I probably didn’t try this under ideal circumstances, but it didn’t work. I arrived at the Venetian at about 11:00 a.m. I was directed to a female check-in agent (no choice), who wasn’t particularly friendly to begin with. When I gave her the sandwich, she cut me off as I began my polite request for an upgrade with a very curt “Do you need me to make change for that?” I told her that no, I didn’t need change, and quickly jammed the $20 back in my pocket. I politely asked about an upgrade anyway. She didn’t say anything, tapped some keys for about 20 seconds, then told me that the hotel was very full and that she couldn’t do anything for me. I was extremely polite and pleasant throughout, but she actually seemed pissed that I had even tried the trick, then seemed committed to embarrassing me about the whole thing. One thing that may have played a role — I don’t know — is that she had agents on either side of her who might well have noticed had she pocketed the $20. Oh, well.

She gave my 20 back and still upgraded the room. It would have cost me $40 more per night if i had booked it that way

Handed the clerk the CC,20,DL sandwich and asked if I could get a complimentary upgrade. He took the 20 and said, “I think I can help you. Give me a chance to earn the money you gave me.” He said he was going back to check something, but then instead, he called someone else and asked if he could get an upgrade for a very nice guest he had.

After typing in a few more things, he gave me a Standard Suite room like I had reserved, but on the 32nd floor (facing the back though). He also gave me a $15 slot credit. So, for a $5 investment I earned a much higher floor than I would likely have had otherwise. The room was enormous anyway, I don’t know what I would’ve needed a bigger one for!

Checkin time at 4pm was all packed. Got moved to 2nd stair for checkin.
Waited a good 20 min for my turn…
Slipped the $20 between DL and CC and asked for complimentary upgrades.
Was told upgraded from 8th to 19th floor.
Well, I think it was worth it!

I stayed at two hotels on my recent trip. At both hotels, I placed a $20.00 bill between my driver’s license and credit card. I then asked if there were any complimentary upgrades available.
At Mandalay Bay, the hotel clerk immediately returned the $20.00 saying that unfortunately the hotel was all sold out of suites. She did give me a room on a high floor with a nice view of the Strip.
At the Venetian, the clerk said “absolutely” to my inquiry about a room upgrade. He scooped up the $20.00 bill and made it disappear faster than David Copperfield or Lance Burton could have done. He looked at his computer for a few seconds, wrote something down and said he had to go the back for a minute. When he returned, he said he was able to upgrade me to a newly renovated suite on the 27th floor with a view of the Strip. I do not know know what I would have gotten had I not offered the tip, because the upgraded room was the same category as the booked room. However, the room was gorgeous with three flat panel televisions, remote control blinds and a view of Treasure Island and the Mirage.

I am not sure if this is considered a real success, but perhaps it was also because I requested for the strip view on high floors, so I didn’t get the Venezia upgrade. However, the guy put me on the 32nd floor with strip view, and the room was newly remodeled. I guess I considered it a success since I rarely see anyone using that last bank of elevators (so I felt a bit exclusive walking in there and using the elevator to my 32nd floor hehe). From my room, we can almost see the top of the Venetian building (I guess penthouses are all that’s left above us?). Oh, and this was on a complimentary 2-night room that Venetian offered me, so I don’t know if that weighs into their decision of how to upgrade you…Overall, we were very satisfied with what we got, though.

We got in about 3pm. It was busy on a Friday. We went to check in, I had a $20 between my CC & DL. I asked the Lady behind the desk if they had any complementary upgrades, she smiled as she saw the $20 & asked if a 1BR suite with a strip view would be ok. It worked great! We will try it again next trip!

I honestly don’t know if it worked, but the clerk was very nice and gave us 8 keys for our room.

she clearly knew the drill. she offered a few options and i asked for her recommendation. we’re in one of the new towers with a view of the strip and close to the elevator. the view is nice, but having stayed half a mile from the elevator previously, the access is definately worth it.