In honor of the city to which we first traveled together and that encouraged us to start the blog two years ago, we thought today’s tip should be one we used in Las Vegas. On the most recent trip (this week), one of us was lucky enough to attend a convention in Las Vegas for work, so the hotel, airfare and meals were paid for. Since the trip was practically free, we decided it was finally time to try the fabled $20 trick in which you give the agent at the hotel check-in counter $20 in hopes of getting an upgrade.

We had thought about trying this many times before, but as we often book hotels as part of a package or through a discount site, we weren’t sure if the agent would just laugh at us since even with an extra $20, we were still getting a huge deal. But after having read a lot about trying this on all corners of the Internet and even real books, it seemed worth trying, and since Vegas is all about gambling, it was a good way to kick off the trip.

One of the tips that we had read is to try to get a feel for the different agents currently working, if there are multiple like there usually is in Vegas, to try to size them up to see who seems experienced and therefore more comfortable and used to providing upgrades. We lucked out in that we didn’t have to let someone go in front of us and pretend to be looking for something in our purse or check our phone in order to try to get helped by the desired person, as we had a pretty experienced looking guy when it was our turn at the Aria. Per protocol, he asked for an ID and credit card, so we slipped the $20 bill in between the two, smiled big and passed it over. He placed the $20 on the counter and we tried to be as pleasant and chatty as possible as he said he would see what he could do for us in terms of a room. Since the $20 sat on the counter while he typed in the info from our ID and credit card we weren’t really sure if that was some kind of denial, so there were some nerves, but at the end he said, “since you have been so nice, I was able to upgrade you to a deluxe view room.”

Those were the words we were waiting to hear! While views can cost a pretty penny, we were able to get an upgrade that provided us with a view of the CityCenter property, along with the Monte Carlo pool and MGM Grand.

Maybe next time we’ll try a $50 and see if we can get a suite, although that would really start cutting into our gambling money. Have you used the trick? Let us know if it worked for you!

Yes, nighttime pictures would have been better, but by the evening hours, photo skills had diminished slightly.