airborn

Searched the FF and do not find anything outside the Las Vegas Forum. Planning a two week trip to three difefrent islands. I am curious if the $20 dollar trick, leaving a folded $20 bill between drivig licence and credit card to the front desk clerk at the time of check also works in Hawaii. Would be nice to be upgraded to suite/sea View/sea front/high floor/corner etc...

Anybody willing to share their experience on this matter??

kaukau

Yeah it works. On O'ahu, we got upgraded to a corner suite once for a bag of beef jerky we brought back from Vegas for that exact purpose; but on the Big Island we got shot down for an upgrade for a box of Krispy Kremes we brought over from Maui - they did, however, send us up a bottle of champagne with a thank you note!

As a veteran plier of the $20 trick, let me offer this advice: don't be too coy about it: it might not get picked up on by the desk clerk. We say right up front to the desk clerk at check-in: "By the way, if you can find any complimentary upgrades for us that you think will improve our stay here, we'd like to tip you a $20 for your efforts."

Tipping in general for service is standard in hotels; front desk clerks don't get tipped that often; they often give complimentary upgrades to complainers/whiners/ungrateful creeps who tip them nothing: why shouldn't they give a complimentary upgrade to a nice person who offers them a tip?

Hope this helps,

Aloha kakou!

P.S. Forgot the best: on Lana'i, we got upgraded from garden view to ocean view for an 18 pc. bucket of KFC we brought over from Lahaina!!!!!




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nishimark

I tried it once with a 5, but got downgraded. YMMV.

linsj

kaukau, I applaud your creativity and thinking outside the box (or the bill).

kaukau

Mahalo, linsj.

You are very kind.

Aloha kakao.

A hui hou!

mobil11030

We'll be staying at the Westin Ka'anapali Villas the first week of April. I might try the $20 trick. Does it work at the timeshare properties? We've got an island view studio in the North villas reserved on a discounted rate right now.

KFC and Krispy Kremes... LMAO.

PBQ

Mobil,
We check into the Westin Ka'anapali on April 2nd. I'll dare my husband to offer and ask. I'll let you know.

mobil11030

HA... we check in on 4/1. I'll let YOU know.

tusphotog

FWIW it worked for me at the All'i tower at the HHV in Waikiki. Wasn't an earth shattering upgrade, but I was able to get a pool/partial ocean view instead of the garden view. I wouldn't have even thought of doing it in Hawaii until I saw this thread.

Good luck, and thanks to the advice and suggestions in this forum, I had a great trip to HNL. ^

Boraxo

I would be very upset if it works at SPG properties. We were charged 3500 points per night to upgrade from a crappy room (the cash upgrade alternative was $190/nt). So a $20 bribe would seem to be paltry by comparison.

turtlegirl

Yes, but the $20 goes to the front desk clerk, your points do not.

thenelsons

My husband calls me shameless for trying these tactics but I have a decent success rate with asking nicely/begging and even better with the "tip" technique BUT I am thinking that if the stay is a week or longer that I'd try $50 since it will be well worth your money in most instances. Seeing these tactics in print makes me feel normal I HAVE to ask though.....how do you finesse the clerk with KFC? Do you just come out and say " I have this mighty fine bucket of breasts and thighs- if you could just find me a room upgrade" ??

DenverBrian

Methinks it's a function of the lack of a KFC on Lanai. If there's no McDonalds on Lanai, then a Big Mac might function in a pinch.

Boraxo

Yes, but in Vegas everyone has their hand out (see the recent Vegas blog post in the LA Times) and it is tacitly condoned by management.

In other places you get fired for taking tips when it is company policy to upsell the customer to an upgrade (at SPG resorts they are pushing upgrades at $190/nt on the Hawaii properties)

turtlegirl

I realize everyone in Vegas is used to tipping and it's condoned. In Hawaii I'm sure they're instructed to upsell the rooms. Do you think the front desk clerks would be fired if they accepted a tip for room upgrade? If so, i don't want to tempt them...