It was on a wednesday night @ 9:00p.m. I was skeptical whether it will work since it was my first time but when i approached the lady and she asked for my id and cc..i sandwiched the $20 in between and asked for a complimentary upgrade. She quickly looked @ the computer and said “Well you have a 400 ft standard room right now….how about i upgrade you to a 650 ft North tower suite @ the 27th floor. I was like “HELL YES” (in my mind of course)…

I don’t remember her name but i remember she was in her mid 20’s and shes from Costa Rica in her name tag.

So my family and I rolled in at just a little bit after 3pm and I parked in the North Tower parking garage. Walked aaalllll the way to the lobby, which was a good 5min+ walk. There was maybe close to 10 people at the regular line, so I hopped right in the HHonors VIP line, which had noone waiting. I was greeted by David, an elderly (60s?) Caucasian gentleman; there were 2 other reps nearby (a guy and a gal). He seemed pleasant. I slipped my $20 bill right b/w my DL and HHonors Amex and immediately asked if there was any suites available. He said no, but will look for the best avail room and he got us an oversized room. He said it had a “strip view” LOL. It wasn’t the strip, I was looking @ the Riviera! He pocketed the $20 and that was that. Got an “oversized” room on the 15th floor near the scenic elevator, and the walk to the pool was +/- 5min. We went with 3 other families and yeah, their rooms weren’t as big as ours. Ours had a sofa with extra chairs, a fridge, and (I didn’t measure it) but I guess a 37″ flat-screen tv. Oh yeah, don’t forget the $10 hotel credit for being eco-friendly and telling the housekeeping staff not to clean up your bed nor change your towels.

Arrived at the Hilton around 11:00a.m. with a friend . We both had booked our rooms with the same travel agency. I knew it was early and the rooms may not be ready. There was no one in line and we were motioned to by a woman clerk. I explained that we were traveling together and would like our rooms on the same floor and if possible an upgrade. When asked for I.D. and credit card we both presented the sandwich ($40.00 total). She acknowledeged the tip and went to work. She said had two newly remodeled rooms on the 14th floor, North Tower overlooking the Las Vegas Country Club. While not exactly next door we were only three rooms away from each other. Both of our rooms were identical. I think we may have been the first occupants as everything was brand new and fresh, plus a great view. These rooms were fantastic and no doubt the tip really worked! One other point…if you choose not to have daily maid service the Hilton will now give you a $10.00 daily credit which can be used anywhere in the hotel that day. It’s a nice option.

Arrived at the Hilton around 11:00a.m. with a friend . We both had booked our rooms with the same travel agency. I knew it was early and the rooms may not be ready. There was no one in line and we were motioned to by a woman clerk. I explained that we were traveling together and would like our rooms on the same floor and if possible an upgrade. When asked for I.D. and credit card we both presented the sandwich ($40.00 total). She acknowledeged the tip and went to work. She said had two newly remodeled rooms on the 14th floor, North Tower overlooking the Las Vegas Country Club. While not exactly next door we were only three rooms away from each other. Both of our rooms were identical. I think we may have been the first occupants as everything was brand new and fresh, plus a great view. These rooms were fantastic and no doubt the tip really worked! One other point…if you choose not to have daily maid service the Hilton will now give you a $10.00 daily credit which can be used anywhere in the hotel that day. It’s a nice option.

Booked a special that they had, arrive on Thursday and stay until Monday and get Sunday night free. So I booked the cheapest room($45 on Thurs. and $59 on Fri., Sat.) and arrived late (11:45pm) on Thursday. Only two clerks working. Got the female. Gave her my name and while she looked up my reservation I put the $20 sandwich on the counter and asked her if any comp. upgrades were available. Since I had my kids with me I asked her if she had anything with 3 beds. She said, “well we are booked this weekend but I can give you a bigger room with two beds and a rollaway.” I told her that was fine and as she continued to type, I ask her if she had any of the murphy bed rooms, since I knew they were bigger, and then she said that’s what I was getting but she continued to type and then came back with the key cards, 4 of them. So we went up to the room and tried two cards, they didn’t work but the third one did. Wow this was a room that was the size of two rooms with two murphy beds on one side and dining table, couch, and wet bar on the other and also had another entrance door. So now I was very happy but wondered why the other cards didn’t work. So I tried them on the other entrance door, but they didn’t work there either. So I looked at the card envelope again and saw that there was another room number on it. This was the room next to the parlor side of the room. So I tried the keys on that door and low and behold I also had the next connecting room which was a standard size room with a king bed. The wife and I had our own room and the kids had theirs for only $20 extra. Plus with the package, I also got a bunch of discount coupons and like others have said, if you don’t have them clean the room, you get a $5 food voucher each day. Since I really had two separate rooms, I got $10.

