Checked in during the afternoon, walked to the male clerk’s line and did the sandwich.

He immediately recognized what was going on and after some time looking,offered us a suite in the new tower. Felt we could have done better if we waited, but since this was our first time at the Mandalay hotel, we accepted. For $20, it was definitely worth it.

Booked a special advertised w/complimentary upgrade to suite at check in (upon availability). Slipped the clerk a $20 as per the instructions, and asked if there was anything he could do to make it nice for us etc— he went and asked something of the supervisor, and then came back and gave us the minimal uprade which we would have gotten for free anyway – to the 600 room, which is basically the same as a 550 but with a jacuzzi tub. oh and the room faced the airport and was on a very low floor, so we heard airplanes all night. Oh and the clerk kept the $20!

Was told had to pay for better room.

Worked great, I just asked if they had any rooms with a hot-tub in them and the clerk said yes, and upgraded me to a huge room with a hot-tub.

I tried the $20 trick exactly as described, picked a woman who who I thought would be helpful. She said she’d try to do a upgrade, but told me it was difficult because of the length of my stay. I checked in on a wednesday, I was checking out on the coming monday. I tried checking in at around noon, she said housekeeping hadn’t cleaned most of the rooms. She said later things might open up. I gave her $20 for seeming to try. The next day I came back to see if any upgrades were available. I was there for a convention(the show was at Mandalay Bay), so I mentioned a complimentary upgrade might be nice if I have to take some prospects back to room to discuss business. Woman directing people tried to steer me towards someone who she thought would help me out *wink* The woman seemed very businesslike, said no-comp upgrades available, did the $20 trick, and she didn’t seem to care. Asked for line passes, said no passes. I let her keep the $20, since she seemed to give me the evileye when I asked for the upgrade.

I tried the $20 trick exactly as described, picked a woman who who I thought would be helpful. She said she’d try to do a upgrade, but told me it was difficult because of the length of my stay. I checked in on a wednesday, I was checking out on the coming monday. I tried checking in at around noon, she said housekeeping hadn’t cleaned most of the rooms. She said later things might open up. I gave her $20 for seeming to try. The next day I came back to see if any upgrades were available. I was there for a convention(the show was at Mandalay Bay), so I mentioned a complimentary upgrade might be nice if I have to take some prospects back to room to discuss business. Woman directing people tried to steer me towards someone who she thought would help me out *wink* The woman seemed very businesslike, said no-comp upgrades available, did the $20 trick, and she didn’t seem to care. Asked for line passes, said no passes. I let her keep the $20, since she seemed to give me the evileye when I asked for the upgrade.

My husband and I were very polite and friendly as we checked in. We made small talk, “What a beautiful hotel,” to establish contact with the male deskclerk. My husband asked if there were any comp upgrades (as he presented his CC/$20/DL) and the answer was, I can’t give you a suite, because we are so closely watched, but I can give you a nicer room than you have, with a nice view.

We said thanks and he said thanks for the gratuity. We proceeded to our room to find a very large room, king bed, huge marble bath, but the best part was the view up the entire strip; esp at nighttime.

Agent himself noted: “You just gotta know who to talk to” and added, “Don’t try this with women.”

Also, I don’t travel to Vegas on weekends and doubt that this process will work on a weekend when their is high volume and bumps in rack rates across the board.

We checked in with an older woman named Nancy because there were no young men working at the check in desk. We handed her the $20 sandwich and she gave us a disgusted look when we asked if there were any complimentary upgrades. She said no and handed us the money back. We tried to remain friendly and asked if any buffet passes were available and by this time we felt really embarassed because she was getting very annoyed with us. We got no upgrades but she agreed to allow us to add a third person to the room with no extra charge. We requested a cot be sent up from housekeeping. The normal charge is $20 a night but we tipped the guy who delivered it $5 dollars and he gave us the cot for free. He informed us that we could get a free refrigerator delivered to our room if we needed to store any medications.

I am happy to say this $20 trick works very well. We were first told the hotel was sold out adn he could not give an upgrade or a top floor, but once he noticed the $20, he went to check with his manager (or so he said), and suddenly was able to upgrade us to a great suite and on the 29th floor. The $20 was very well spent! Overall a really great hotel.