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.

Did not think it would work since it was Labor Day weekend, but i received a renovated suite with a strip view on the 16th floor. Awesome hotel, highly recommend it!!

I can’t be sure I got an upgrade cause who know what I would have gotten otherwise??? But I followed the protocol, adding that it was my birthday (which it was) and had a very pleasant chat with the hotel clerk. But she did spend some time looking for a room and offered me a suite with strip view. It was FANTASTIC.

3 nights complimentary offer from Venetian for a classic King @ Venetian Tower. I had a friendly Asian desk clerk. I asked politely if there was any room available closes to the pool which closes late at night (i knew before the trip it meant Venezia Tower). i was holding onto the $20 bill while asking. To be sure he saw it. He checked and offer me a King suite in Venezia. not a big upgrade, but I know a suite in this private tower costs more. My stay is comped from Venetian. can’t be too greedy. i am happy to have what i got. thx Venetian. it was a great experience. i will be back if i ever can afford the $500 per night room someday.

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

Worked like clockwork, put the Twenty between the CC and DL, and was given a 27th Floor Room with a nice view of Treasure Island, Trump Tower, and the Palazzo Tower.

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

I told the young lady that we were celebrating my wife’s birthday and our our 10th anniversary (belatedly). These, by the way are all true.
I asked her if it was possible to get an upgrade from my suite. She had requested my id earlier so I didn’t have the chance to put the $20 between the cc and id. Either way, I put it under the CC, but visible. She said she found me a room in the new Venetian tower and that I would like it a lot. She said it was $85 over what I had.
When I sat down in my computer to check prices, the price for the room was $399, against my $199 average that I paid for my suites via Priceline. Did it have a view of the strip? No. Did I care? No. I have been to LV once and stayed at the Aladdin with a view of the strip and the Bellagio fountains. On the first night it was like: “Oh my god, look at the fountains”. By the third night it was more like: “What? Again with the freaking fountains?. They make an explosion noise that you hear perfectly from the room accross. Since we were celebrating our anniversary, we really didn’t have a need to a view. So, all in all, it worked fine and maybe even better than I had thought. Now, I have to try the same thing in December, when I go for Celine Dion’s last concert….
Oh, and just to make one thing clear, my reservation WAS a Priceline reservation and the young lady did an upgrade regardless, so I don’t believe that not getting upgraded has anything to do with whether you do or don’t make the reservation via Priceline…

For a 6-night stay, I decided $50 was more appropriate than $20. It worked as my standard reservation (700 sq ft) was upgraded to a Rialto Suite (1100 sq ft) with a strip view on the 24th floor.

Needed to get three suites upgraded from the $139 special to something else, plus had an extra adult in one suite that I didn’t want to pay the additional $35/day for so went with $50 instead of the usually $20. No problem, got suites overlooking the pool garden 5th floor. Two were connecting the other just down the hall.