Got in about midnight after a late flight. This room was booked through a casino host as I was able to get my first two nights comped through player reward points.

Tried, but the hotel was booked solid. I figured he was probably BSing me, and continued to try to schmooze him, but then a couple of guys came in and I overheard their conversation with the clerk next to me, where they were told that the Hilton was completely full that night; they got turned away outright. Obviously no room existed to upgrade me to.

I didn’t lose my $20 over this, he was nice and I just pocketed the money, but in any case this ended in failure.

Checked in around 3 PM on a very busy Presidents’ Day weekend, so I wasn’t expecting a huge upgrade, just a modest one. Handed the clerk the sandwich and asked for a complimentary upgrade. She looked very hard for a few minutes and came up with a Superior room on a high floor with a strip view. These rooms are generally $25/night more expensive than the standard, so it is a modest upgrade but still a good value. I’ve had a 100% success rate at the LV Hilton (at least 5 times, see my other reviews) with this trick, so feel free to try it here.

Arrived at hotel after a 4 hour drive from Bakersfield at around 4pm on President’s Day / Valentine’s day weekend. The line to check-in was HUGE. But I saw there was a seperate line for Hilton HHonors members so jumped in there and there was only 2 people in front of me. Was pulled from the line to a back VIP room to check in there. Was unsure if I would have any luck since this was a back room for what appeared to be large groups or something, not a general public check-in area. It was a posh room with coffee and beverage bar, bottled waters, etc. The check in stations were desk level and you actually could sit comfortably across from your clerk. I already had the $20 ready between my ID and CC and handed to the clerk letting her know I was hoping they had some complimentary upgrades available. She saw the tip and seemed genuinely surprised at it, thanking me sincerely (I got the distinct impression this maybe this didn’t happen in this room that often or at least to her, maybe she was new). So she started looking and offered me to make myself comfortable with a beverage. She finished up and gave me a bunch of coupons for the in hotel restaurants. She thanked me again and gave me my keys. I got up to the room and it was nice but wasn’t what I would consider a suite. We were put into the North tower with a fantastic King bed. Room had a safe, a fridge and a well appointed bathroom.

We had friends joining us later that night. They checked in and they asked to be put next to us but the clerk said that we would have had to pay extra for the north tower. So they were put somewhere else. We all booked off the same site and paid the same ($70/night I think) but once I saw there room I knew we had received a decent upgrade. Their room had no fridge, 2 double-beds and the bathroom was not nearly as nice.

It worked for us!

Checked in about 3 PM on a very slow Sunday. Only 1 clerk working. I smiled, handed her the sandwich and asked for any complimentary upgrades. She seemed very happy and upgraded me to a nice superior room on a high floor. I’ve gotten better rooms before, but many of the suites were being used by companies for the big CES convention later in the week and I was staying several days. Still, I’ve never failed to get an upgrade at the LV Hilton.

Checked in about 4 pm and approached the clerk and asked her about possible upgrades and showed the $20.00 sandwich. She said the hotel was full and had no upgrades. As a matter of fact she said all they had were rooms with double beds and smoking rooms. I pocketed the twenty and she typed away. I then asked her how bad the smoking rooms smelled of cigarettes. She said never mind, I found you another room and this one is a room with a refrigerator and a deluxe room. I would have gotten the room without a tip but I gave her $10.00 anyway and thanked her.