos don't consider tips paid to their dealers, restaurant waitresses (shared with the bus staff), or cocktail waitresses to be bribes. They consider them compenstation. So much so that they deduct federal witholding taxes from the amouts given to them.

Valet parkers, and doormen? I don't know, but I assume that those tips are considered comensation as well. How they are taxed, I haven't heard.

Do they deduct witholding from tips given to their front desk personnel? I don't know that either, but I do know that it's between the desk clerks and the IRS, just as it used to be with the dealers and wait staff.

I say "Let the dead bury the dead." Let the hotels, their employees, and the IRS work out the details!!

 

See post #24