MGM Grand

221 Reviews
(877) 880-0880
3799 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV89148
58% got a Vegas Hotel Deal
MGM Grand Hotel Las Vegas

MGM Grand Review Highlights

Recent Hotel Deals & Upgrades

Recent Room Upgrades: 0% 0/0
All Time Upgrades: 58% 118/203

Room Upgrade Reports

Sarah Jane
02/13/2018
Saved:  $Atleast $220 Tipped:  $40 Upgraded to  Grand Queen Room  from  West Wing King Room 

Booked a surprise 40th bday trip thru expedia for my boyfriend this year-his bday falls just a couple days before Valentines day so everything was pretty full with regards to rooms and bookings. I booked for Feb. for 4 nights-Thurs thru Sun. We checked in at 6:30 pm on Thursday. We did not target a particular clerk-just went to the next one available-which was a younger lady clerk. We began chatting and I handed her the $40 sandwich. She took the $40 out and set it on the edge of the raised counter-closest to her-never saying a word about it. At this point I was thinking that the whole thing was a fail. I then asked if our room had a strip view? I explained that I had requested this but saw that we had a run of the house king. She asked if we would be ok with a queen? If so she would be able to give us a comp upgrade to a much better room? We said sure-sounds great! She handed us our keys & off we went. It wasn’t until we were on our way to the elevators that I realized she had upgraded us to a grand queen room on the 28th floor with a beautiful strip view. She never did say a word about that $ that was just sitting there, so neither did we. When we left the desk for our room, we just left it (it was very close to her on the counter) and I’m sure she swiped it up. Im thinking there may have been a couple reasons she did that with the $. One: she was testing us to make sure that the $ wasn’t accidentally placed there between the cards somehow. Setting it there like that gave us the chance to grab it back if it was done by accident. Two: I think the clerks there are allowed to take tips (for excellent customer service of course) but not bribes/tips while in the act of booking the room. I think it was a combo of two reasons above that she did it this way but either way-this sandwich worked.
We went from a West Wing (ahhh the horror) King on the 10th floor to a Grand Queen on the 28th floor in the tower w/a beautiful strip view.
Keep in mind too that this was Valentines weekend. Valentine’s falls on a Wednesday this year so everybody was taking their trips this Weekend during our stay. With that in mind-$40 bucks still got us a decent upgrade-worth Atleast $220 had we booked the grand queen.
I can only imagine if we checked in for a Sun-Thurs trip, on a non holiday and tried $100 sandwich-which is EXACTLY what I will do next time.
I was so nervous to try this-I had never done this before and I gotta tell ya-this was empowering and I won’t ever check in without doing this in the future. Thanks for all the other shared stories on here guys! They really helped me get up the nerve to try it & so glad I did.

*Also- I purposely wasn’t super descriptive of the front desk clerk that assisted us. They can get fired for this sort of thing from my understanding but what I will say is that this particular clerk (or Atleast her description type) has been mentioned thruout reviews on here for mgm grand.

Was this an epic upgrade?
Siyu Yang
02/09/2019
Tipped:  $20 Upgraded to  Unsure  from  Unsure 

Booked Grand King, upgraded to Strip View Grand Queen I guess? 2 days of stay. Not a best upgrade, but just enjoyed the first time experience on this trick. Checked in at around 12:30 AM on a Friday night/Saturday early morning. Concert going on that night (Jay Chou, one of the most popular Chinese singers). A lot of people waiting in line for checking in. Do a sandwich trick after he asked for ID, and asked is there any room upgrade. He walked away and talked to his manager, came back saying there might be no room for upgrade and returned $20 back. Then he gave us two small bottles of water, walked away again and came back saying we got green light. He saw we were holding the $20 and he said “I’ll take that at the end.” Everything went great and we did a handshake (not in Chandler Bing’s way) and gave him the bill. Awesome experience!

