kingalien

baccarat_king will chime in with more but don't expect a whole lot in comps with the current financial conditions hitting Vegas pretty hard. You may get a discounted room rate or even comped room for your stay but anything beyond that requires a lot of play on your part. So instead of "spend $$$" you may have to go with $$$$$ and more if you are thinking of comped shows, food and beverage, etc. And with room rates being so low it is more reasonable to just pay for it instead of playing to get it comped as it may cost more in the end.

As for the LA drive, it's quite boring actually. About 45 minutes from Vegas you'll hit the Nevada and California border where the last casinos will be then you have a 3+ hour drive to Los Angeles.

csgoalie

depends on your level of play and your definition of "lots of money"

I suspect that if you are betting at least $125/hand at BJ for lots of hours, you can get a host after the first day or so, and he'll take care of your room for a good piece of your hotel stay.

You could also play it as 2 trips to vegas rather than one long one. Venetian/Palazzo, for example, will give even low level gamblers like me 2-4 days of comped room, just for being a players' club member.

You could also try opening up a line of credit, that may help too....

sonofzeus

To city limits...maybe. To the beach...incalculable.

sonofzeus

You got the bottom line...do some research on your own.

luxury

Bringing this back to topic, I will try out the $20/$50 trick next weekend at the Venetian and the $20 trick at the Mirage... will report back how it goes/went

Kohoutek

"Grand Circle". Look into it.

Kohoutek

You're actually paying for a room?

If you're in on a comp, good luck with an upgrade. As noted by others, the trick usually doesn't work. But, YMMV.

frankhi

So I just booked a 1br tower suite at the mirage, which I'm paying for. In previous posts, it is advised that when trying the $20 trick you ask to be upgraded to a specific catagory. What is the next level of suites called? Thanks

Kohoutek

See http://www.mirage.com/hotel/

briankoenig

I'll save you some time: a 2br Tower Suite, a 1br Penthouse Suite, or a 2br penthouse suite.

I have previously tried the $20 trick while booked in a 1br tower suite. Requested a 2br Tower Suite, and the girl working tried her hardest and even had her manager see, but all 2br suites were booked.

While decorated in an old-school fashion, it is old-school classic not old-school pimpin. The TVs with VCR show the age the most. The room and view is very nice.

iamfrugal

Anyone used the 20$ trick in FLL ?LOts of frugal seniors abound.How about when checking into timeshares.Once at a FLL timeshare they offered to comp us a night because our second week at their sister property didn't kick in until a day later.We had fully planned to stay in a hotel near.It was aminor inconvenience.We appreciated it and put $20 in an envelope with a card and gave it to the supervisor who offered the extra night.At the time we were just out of the pool with no cash.It saved us at least 50 bucks.

luxury

Just tried this trick at the Venetian for a 3 night stay starting tonight. Gave $50 and was upgraded from a standard suite to a Bella View suite with 3rd person charges waived on a low convention rate. Am happy with this outcome.

bigrob

I go out to Vegas every year with two friends. The last two years, we've tipped $100 to the front desk to try for upgrades. Two years ago at the Bellagio, we went from a lakeview room to a Cypress Suite (3 nights--Thurs to Sunday). That was a great upgrade. Last year we went from a standard suite at the Palazzo to a really nice 1400 sq foot suite (sorry--don't remember the name).

Was out for the annual trip this past weekend at Encore. Tried the $100 tip and was shot down. We had a tower suite booked and the girl checking us in said she couldn't take it, but could upgrade us for $150 a night to a parlor suite if it became available. Given that a parlor suite was about $400 more a night than our tower suite, we took it figuring it was still a good deal. While we played blackjack at the pool waiting to see if one would be available, we each won well over $150, so when they called to tell us it had opened up and to come check in, we stopped at the cage, each cashed in $150, pooled the money and paid it up front immediately. Not $100, but still a pretty good deal.

luxury

Booked three 1 night reservations in a Tower Suite at the Mirage. The reason was to get the $80 F&B credit which was per reservation. Went early to check-in but room was not ready and this time did not ask for a "complimentary upgrade." The agent had to do a lot of work to link the 3 reservations and to ensure we did not have to check out each day AND still maintain our $80 per day F&B credits. As a thank you, gave him $5 palmed in a handshake.

When we returned to Invited Guest Check-in we had been upgraded to a 1 BR Penthouse suite. Not bad for $405 for 3 nights with $240 in F&B credits.

1apreferably

I caught a very early flight to SEA and upon arrival at the hotel was told that there would be a couple of hours wait for a room and there were five people waiting ahead of me.

$20 to the clerk and I was called in the coffee shop about 20 minutes later.