Asking for items to be in room before arrival...

So I've read a few posts about people asking for things to be in their rooms before they arrive [fridge, champagne, fruits, etc...]

How far can you take this and how much would they charge? I mean if I requested a bag of candy from one of those Sugar stores in the hotel would the price be 3 times as much or would it be the same and I would tip someone, and who would I tip?
I wonder how outrageous I could get? Asking for a pizza, an inflatable dinosaur, a bag of M&M's? Anyone ever try this?

 

It's Vegas. You can get virtually anything. For a price. Odd requests should go to the concierge. The better hotels will have a concierge who can always accomodate odd needs but they will charge and you should also tip accordingly.
A bathtub full of Crystal? Easily accomodated.
Where are you staying?

 

Haha the pizza and M&M's aren't weird and any decent hotel should easily take care of those, the dinosaur is a weird one but Vegas concierges have probably heard stranger things. If its something that comes from the hotel or a hotel store they shouldn't charge you a premium just to have it sent up to your room.

The only atypical request I ever had was for a shirt one time (not in Vegas). I needed a clean shirt and didn't have time to buy one and wouldn't be back at the hotel before the stores closed. They didn't seem fazed at all when I asked. I gave them my size and asked for a plain white dress shirt, they left a few in my room and only charged me the listed price for the one I opened.

 

Be prepared to pay...a LOT. A friend of mine called the concierge and asked for a bottle of some kind of moderately cheap whiskey to be in his room. Think Seagrams VO or CC. He foolishly did not ask the price, and was surprised to be billed a couple hundred for it. He worked with me in our hotel, and we do things like that for cost plus maybe $10, so he was super surprised. I am sure it depends on the hotel.....

 

I'll be staying at the Mirage. I don't have the cash to be lazy, so I'll end up just getting it myself. I would love to find out what some of the weirder requests have been.

 

LVW had an article on this:

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2014/jan/23/can-you-ship-pet-tiger-inside-world-vegas-concierg/

 

I think this could be done for the higher end rooms where they are limited and you are sure to be assigned to a specific at the time reservations are made.

Usually we don't get a room assigned until check-in so it would be hard for them to know where to place any requests.

 

In my experience, having items in your room before arrival is a mixed bag. My first documented trip was a guys trip to Binions (yes, when they still had rooms available). I requested a bucket of beer, and some tomato juice to be in the room when we arrived. No problem, said and done.

http://www.omaha-rounders.com/vegas/P1010011.JPG

A year or so later, I requested from Bellagio to have some champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, and some treats from Jean Philippe present in the room for the arrival of the wife and I. You'd think I was asking for the world. At first the concierge basically said "we can't complete that request." It wasn't until I compared their service to Binions that they complied. And I will give them credit, they did knock it out of the park.

http://www.omaha-rounders.com/anniversary/DSC03458.JPG

It's a mixed bag I suppose, but with rooms not being assigned (typically) until you check in, (in my experiences) that makes things a touch more difficult.

 

Ha that article was great. And you just know, that the responses that they don't do anything illegal was BS. Some super famous star or some international whale asks for an escort to his room, that concierge isn't going to recommend they go to Pahrump, they will have some super high-end working gal in that room ASAP.
I love the one about the tiger.

 

Yeah the unassigned rooms would make it difficult I guess, but like LV_Bound mentioned, it's easier for the high-end rollers who have special rooms already assigned to them.

 

+1. Easier to have pre-arrival requests at the smaller properties (ex. skyLofts, Hotel32, SkySuites/Villas, etc.). The more luxurious properties tend to do a pre-arrival call before any upcoming stay. It's easier to block rooms at these properties than a large property (MGM Grand), unless you're a real VIP w/ a blocked suite.

 

I've never requested anything for our trips but I have several times for friends who were going to Vegas for the first time...always champagne and strawberries. No problem at Paris or Cosmo and those people arrived early afternoon. Friends stayed at Aria and didn't arrive until around 9 p.m., of course that was the only time the champagne and strawberries weren't in the room on arrival. They were delivered sometime while they were out and they didn't get them until they returned in the wee hours of the morning.