Was this an epic upgrade?
Phil
07/07/2011
Tipped:  $0 Upgraded to  Hollywood Suite  from  Celebrity Spa Suite 

Just came back from my weekend stay at MGM Grand. Came to the check-in desk and looked at the workers helping guests and found a young lady in her mid 20’s. Started conversation off asking her how she was doing, has it been a busy weekend for them, blah blah. I was going to do the sandwich but there were so many other staff around that i thought it would be inappropriate and ruin any chance of an upgrade. instead i kindly asked if there were any comp upgrades available and she quickly began looking. found a room and spoke to her manager for a second and they were able to give me a Hollywood suite (the suite above the Celebrity suite). I gladly took it and thanked her. I dont remember her name but she was very sweet and helpful.

IMO its better to start a conversation that will make the worker comfortable with helping you if you ask. the $20 sandwich can give the wrong idea (bribe?) and blow any chance of an upgrade.

Was this an epic upgrade?
JT
09/23/2011
Tipped:  $20 Upgraded to  top floor strip view, early check in, late check out  from  standard 

This was our very first trip to Vegas.
It was 0800, we had the earliest flight in, was worried we wouldn’t be able to check in. Arrived at MGM Grand, no lines at all, but only two clerks open, a guy and an Asian gal, so after reading alot on this site, I chose the Asian gal.
I handed her my “sandwich” and before I could ask for any complimentary upgrades, she said, “Oh, there’s money in here, what is it for?” So I said it was hopefully for her “excellent customer service” and she laughed and said “Ok”.
She told us our reserved room was not ready and regular check in started at 3pm, but if we didn’t mind a strip view on a higher floor……mind?!…….she had a room that was ready now! So we went from a 4th floor unknown view, to a strip view on the 28th floor! We were far enough from the elevator that is was wonderfully quiet! And we got the early check in and she arranged for a 2pm check out, since our flight wasn’t until 5pm. We later read that each of those features were available for purchase for $20 each (strip view, early check in, late check out) so at minimum we saved $40 there and got the 28th floor (out of possible 29) instead of the 4th floor.
After all that, she picked up the money and asked if we still felt she should keep it or if we would like it back! How cool was that, but we definitely told her she totally deserved it and that made her smile! Excellent experience and I will try it every time now!

Was this an epic upgrade?
Harris
01/16/2017
Saved:  $$60 per night Tipped:  $20 Upgraded to  Unsure  from  Grand Queen Room 

Came in town on New Years Day at about 3pm, the line was long but waited 47 minutes to try the trick. Got a really nice dude, gave him the sandwich, asked if there were any complimentary upgrades, and he went looking. My brother and I had only booked a Grand Queen, and the clerk moved us into a Stay Well Accessible Executive Queen, which is bigger, and gave us a lounge and personal concierge. We used the concierge to book our party of 11 at d.Vino at Monte Carlo one hour prior to eating. Well worth the $20!

Was this an epic upgrade?
Dana
08/20/2014
Tipped:  $40 Upgraded to  Stay well room  from  Basic room 

The “upgrade” here was a total joke. I don’t know how small the basic room is but the room I was upgraded too was “445” square feet supposedly, which it didn’t seem any bigger than any other room that you can get anywhere. I was told I’d have a “pool view” which was ridiculous. The pool was like 6 miles away and you could not really see it at all. But the view did look down on the roof and some area full of dumpsters. I called the front desk and complained and they didn’t care one bit. I actually ended up going back to the front desk and waiting for the same lady so I could tell her it was ridiculous and that she better be handing that 40 dollars back. She looked really surprised and told me she could put me in the stay well room with a strip view (which was funny cuz she told me they did not have any strip view rooms when I gave her the money the first time because they were at 99% capacity for a convention which turned out to be a lie). The stay well room was the same size as the other room but with some pointless junk in it like an aromatherapy scent box and stupid lighting. The view was a lot better. Overall the hotel isn’t good. Valet takes at least 30 minutes every time. It’s crowded, the pool is packed, unfriendly staff. The restaurants are overpriced. The whole stay was horrible I actual thought about canceling and moving over to Mandalay Bay. Bottom line is I’ve given less money at Caesars and gotten a way better room and I’ve given just as much money to Mandalay Bay and gotten a fantastic room! Save your money, don’t try the $20 trick here, in fact don’t even stay here.

