Las Vegas

[HotJambalaya]

Crossflow Kid said:

Honestly, where are you getting your information from?
A guest expresses certain preferences and you're suggesting the hotel and/or tour operator just ignores it all and gives them whatever's next? I thought the US was meant to be the home of customer service...
If a room is specified as having a Strip view, I can't quite see how the hotel can then offer much else without incurring some kind of negative feedback.

I'm getting my information from staying in vegas between 3-8 times a year for the past 11 years, numerous hotel managers, check in supervisors, and telephone booking agents, as well as the disclaimers on the special requests box when you make bookings for vegas hotels online. The US may be the home of customer service, but vegas is the home of money talks.

I'm not quite sure where you think the room in question is specified as having a strip view, he only said he asked for it in the special requests box. Just requesting it doesn't make it happen, if it does perhaps I'll request an elephant be waiting in my room to assist with the unpacking.

These vegas hotels have thousands of rooms, do you really think there's a little office somewhere with people juggling all these special requests and pre-defining rooms for customers?

The requests appear on the screen that the check in agent will be looking at during checkin, and he will try to accommodate the requests, straightforward ones being smoking/non and high/low floors.

[anonymous-user]

HotJambalaya said:

These vegas hotels have thousands of rooms, do you really think there's a little office somewhere with people juggling all these special requests and pre-defining rooms for customers?

No, what there is is a database which holds a profile for each room (ie. Has it got a fountain view) then when someone asks for "a fountain view room" the check in clerk clicks on a little box that says "fountain view" and all those rooms flagged as having the aforementioned fountain view will appear on:

HotJambalaya said:

the screen that the check in agent will be looking at during checkin

It's it's not rocket science. That's more Florida and Houston than Las Vegas.

HotJambalaya said:

he will try to accommodate the requests, straightforward ones being smoking/non and high/low floors.

So it is worth requesting then, along with a $20 reminder especially as, and you say so yourself, Vegas is where money ($20) talks
Make your mind up
I don't buy this "No point trying, you just get what you're given" approach, and suspect your familiarity with Vegas has jaundiced your view of the place to the extent that any little extras are now lost on you where they may not be on others.

Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 12th April 17:11

Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 12th April 17:15

[MajorProblem]

If it was me I would ask if any complimentary upgrades are available, dependant on what you get, tip accordingly. I'd be looking at tipping around $100 if they sort you out.

$20 or telling them your getting married / honeymoon etc they seen this bullst on a daily basis. Don't try to be a cheapskate in Vegas - it won't work and you'll have a miserable time.

[anonymous-user]

MajorProblem said:

If it was me I would ask if any complimentary upgrades are available, dependant on what you get, tip accordingly. I'd be looking at tipping around $100 if they sort you out.

....and then find out they've given you the same grade room, just with a view that they don't actually charge a premium for?
(Allegedly)
Easy money for someone!

[krunchkin]

Lolling at the poster who thinks he's high rolling it around Vegas by handing out twenty buck tips.

[anonymous-user]

Who said anything about high rolling? You're suggsting chucking another $100 or so at a room that's only gonna cost a couple of hundred to start with?
It's all relative.

And WTF is "Lolling"? Are you 15?

Anyway, since the thread has now degenerated in to a "I can tip more than you" contest, I'm off

[HotJambalaya]

Crossflow Kid said:

So it is worth requesting then, along with a $20 reminder especially as, and you say so yourself, Vegas is where money ($20) talks
Make your mind up
I don't buy this "No point trying, you just get what you're given" approach, and suspect your familiarity with Vegas has jaundiced your view of the place to the extent that any little extras are now lost on you where they may not be on others.

You seem to be having a great deal of comprehension problems here. You initially highlighted my post saying "rooms are allocated on arrival" and you seemed to have a problem with that, when you wrote directly after quoting that "Honestly, where are you getting your information from?"

I don't disagree at all with your point about the database concerning rooms, types, views, categories etc, thats exactly what there is.. However, they are all still allocated during the checkin process. Having made a request that you want a high floor room DOES NOT mean that one is especially put aside for you. It means when you arrive at the hotel and start checking in, the agent sees that you've requested one and might try and fit you into those requests, if 500 people before you have all requested one also, you're not going to get it. I never said it isn't worth requesting, it is, but it makes zero difference requesting it on a booking made 12 months in advance, or just as you're checking in in person.

