Upgrading Your Las Vegas Hotel Upgrades For The Holidays

Posted on Categories Hotels

The holiday season is right around the corner and it’s time to think about those Black Friday and Cyber Week sales. This is a great time to start planning your next Vegas vacation. Every Las Vegas casino-resort will have a room sale. Many of the best hotels in Las Vegas will be offering deep discounts on rooms. Some of the deals may be so good that it’s impossible to pass them up or gift them to others.

Hotel room sales with big discounts are great because it gives you a chance to either save a lot of money or step up to a hotel-casino you normally can’t afford. Saving money is great but that’s not how I prefer to utilize sales. I look at sales like this as a way to enjoy something I normally wouldn’t splurge on.

Upgrading The Upgrade

Great upgrades using the $20 trick are one way to get a better room at all hotels. That includes holiday discounted hotel rooms. Paying a discount rate on a hotel room doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try for an upgrade. Today we’ll look at some sweet upgrades at the 4 and 5-star resorts in Las Vegas. We might as well shoot for the stars!

Aria

Shannon
Tipped: $50
Upgraded to 2 Bedroom Penthouse City View Sky Suite from Deluxe Room

This upgrade has worked twice for me. First time was March 19 for my 50th. 2nd was Sept 19 for fun. Both times I had 4 comp nights for a regular room. My brother had to pay the regular rate for 4 nights.
We walked up with a $50 and held it within eye site and asked if they could combine our 2 reservations into one. Took a lot of discussion with the employees in suits and a lot of phone calls. Yes! 2 bedroom penthouse suite! Sweet!

My brother had to pay his regular room rate he was paying anyways which was $870. That’s it for 4 nights.

Bellagio

Tom
Tipped: $20
Upgraded to Premier Fountain View from Resort King Room

I came in on a late Friday night for this year Superbowl weekend. I couldn’t target any clerk because there was no lineup. I got a male who was in his mid 30’s. I first put a $100.00 bill on the counter to make sure that he saw it and then I gave my passport and credit card. Then I ask him if there were any complimentary upgrades?

The upgrade that I was looking for was a Bellagio suite and I told him that if he can do it then I will tip him $100.00 bucks. He said that I cannot give me a comp upgrade to a Bellagio suite. Then I ask if he can give a complimentary upgrade to a Salone suite instead? he said that it would cost me $75.00 per night. I told him that I was looking for that. Then he said the best that he can do for me is a Strip View but it would be still a Resort King room. then I asked him if there was any Fountain View? he said that all Fountain views Resort King room were sold out.

At this point, I took his offer for the Strip View that was on the 15th Floor. But I took back my $100.00 back and gave him $20.00 instead. Because there was no way in hell I am giving $100.00 for the same room size. I have done this $20.00 tip trick before and I learned that you should only tip max $20.00 on the same room size with a better view. Only tip $100.00 or more if they can give you a suite or better.

Cosmopolitan

Giuliano
Saved: $250
Tipped: $20
Upgraded to Terrace Studio – Fountain View from City Room

Checked in around 8.00 pm on Tuesday night. My third visit @cosmo and the hall was pretty empty. The clerk called was very kind. Told him was my gfriend bday and l show my identity card of cosmopolitan and asked if any complimentary upgrade was available; he made a phone call and told us ” sure we have a terrace studio fountain view available on the 18th floor” l appreciate and gave him 20 usd as a tip.

Encore

Shaun
Tipped: $50
Upgraded to TowerSuite Resort from Resort King

There seems to be a ton of people saying the sandwich trick will not work at Wynn properties.

This is definitely not the case! I checked in on a Sunday around 6 PM for a 4-night stay. My package was 1 night comped and 3 nights at casino rate ($149/night) in a standard Resort King room at Encore, set up though my executive host (I am a Red Card holder and definitely not a high roller). I handed the check-in lady a $50 sandwich and asked if there were any complimentary upgrades available.

She let the $50 fall on her monitor, where it stayed for the entire transaction. She said she would check and asked if I was celebrating anything special. I told her we were celebrating my wife’s birthday (which was actually a month away). The woman asked where my wife was and I said she was still in the parking garage (which was true – she was too embarrassed to be with me when I tried this trick). She also asked if I had any preferences.

I said something high and with a nice view of the strip. I ended up with a Tower Suite King on the 54th floor. The view to the left was of the golf course, straight ahead was the Wynn, and to the right of that, we could see down the strip. Looking straight down, we could see the two Encore pools. It was a fantastic view. Checking out the rates online, this was a $90 per night upgrade, so we saved $360 total!

