Younger hispanic male, later at night. Requested a complimentary upgrade with a $20 sandwiched between CC and ID, worked great.

Reached counter in a surprisingly busy line at app. 10:30pm. Alot of space between the woman and other attendants, discreet $20 sandwich plus request for ‘complimentary upgrade’ was met with disaproval and the bogus “we’re sold out” even while the parking garage and casino were empty and upgraded rooms could easily be booked online. Instead, I was given a room where the window was 1/2 covered in tar and blocked by an industrial sized air-conditioning unit. Of note, I have experienced success at this property before, males necessary. On those occasions I’ve left glowing reviews on several websites, and plenty more on the tables. Without an upgrade I immediately leave the property for downtown or the southern strip.

Hoped for the cute, young, female clerk and got her. Put the 20 on the desk right in front of me, asked if there were any complimentary upgrades available and before I got the sentence out of my mouth she scrunched up her nose and said ‘no, there sure isn’t.’ Then offered me a suite for an additional 50 a night. I asked if there was even a room on a high floor and she said no. I took the 20 off the desk, put it in my pocket and proceeded up to my basic room on the 9th floor. It was a nice room, but no upgrade. I’m guessing booking through Hotwire had something to do with the denial.

Awful experience with check in waited almost 4 hours for a room. We were put in the world tower and had a nice room but the clerk was a jerk offered to upgrade us to a mini suite with a whirl pool bath tub for an extra 40.00 a day. We declined.

$20 trick worked like a charm. Upgraded to a suite on the 22nd floor and even had the resort fee waived.

We arrived at about 10:45 PM to the Stratosphere and were greeted with a surprisingly long line. I noticed a guy in his mid-20s who appeared to have a pretty good attitude, so I tried him. I presented the “sandwich” and was greeted immediately with a “Thank you very much!” I asked if he had any comp upgrades available as we were looking for a bit more space for our party of 3. He checked through the computer for a good 5-7 minutes before apologizing profusely that he didn’t have anything to upgrade us to that night. He returned my ID, CC, and $20. I thanked him for trying. Had there been space available, I think he would have upgraded us!

We read about this on the $20trick website. We turned up looking absolutely awful but took the chance anyway. We were staying 6 nights, having already managed to get a BOGOF deal on 2 rooms. We went to the next available clerk and as subtlely as we could slipped $20 into 2 of our passports and asked for a complimentary upgrade on the room, and that we would like our rooms to be adjacent. The clerk said he would see and then said we were in luck and said yes. The passports (minus $40) were returned and we had 2 rooms upgraded for 6 nights.

A foreign clerk, she did not know what the $20 was for, I asked for upgrade she said no, I’m on camera. She was very confused. Did not work at all.

Did the usual drill to no avail. Nice clerk, and she seemed to “get it”, but she said the hotel was totally full. (Apparently from all the idiot optimists getting married on 8-8-08.) I kept the $20 and completed the transaction for the room type I’d booked.

No line when checking in on a Sat. afternoon, which is unusual. The clerk was friendly and I returned her friendliness in kind, trying to build a rapport in one minute. When asked for ID, I folded the $20 bill between my credit card and ID, slipping the edge of the folded bill out a little bit. “Do you have any complimentary upgrades available?” She saw the money and had a big smile on face and laughed a little. “I can’t take your money. The only upgrade available would be an additional $50.”