My second point, that you seem to also be having an inordinate amount of trouble grasping, is a view really isn't a ROOM upgrade its (if you really want to call it something) a VIEW upgrade.

And please don't inaccurately write

Crossflow Kid said:

and you say so yourself, Vegas is where money ($20) talks

If you'll take the time to look back over what I've written (this time reading instead of pedantically attempting to find discrepancies to illustrate just what a smart little chap you are), I at absolutely no time suggested tipping $20. In fact you'll find quotes like:

Im just saying the $20 trick isn't $20 anymore
$20 isn't going to cut it, try $50

Crossflow Kid said:

I don't buy this "No point trying, you just get what you're given

(the above being in reference to special requests, not the $20 tip trick)

Good, as you'll also notice from my posts I never said not to try, I just said it won't make a difference based on the way room allocation works


So to recap once again for you (I'm assuming you're the sort of person that needs a lot of repetition):

As I've said in approximately 4 posts now, YES, try, just not with $20.

Rooms are allocated on arrival and the agent will do his best to accommodate free requests.

You quote a lot of stuff I never said.

[krunchkin]

HotJambalaya said:

Crossflow Kid said:

So it is worth requesting then, along with a $20 reminder especially as, and you say so yourself, Vegas is where money ($20) talks
Make your mind up
I don't buy this "No point trying, you just get what you're given" approach, and suspect your familiarity with Vegas has jaundiced your view of the place to the extent that any little extras are now lost on you where they may not be on others.

You seem to be having a great deal of comprehension problems here. You initially highlighted my post saying "rooms are allocated on arrival" and you seemed to have a problem with that, when you wrote directly after quoting that "Honestly, where are you getting your information from?"

I don't disagree at all with your point about the database concerning rooms, types, views, categories etc, thats exactly what there is.. However, they are all still allocated during the checkin process. Having made a request that you want a high floor room DOES NOT mean that one is especially put aside for you. It means when you arrive at the hotel and start checking in, the agent sees that you've requested one and might try and fit you into those requests, if 500 people before you have all requested one also, you're not going to get it. I never said it isn't worth requesting, it is, but it makes zero difference requesting it on a booking made 12 months in advance, or just as you're checking in in person.

My second point, that you seem to also be having an inordinate amount of trouble grasping, is a view really isn't a ROOM upgrade its (if you really want to call it something) a VIEW upgrade.

And please don't inaccurately write

Crossflow Kid said:

and you say so yourself, Vegas is where money ($20) talks

If you'll take the time to look back over what I've written (this time reading instead of pedantically attempting to find discrepancies to illustrate just what a smart little chap you are), I at absolutely no time suggested tipping $20. In fact you'll find quotes like:

Im just saying the $20 trick isn't $20 anymore
$20 isn't going to cut it, try $50

Crossflow Kid said:

I don't buy this "No point trying, you just get what you're given

(the above being in reference to special requests, not the $20 tip trick)

Good, as you'll also notice from my posts I never said not to try, I just said it won't make a difference based on the way room allocation works


So to recap once again for you (I'm assuming you're the sort of person that needs a lot of repetition):

As I've said in approximately 4 posts now, YES, try, just not with $20.

Rooms are allocated on arrival and the agent will do his best to accommodate free requests.

You quote a lot of stuff I never said.

Not taking sides with old Frank Sinatra and his 20 buck "reminders" here - but having recently returned from the Bellagio - surely a strip view room on any floor would be in a higher price band, and be considered an upgrade, from the rooms out back where you get a view of maintenance ducts and the freeway (although the mountains in the distance are nice)?

[krunchkin]

Crossflow Kid said:

Who said anything about high rolling? You're suggsting chucking another $100 or so at a room that's only gonna cost a couple of hundred to start with?
It's all relative.

And WTF is "Lolling"? Are you 15?

Anyway, since the thread has now degenerated in to a "I can tip more than you" contest, I'm off

I'm suggesting handing check in staff at somewhere like Bellagio or MGM or Cosmopolitan a 20 dollar bill, and giving them a little wink, as though it's going to make you look like a player who means business and deserves an upgrade is nothing short of laughable - and they will be cringing / laughing at you as you walk away. Maybe 20 bucks to the valet to make sure he remembers you, or to a bartender who's made a decent job of your favourite cocktail - but to secure a room upgrade?