The Signature at MGM Grand

John
Saved: $$450+
Tipped: $100
Upgraded to Balcony Deluxe Suite from Balcony Deluxe Suite

Put a $100 bill in-between CC and ID. Didn’t care who was at the front desk, money ALWAYS talks. Was offered a free upgrade to a bedroom balcony suite ($45+ more a night), but I declined since it’s too big for 2 people. Was also put in 3rd highest floor PH, facing strip ($20+ more a night). The view alone was worth it imo, it was amazing. Had sex on the balcony too.
Stayed for 7 nights, saved more than $450+ with the $100 trick. Try it sometime, $20/$50/$100, it still works.

The Palazzo

Jay
Tipped: $50
Upgraded to Siena Suite from Luxury Suite

We were only in Vegas for one night so we tried to get into town early [11 am early]. I had two rooms in my name so when we got there I really couldn’t target anyone because there was a person in a red jacket mettering the lines. I spoke to her and asked her how her day was going, small talk. I had 3 20’s sandwiched ready to go. When it was my turn I handed the sandwich to the clerk and he immediately said let me see what I can do for you. He said we were in town early but let’s see what we have available.

To be honest, I wasn’t interested in an upgrade just early and late check out…. I mentioned if there was a possibility of an early and late checkout the next day. He asked what time were we thinking…. I didn’t answer, I let him tell me. He said he could do 3 pm at no extra charge and that worked well for us. He said he only had 1 Luxury suite available on a high floor but excused himself and went and spoke with a guy wearing a nicer suite. He came back seconds later and said he could upgrade one of the rooms to a 1200 ft room so they could both be available at the same time.

The persons to my left and right were both told there were zero rooms available for early check-in and I got TWO with early check-in and late check out for the tip. The rooms at Palazzo are already nice but walking up to my room with two doors I knew it would be awesome!!! 1.5 bathrooms, full living room, a separate bedroom, 5 sprayer shower (awesome), a spa tub and a TV in the bathroom. I was overlooking the WYNN”s pool on the 43rd floor. Could have been the tip, could have been we were only in town for one night.

The Venetian

Alanna
Saved: $300.33 – $555.34
Tipped: $20
Upgraded to Rialto Suit from Bella Suite

Checked in at close to 2pm and it was PACKED. When we were directed to an agent, she was behind the VIP desk (we were not VIP), not sure if this impacted our outcome or not.
As we were waiting in line I checked out the mobile check in option to get an idea of what they were charging for various upgrades and so I knew what was available.

I handed her $20 between my ID and Amex while asking if she “happened to have any upgrades, since I’m traveling with my Mom for her birthday” and literally did not even see her pocket it, super smooth. She very emphatically said she would see what she could find for us.
Note: Since I was traveling with my mom and did indeed need two separate beds, there were fewer options for upgrades since most of the larger rooms have only a king and a sofa bed.

She said that she found us a “beautiful suite” that was available for early check-in on the 22nd floor with a view of the Mirage’s volcano. I *think* this was a Rialto Suite, but honestly I’m not entirely sure. At the very least, we did get a strip-view, high floor room for no additional charge.
We chatted as she went to town on her keyboard and she asked all about our plans for my mom’s birthday. In our chatting, she discovered that my mom’s flight would be leaving at 6 pm and offered a 3 pm check out, again for no additional charge.

Overview according to Mobile Check-In App:
Early Check-In: Up to $50
Late Check-Out: Up to $65
High Floor Upgrade: $25/day
View Upgrade: $25/day
Rialto Suite Upgrade**: $75/day
Taxes (13.335%) Associated with higher room rate: $35.33 – $65.34

Wynn

Lio
Saved: $4000
Tipped: $20
Upgraded to Unsure from Deluxe Resort

I didn’t intentionally target any clerk but jumped in a random line since o didn’t know about this part of the trick. It was 7 am in the morning, which made the lines relatively short compared to other parts of the day. I was greeted by a very happy clerk, perhaps he had received great news. He was super excited, and when I slid him the 20 dollar tip he said he could upgrade me to the 3 bedroom duplex. I knew this was 4000 dollars on a regular day, so I was freaking out in my mind! I’m sure something amazing happened with this clerk to provide me with one of the best rooms in the Wynn. If he sees this, thank you so much!