Was this an epic upgrade?
Les
12/15/2011
Tipped:  $50 Upgraded to  View  from  Deluxe King 

I checked in at airport and tried a $50 dollar sandwich. I mentioned that I was celebrating my 50th birthday and was hoping that with recently reburbished rooms and suites that were not available when I booked (but were now) I could get a good upgrade for the sandwich. I also mentioned that 6 other rooms were booked by people coming to celbrate with me.

We ended up with a great view on the 28th floor. We faced north so we could see the strip from City Center to the Mirage and could see the Bellagio Fountains. Wow!

And the guy gave me my $50 back.

So I asked if I could ensure my guests were close by. He was able to accommodate – which turned out to be great because different elevators go to different floor groups so I wouldn’t want people to have to take two elevators to visit one another (of course everyone had to see our view). I ended up giving the guy a $20 and enjoyed our stay.

Was this an epic upgrade?
Nick
09/15/2017
Saved:  $$700 Tipped:  $100 Upgraded to  Skyline Marquee Suite  from  Grand Queen Room 

My wife’s best friend was having a milestone birthday and we booked a week at an all inclusive Cancun resort, however, due to hurricane season the weather turned out to be awful and we cancelled our trip to Mexico and booked a shorter stay in Las Vegas. We arrived at MGM around 4pm on a Monday afternoon and there was a fairly short check in line ahead of us. I didn’t target any specific desk clerk and was directed to a mid 30s male behind the counter. I told him we had two rooms booked with another couple and slid the sandwiched bill to him, briefly explained the Mexico trip cancellation and said “I was wondering if you have any complimentary EPIC upgrades for us that would put us in the penthouse and make you a hero to the birthday girl.” He took the sandwich and said let me see what’s available. I responded by saying “I’m hoping that since we are here for 3 week nights there’s something awesome available.” He confirmed we were checking out on Thursday morning and said “I think you’ll be happy with this room, it’s high and has a nice view of the strip.” We got our keys and headed to the room. He upgraded us from two separate standard queen rooms to a 1500 square foot marquee suite with to separate king bedrooms, two 5 piece bathrooms, floor to ceiling windows with automated curtains, 4 TVs, and a wet bar. The view of the strip was great and for $16 dollars per night per couple we upgraded from a $185 dollar room to a $600 dollar a night suite. All told, between the two couples we got an awesome upgrade for $50 each and saved over $700 by the time you figure in resort fees and taxes. Yes, I paid more than $20 but with 2 couples I felt it was worth it and we got a smoking deal, well worth the $100. This was my first time trying the trick and I’ll surely do it again next time we go.

Was this an epic upgrade?
Jonathan Evangelista
02/09/2020
Tipped:  $40 Upgraded to  Unsure  from  Grand Queen Room 

I booked a grand king room for 120/night for 4 nights on new years eve. I picked an asian woman and when she asked for my ID and credit card I put 40$ in between.

I asked if there were any complimentary upgrades with a strip view and after a while of whispering to her managers she said she got one with a great view and said I had to wait. I asked if she could throw a complimentary fridge in there as well and she said yes.

After waiting for 1 and a half hours I got access to the room find there was no fridge nor a strip view. When new years eve hit there were no fireworks which I was greatly disappointed in!.

After getting home I looked at the bill and realized I had gotten charged 100$ for the “complimentary fridge”. I had to call to get that taken off.

Was this an epic upgrade?
Patrick Olson
08/27/2018
Tipped:  $20 Upgraded to  Unsure  from  Unsure 

I didn’t see the options listed, but I booked a standard room and was upgraded to a Stay Well room. I didn’t select a particular clerk, I just went with the next available and was friendly!

Was this an epic upgrade?