I booked a room at the Venetian originally. I checked in between 6-7:30pm on a Wednesday. I didn’t target anyone specific and was led to this young female. She was sweet. I put $40 between my credit card and license. She pocketed the money real quick then asked if I wanted any “complimentary upgrades” I said yes of course. She asked if I wanted a specific tower (Venetian, Palazzo, or Venezia) and provided information on each. I ended up with a standard suite room in the Palazzo. It was very nice, but she did not wave the resort fees ($50 a day) or send up a bottle of champaign like most people I have read received. And the view was mediocre at best. I really don’t feel like it was worth the $40. She made it seem like she was really hooking me up and even asked another clerk to “help” make something work out.

Booked a room Sunday night for Monday night on Priceline for $99. Had never been to the Palazzo so no idea what a typical room was like. Wife was concerned but I figured we were only staying one night so what’s the risk. Checked in around 10:45 am Monday figuring we’d have to wait get into the room but at least we could drop off our bags. About a dozen people in line in front of us about at least 8 clerks working. Didn’t/couldn’t target a clerk so just placed the tip in between my cards and handed it over. The clerk asked me if I needed change. I said no, I was hoping you could check for complimentary room upgrades. She didn’t say much but spent a while clicking and typing really fast on the the key board. She never acknowledged that she gave us an upgrade or anything but we were able to check in right away (but it was a Monday in a hotel with thousands of rooms so maybe no big deal), our room was on the 42 floor and over looked the strip (Treasure Island and Mirage) and we didn’t have to check out until 1:00. At the time I didn’t realize that all the rooms in the Palazzo are suites so I was super excited to see our room when we opened the door. Looking at the hotel web site today it looks like we had a Luxury suite (which is the lowest suite level). Looking back, if we did get an upgrade it was just to a higher floor/better view and I don’t believe the clerk ever acknowledged the tip. Overall, very happy with the room but don’t think the tip mattered.

Sunday morning check in, really hoping for Sienna and/or waiver of resort fee. I DID get high floor strip view, immediate room availability (11am) and later check out. 4She said they never waiver resort fee (ha!) 4 nite stay so we were happy anyway

Couldn’t target a specific clerk. Around 1230 on a slow Wednesday. I just asked if there were any complementary upgrades available. Her upgrade was the same suite higher floor strip view which is $30 more per day but I’m only staying 2 nights so it’s not really worth it. I think 20 dollars could’ve got me the same “upgrade.”

I checked in at around 2pm and did not target a particular clerk. I asked if any complimentary upgrades were available. I had the $50 in my hand with my CC and DL but didn’t offer it to him until after he said “let me check”. I slid him the $50 and said “I would really appreciate anything he could do for me”. He said he could give me a higher floor with a better view that is normally $55 dollars more per night and I said sure, sounds good to me. It was a company trip and I had 3 colleagues check in at the same time without doing the trick and they got rooms on floors 6, 8, and 14 facing away from the strip. I ended up on 34 facing the TI with a great view.

Was unable to Target a specific clerk but got an awesome guy. Slid him a $50 sandwich and he immediately went to the back to see what he could do. He reappeared and told us that he could upgrade is to the sienna suite for our stay. This room is insane and totally worth the 50.

Handed the guy at the front desk $40. Immediately got upgraded to a high floor room (44th floor) facing the strip with early check in (we checked in at 11am) and late checkout (until 2pm) waived. Also got one night’s resort fee waived due to a mishap with billing to room at a bar. I’d say that’s a fantastic value. Probably saved approximately $350.

BTW, I was on the fence between Venetian’s and Palazzo’s Luxury Suite. Glad I made the choice to choose Palazzo’s… It’s a far superior product, and as Palazzo is nearly twice as tall, you’re guaranteed to get a “higher” floor room (relatively), even at the most basic rate.

Checked in ~6pm on a Friday in November 2017, not many people in the check-in line at all, so could not target anyone. Sandwiched the $20 between ID and CC when we walked up and were asked for it. I think the guy asked if it was a tip, and I replied by asking if there were any complimentary upgrades available. We made some conversation while he checked us in.

Eventually after he checked us all in, he brought out a binder, showed us the room we originally booked, then showed us the room we were getting instead. Super nice guy and seemed to know the drill – loved our upgraded room.

As a IHG Spire Ambassador member I was expecting the Sienna Suite Upgrade on my two night BOGO cert stay, but for the 3rd night I used my Chase free night from my IHG credit card. I was told in advance that I would have to check out after two nights and downgrade to a standard luxury room. Tipped $25 at check-in about 9:30pm on Saturday and CSR made a quick call extending my Sienna Suite (37-705) for the entire stay! It’s an AWESOME suite…1,200+ sq ft.

Prestige lounge check in at around 10am on a Friday. Didn’t exactly target a clerk but the clerk who served us wasn’t the manager and looked quite frumpy. On the face of it, I thought she would be receptive. I slipped $50 in with my passport whilst mentioning that we were celebrating a wedding anniversary (true) and that if she could make our stay extra special we’d be very grateful. She took the money without blinking and hurriedly said that she could definitely help us out…

Well.

She did sweet FA. No room upgrade, no reduction of resort fees. Nada. Very disappointed.