Don’t know the clerk’s details since I actually got a friend to do the $20 trick because she was arriving before me. She was a little nervous, but understood what to do. Worked like a charm, she said the clerk knew exactly what was going on. We got our room on the penthouse floor with a great view overlooking the strip and siren’s cove. The fireworks from the Sirens show exploded right outside our window (we thought this was awesome since we were only beginning our nights at 11PM, would have been extremely frustrating otherwise). Also got free champagne. Cheap stuff with a plastic screw top rather than a cork, but surprisingly good. I’ve definitely paid good money for worse champagne. The label was “Wycliff” or something similar, can’t really remember too many details from that night. . .

FWIW–many people have debated whether $20 is “enough” for upgrades at nicer hotels. From speaking to people in the hotel industry in Vegas (not clerks themselves, but friends of people who are clerks, so take it as speculation that seems to make lots of sense) they say that clerks at most hotels are allotted a few “nice” rooms to give away, usually to appease an unhappy customer. They are more than happy to give them away for $20 as long as they have them left. This seems pretty consistent with peoples’ experiences here, where it seems that availability is the limiting factor rather than the amount of the tip. $20 seems pretty standard, even for stays as long as 3-4 days and for nicer hotels. More would probably only help if you’re really trying for a specific type of suite that you know isn’t usually given away, or if your stay is a week or longer. Even in those cases, I wouldn’t think that more than doubling your $20 tip would necessarily double your chances of getting what you want.

As we were waiting in line, one of the registration clerks had barked at a guest that she “wasn’t ready for him yet” – unfortunately, because of the way the line moved, we got her; “Ms.Friendly.” Had the $20 ready to go – she seemed to change her ‘tude and was pretty friendly. She offered us a “strip view” – who needs a view? (Though in retrospect a view of the show might’ve let us see it in comfort). We said “o.k.” but really let her see how we didn’t think that was worth it. She then typed a little more and offered us a “penthouse” room, which needed the key card to get to, and had 15 foot ceilings. Meh. It was o.k., probably better (slightly) than the room we were going to get. She told us it was $40 a day more, and that we were getting a bargain. We were hoping for more, but at least it worked.

Came in on Sat during a busy weekend..(World Poker Main Event). Walk up to counter looking who would be the victim i could try it on. Notice a asian girl there, perfect-me being asian. Greeted with hello, and stated to her that I chose TI instead of Mirage. She thank me, without anymore delay, I asked if there was any comp upgrades for wedding anniv. She stated there was no suites available, thats when I handed her the 20 between cc and license. She told the card and put the 20 in her keyboard. She stated looking on her pc and stated there was a panoramic room available with strip view. We were also offer bottle of Champ. I said room would be perfect, the 20 disappeared. Room is pretty nice 22 floor, view of Wynn. The only thing i dont know is if our standard room we got comp anyways had a panoramic view or not. At the time of the reservation, i asked for strip view. Since it was free, they probably gave me a view of the garage. I will do this again.
thanks,

Originally reserved a deluxe (standard) room as part of a package with Travelocity. When checking in I followed “How to Do $20 Trick.” The clerk was young and seemed a little nervous at first but knew what to do. He asked for my patience as it was going to take a little time to see what was available. He gave me a couple of options, I settled on a room on the 31st floor with a panoramic view of the south strip – it was awesome! In addition he gave us a complimentary bottle of champagne.

I slipped the front desk clerk a $20 and asked if there were any complimentary upgrades available as we were celebrating our engagement. He smiled, took the $20 and immediately set us up in a panoramic view room on the 32nd floor. It was a gorgeous room with a view of the sirens show/fireworks. Would definitely do it again.

Showed up at the hotel around 10:30am. Had paid for a regular deluxe room. 5 nights. There was a jewelry convention in town across at the Venetian and the hotel was packed so I didn’t hope for too much. Slipped a $20 between my ID and credit card to “Wendy” and asked if there was any complimentary upgrades to a suite. I explained that my girlfriend was flying in later that day and I was going to surprise her. Wendy separated the ID and the credit card and left the $20 under my ID. She checked but explained that there were no suites but to let her check some more. After looking for a few minutes she gave me a room with a corner strip view on the 29th floor. She then slipped the $20 into her hand then into her pocket and gave me my cards back. When I got to the room one window looked at the Venetian the other looked at the Mirage. She also comped me a free bottle of champaign. The others I went with wound up with rooms on the 8th and 14th floor looking at the Fashion Mall. Well worth the $20 tip.

We got an older guy with a mustache named Leland I think at the check in desk. We asked if there were any available room upgrades and I had $20 in view while I was holding my license. He said no, I kept the money, and we got the 19th floor, non-smoking, king-size deluxe to be ready at 3 PM.

We went back to the check out desk at 2 PM and asked the young guy there if our room was ready. He said no but got us a room on the 18th floor, non-smoking, king-size deluxe but with a strip view. It wasn’t much of an upgrade so I didn’t tip him. Regardless, we loved our room, we couldn’t smell any smoke and the view was great.

My fiance gave clerk his name, then handed her his drivers liscense and credit card with a folded $20 in between and sticking out. Said, “We are here celebrating our engagement, do you have any complementary upgrades available?” She took the $20 out, didn’t try to hide it, and told us within a few seconds that she had a strip view room available on the 31st floor. (Normally an additional $20/day). We said that would be great. A few minutes later, she said she could do even better and offered the panoramic view room (normally an additional $40/night) – a corner room with windows on 2 walls to see even more of the strip, on the 26th floor. We took that, and she even told us to call room service for a complimentary bottle of champagne. This was easily a $150 deal for $20 bucks – and turned out to be the best gamble we made 🙂

Worked like a charm. Got the end room in the north wing on the 29th floor. Great views of Encore and Palazzo construction, as well as the remains of Stardust (R.I.P.). Was also offered the champagne, but never claimed it. So easy! Wish I had tried this on my many other trips!

I was down $10K. I had just finished emptying out the last of my savings account at the ATM, with just enough money left to pay for a single room before beginning my new career as a homeless man, when I tried the $20 trick. I was upgraded to the master suite. What a view! The room was decked out. It was a great way to end my weekend of drinking and gambling away mine and my wife’s savings. I did a final line of coke and some $39 whore that I found on a flyer, then stole two robes from the bathroom and sold them on ebay.