Stayed at MGM on June 29th & 30th. Went up to a young lady and slipped her my CC and ID with the $20 visible in between and asked her if there were any complimentary upgrades. She quickly smiled and said “No, I’m sorry.” She took my CC and ID, and gave me back my $20 saying “Here, this is yours.” So I’m pretty much embarassed at this point and just wait till she pulls up my room. She tells me she has a room with a view for me, so I thanked her and tipped her $5 for her effort anyways. The room had an OK view.. it was a view of the city area, not the strip.. so yea. But anyways..I’ll try it again next time!

I just recently returned from spending 4 nights at the MGM. I checked it at the airport, and made sure to put the $20 visible underneath the card. When I asked about the upgrade, she didn’t look at the bill, I’m pretty sure she didn’t even notice it. She said flat no to an upgrade, and no to a strip view.

After getting to the room, I went back downstairs to give it one more try. I put the $20 out and asked about the upgrade. He started working away at the computer, but then once he saw how much I was paying ($69.99/night), said that there was no way I could get an upgrade because I had the casino rate. He said he hadn’t ever seen a rate that low. I asked about the strip view and he said that there were none available. Then he noticed the $20. He asked if that was for him, I said it was. Then he took that, looked back to his computer and started typing away. He still couldn’t give me a suite, but he did get me a 22nd floor room overlooking NY NY, Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. For 4 nights, that was worth it to me.

The clerk was a young girl. She giggled at me and my GF and said “no, there aren’t any upgrades” and handed back to me my $20. She then checked us in and gave us a room with a View, but it was a horrible view. Only good thing was that it was semi close to the elevator.

I would try again but not with a young girl.

Checked in at the MGM Grand this Sunday night for five nights. I had booked the $69 member rate.

The lady at the counter saw my $20 and typed and typed for 10 mins and found a celebrity spa suite. She went for approval and was denied because the hotel was sold out and there was a convention with 3000 attendees.

She then gave us a room on the 28th floor with a view of the strip. I gave her $10 for her efforts anyway, she really did try hard to get us the room. Tough when the hotel is tight and I am staying 5 nights.

The bonus is that we get free wireless because we are one floor down from the skylofts which have complementary wireless and my laptop caught on to the signal. At least I saved $10/day on internet access.

When we first arrived the hotel was completely booked up (airport checkin even shut down early). It remained that way for nights one and two. On night three we talked to a nice young man at the front desk who was willing to help, but unable to that night, he said to look for him the following morning. We did just that, and he was able to do just that. We had three in the party and needed at least two beds, so only bungalow or marquee suites were options, and he said he wasn’t able to get us in a marquee. Although it was only for 2 nights, the suite was worth it from my perspective. Since we were already checked in, I wasn’t able to give him an ID or CC for verification, so I just did the old $20 handshake to make the transaction (he knew I had it though because I had it under our old room card with the money facing him.)

On a marketing deal for $50 plus some comps. Turned out to be a fightnight Sat the 15th. also my birthday. The $20 bucks cost me about 10 minutes of typing and phone calls. Then talking to Marketing. I was told my rate for $60, $120, and $60 was aleady consideraly low. Nothing could be done for a fight weekend or with my play. I let the chick keep the $20 for her efforts. Then about an hour later, in the room, a knock on the door. Champagne, and strawberries compliments of the hotel, and a gift basket from my host, with a bottle of Wild Turkey 101, my favorite and some snacks and a neat card. Thanks MGM for taking my money, and me enjoying it.

My husband “handled” this…. he handed $20 to the young girl behind the counter, who had one older 30s guy behind her watching… she typed furiously on her computer for 3 minutes or so and came up with our room number… we got to the hotel AND HAD TO WAIT 45 MINUTES FOR OUR LUGGAGE after the shuttle bus, despite 3 calls to the bell desk… our room was on a high floor (24th) but the “view” consisted of the Hooters hotel parking lot. A TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY, arghhh!

Was initially standing in line for a Male, but then he suddenly had a supervisor stand behind him. As soon as I saw that, I shifted to next lane that was somewhat isolated. I handed her my credit card and ID with the $20 bill in the middle, sticking out just enough for her to see it. I immediately asked her for a complimentary upgrade, she said she can definitely do something but will check to see what they have. Typed for a couple of minutes and then offered me the Bungalow Suite since it had the two beds… I asked her if she could switch to the Hollywood Suite and include a rollaway, she said ‘sure, it would be my pleasure’… Once she was done that portion, I asked her for a dining credit… She typed away and thought for a bit and then said ‘sure, no problem, I’ll issue you a $25 dining credit, and you just have to make sure you charge your meal/buffet to your room’. That was about it! Took the keys and was off to the room.

**Not a big fan of the MGM at all. But had to stay here one night because of a sudden change in plans. Off to the Wynn next for a couple of days. Will post on how the trick works out there. *Crossing Fingers*

Went to Airport Hotel Check-in. 2 Clerks and a Manager behind the desk. I shifted lines to the male clerk as the manager was near the female clerk. I handed license and credit card to clerk. He told me I would be on the 19th floor. I showed him a palmed $20 in my hand and asked him if there were any complimentary upgrades. He said: “of course there are” – I needed 2 double beds and he offered me a bungalow suite. He showed me a book w/ pictures of the suite and I slipped him the $20 as he was doing that.
I had booked through MGM using one of the September Codes for $69/night when I made my reservation.