The $20 tip trick is literally that, a tip to try and get an upgrade on a room at check in. Many visitors to Vegas have had success doing this, many haven't....it's really circumstances dictating on the time, day and month you check in and whether your check in clerk will except the bribe...I mean tip!!!

There is an almighty thread on the Fat Wallet forum about the $20 trick. Try putting it into google and see what comes up. You will find a list of hotels, deals of whether they were successful or not with the $20 trick, upgrade received etc etc. It's a good read, but ultimately it's up to you to decide on whether you are going to try it or not. Personally, I just prefer to ask for an upgrade and see what is offered. In the NYNY for example I was offered a room upgrade for $5 a night, or a suite for an extra $25 a night. At the MGM I have requested a strip view room twice and been succesful once, but then again the back view out of the MGM of the mountains is equally stunning and doesn't have row upon row of cranes spoiling the landscape like the strip view does.

My theory is that if you really want a room other than a standard room in Vegas you should book that outright....but many will disagree with me.

As for getting value for money in Vegas it all depends on what you have planned. If you are going to gamble (not such a dumb question these days) definitely sign up for your hotels players card. Also shop around on the net for promotions being run by other hotels. The A List Players Club at the Planet Hollywood gives you a free booklet of vouchers (free drinks, bogof drinks, discount in restaurants, free entry to tournaments etc) and also $5 free slot play. The Wynn gives you $10 free slot as does the Venetian and Golden Nugget. Aside from gaming, utilise the Tix4tonite outlets to get cheap show tickets and restaurant deals ($9.99 Paris buffet breakfast is a good one), also try http://www.goldstar.com before you leave as they often have reduced and sometimes free shows. http://www.travelzoo.com is another to look at for show tickets.

Restaurants are plentiful in Vegas as you would expect and you really can spend as much or as little as you want. Keep an eye out in any of the copious free booklets and magazines you find in hotels/taxis/shops etc for discount vouchers, but don't expect anything other than chains to be offering that much.

Finally, transportation around Vegas. If you don't have a car and want to use the Monorail it is worth looking on eBay for vouchers. There are often bogof deals, books of 6/10 rides etc being offered by one particular eBayer which will save you money. Also, depending on the time of year of your visit you may find monorail deals in the booklets and magazines already mentioned.

Question remains, when are you going and where are you looking at staying?

HTH

Hi Claire,

To be honest, this subject has been covered many times with some excellent advice given. Just do a search on 'Vegas' on here and you'll find a lot of threads with handy info.

Just on the $20 tip - I've never done it, to be honest I'd be a bit embarrased trying it and getting blown out! But what I always try to do, if staying in a hotel, in Vegas or another country, I always drop them an email a couple of months before I go saying that it's our anniversary or some other celebration and ask if they could possibly upgrade us to the next level to make the stay even more special and memorable. You'd be surprised how often this works! The best result we've had yet was in a nice hotel in Barcelona, it wasn't long after my birthday that we went so my wife sent them a mail claiming it was a secret birthday treat. When we arrived we had a cake and champagne in our room (room was ok but not great) My wife then had a call from the Customer Servs manager asking if she could go down to reception - she went down and the lady from cust. servs was very apologetic saying she had forgotten it was my birthday and she wanted to move us to another room. My wife came back all excited and said 'just act surprised when she comes up'.
The CS manager knocked on the door shortly afterwards and took us up about 10 floors to a suite which was fantastic. It would have cost over £200 extra a night but we got it free, for our 4 nights there.
It's always worth an email!!

Cheers,

TC

http://www.frontdesktip.com

luci

You will find a few different opinions on the $20 trick.

Some say it's great, some say it's wrong because it's a bribe, some say if you ask nicely you might get it free.

So it's up to you. You should check the past success rate on the hotel you're staying at to see if it will get you anything. Some hotels don't have enough different room types for this to make a big difference. For example the Orleans has normal rooms and suites. I doubt $20 would get you a suite as they're much more expensive. I just ask nicely for a certain view etc and I'm happy with that. We did do the trick at Planet Hollywood a couple of times though and we were happy with the result!

Any other specific questions let us all know and we will happily help. It's very hard just to give you general advice, and it really is worthwhile doing a search on the forum and see the older posts. A lot of the same things will still apply, and if you're not sure ask! There are a few Vegas fanatics on here!

Not used the $20 dollar trick in Hotels but have used it at the car rental - not at the desk, wait until you are outside with the guy who hands the cars out. The whole point is DONT give them the money, just make sure they see it is available, if you get the upgrade then pay up, if nothing available it goes ack in your pocket.

The $20 Trick worked for us at the Excalibur. As soon as I asked if they had an complemetary upgrades and showed the receptionist the money, she bent over backwards, upgrading us to a nice widescreen tower 2 room with a great view of the roller coaster at New York New York on the 27th floor. Well worth the money, call it what you want, I don't really care if it saves me money.

Sue