Arrived around 9 pm on a Sunday night. The front desk line was maybe 5 people deep. I ended up with a late-20s woman at the front desk and I handed her my ID, credit card and a folded $20, making no reference to it. She put it on the desk and we made small talk. She said that I was booked in the Mardi Gras tower (which is older and louder). I said yes, but if there’s any way you could put me in a Valley Tower (newly renovated tower) room with a view I’d really appreciate it. She said she’d see what she could do, briefly went to the back room to speak to someone and returned.

The room itself was indeed in the Valley Tower, it was a nice view of the mountains and if I went to the extreme left of my window I could just see the High Roller. It was pretty quiet and removed from the casino loudness though, which was my main concern. I definitely don’t regret the tip. The room was just fine, I hoped for a little magic but it didn’t quite go as planned. One word of advice: know exactly what room you want to be upgraded to. As in, the exact name on the website. And don’t expect more than a tier of upgrade unless you’ve got lots of documented Total Rewards play, at least not at the $20 level. YMMV if you try to tip $50 or even $100, but for a middle-of-the-road hotel like Harrah’s I figured $20 would be sufficient.

I was at harrah’s at 10:30 on Monday at night because my flight was delayed. The clerk name was Elena. She say welcome to harrah’s and I said thank you this is my first time. I hand her my ID, credit card and a $50 bill in between. She found the $50 and put it on the keyboard. She work her magic and said we booked you in our executive suite at the valley tower and also you receive $20 free play. The executive suite is glamorous, I love it

Checked in around 10 pm and used the $20 sandwich and told the clerk anything that she can do to make my wife’s birthday special would be appreciated. We got upgraded from deluxe an older tower to the newly renovated tower with high roller view.

We checked in around 8:30pm, there was a line, so we had no choice of clerk. But when we asked “is there any chance for a complimentary upgrade?”, she smirked as if there were not that many options and said, let me see what I can do. We had booked a carnival room with two queen beds, she was able to get us upgraded to a room on the 24th floor with a view of the strip. At first I did not think it was all that great of an upgrade, but then the volcano show at TI started. Great advice! Thanks!

She knew exactly what it was when I handed her the $20 dollar sandwich. She was very nice, looked at the computer and offered several room options. I ended up choose the suite.

My experience was baffling. We arrived at Harrah’s 5:30 p.m. on November 17, 2015. There was a line so no choice of checkin person. We ended up with a timid middle aged front desk lady. She was very polite. I explained we were celebrating 2 things one was my 50th birthday and two I have just found my high school sweetheart and 1st love after being seperated for 30 years and we decided to come to Las Vegas for her very first time ever. WE were hoping for a complementary upgrade to a suite from a basic Carnaval room. I placed a $50 bill between license and credit card and the lady could not give it back to me quick enough and stated “lets see how well you are happy with your room first”. She typed in a bunch of stuff and I was looking for 4 nights upgrade. She then walked over to a I assume supervisor standing behind all the desk agents and she had her own computer in which the 2 ladies looked at something on the screen.( I am assuming they were looking to see if I had any Total Rewards action previous)I HAD NONE. After 2 or 3 minutes our agent slowly walked back and started typing again a quietly said “its $75 per night upgrade to a Suite”. After a moment of silence she responded ” I can offer a King Deluxe in Mardi Gras tower for you complimentary”. This ended up being a smaller room (320 square feet) and extra ammenities were Television in bathroom, marble counters in bathroom, large Plasma television in the bedroom and a balcony that was 2 foot wide so basically you could open sliding glass doors to look out but could not literally walk out onto balcony. Note about balcony it is right about food court and all the exhaust fans so the smell of all the foods mixed were nauxious so could not comfortably open doors. It did not cost me $50 but also it is clear you need prior action on Total Rewards.

So easy! $20 for suite with jacuzzi tub on 34th floor!

First time in Vegas and read about this online as I was looking to see if you can do free upgrades. Slipped a $20 when she asked for payment and ID and asked if here were any complimentary upgrades. Immediately said “Sure we can do something” as she discreetly put the $20 in her pocket. So worth it! She gave is the option of a pool view or strip view and said we could get a nicer room of we had a pool view.

My wife and I were staying at Harrah’s, comped the first two nights, $35/night for the second two. I decided to go big and specifically ask for an Executive Suite, and since we were staying 4 nights, I went with a $100 bill. Got a younger female clerk, handed her the sandwich and told her “That’s for you if you can get me a complimentary upgrade to an executive suite.” She did some typing, spoke to her manager, and said “I have you for 4 nights in an executive suite.” We got into the room, it was spectacular: Wet bar, separate living & bedroom, huge bathroom with jacuzzi tub & massive shower, strip view looking straight down on the Mirage volcano. Definitely the best $100 we spent on this trip!

Arrived late 11pm. Went to the next available clerk (Female, 30ish). Ask politely for a complementary room upgrade as I handed her my sandwich. She knew the game and proceeded to say she got me a nice room. I was amazed when I got to my room, 30th floor overlooking the strip. 2 Room suite with Jacuzzi tub, wet bar. Looked it up later and found out it was the executive suite. Great upgrade for the week stay. Well worth trying to get any upgrade.