[Martin_M]

Well this thread has rapidly gone downhill. Thanks to those of you who have provided some really valuable info - my fiancee and I now have an impressive itinerary and a growing document full of hints and tips.

As for the Palazzo - $20 dollar 'trick' or not, hopefully we'll love it, not that we plan to spend a lot of time in the room. The reviews appear to be excellent on the whole so we will keep our fingers crossed.

If anyone has further hints and tips regarding attractions or eateries please feel free to post up.

Cheers and thanks again,

Martin

[Original Poster]

Just about any restaurant in the Cosmo is great, especially the Wicked Spoon for breakfast.

[Viper_Larry]

The $20 trick worked for us at the Bellagio last week. Handed over $20 with my ID and asked for any complimentary or fountain view upgrades (we just had a standard room booked). She gave us a fountain view room at the front of the hotel - awesome room! However, this was at 3pm Sunday afternoon, at 9pm when my sister checked in, they had nothing available and the trick didn't work. Guess a lot depends on the time you check in and what they have available then. It was so much busier than I remember from 10 years ago though, Vegas is never quiet...

[Martin_M]

Viper_Larry said:

The $20 trick worked for us at the Bellagio last week. Handed over $20 with my ID and asked for any complimentary or fountain view upgrades (we just had a standard room booked). She gave us a fountain view room at the front of the hotel - awesome room! However, this was at 3pm Sunday afternoon, at 9pm when my sister checked in, they had nothing available and the trick didn't work. Guess a lot depends on the time you check in and what they have available then. It was so much busier than I remember from 10 years ago though, Vegas is never quiet...

Interesting...did your sister get the $20 back?

[anonymous-user]

HotJambalaya said:

You quote a lot of stuff I never said.

How's that then? I only "quoted" using the quote option as a reply, which automatically lifts what you post and adds it as a quote to any reply, so it would impossible to quote something you never said.
I think you might mean I've interpreted it wrong?
Anyway, next time I'm in Vegas (back end of June) I'm gonna carry on chucking $20 bills at people in a futile and apparently embarrassing attempt to gain favour, and have a bloody good laugh in the process and just possibly turn up trumps for being a naively cheerful Brit with the balls to try which has always worked well for me in the past. Perhaps local talent doesn't strike such a chord with the weary hoteliers of Las Vegas?
The key thing to take away is that I'm not a high roller, I don't claim to be, but at least I'm not kidding anyone.

[anonymous-user]

Original Poster said:

Just about any restaurant in the Cosmo is great, especially the Wicked Spoon for breakfast.

I'll second that. Only downside was they insist on showing you to a table instead of just letting you get on with it which causes a massive log-jam at the front desk whilst row upon row of tables are empty.....

[JMP86]

Stayed at the MGM a couple of times in November 2011 & 2013,

before we knew about $20 trick in 2011, we had 3 grand queens booked, we ended up with 13/14th floor 2 rooms with a strip view opposite NY NY looking down towards Excaliber/Luxor/Mandalay & 1 facing the airport all on the same corridor, luckily I had one of the strip views,

2013, this time knowing about the upgrade, we had 2 grand queens booked, asked at check in for an upgrade without slipping any money with the Card, we were given an upgrade to Executive queens on the top floor (one below skylofts)both with strip view looking up towards Aria/Cosmo etc, at that point we gave him $100 tip between the 4 of us, that then got our resort fees waived for the week, effectively saving us around $600 between the 2 rooms.

[Martin_M]

How much is the resort fee for 10 days?

[anonymous-user]

Martin_M said:

How much is the resort fee for 10 days?

Varies from hotel to hotel IIRC. Some are under $10pppn, others upwards of $25.

[JMP86]

MGM is $28 per night

[shirt]

just returned from a US trip with a few days in vegas.

thought. hmm, nonplussed. i can see the attraction for a stag do or birthday bash but as a destination it did nothing for me. the strip was like a bad mashup between dubai and blackpool with a ton of commercialism thrown in.

ate the first night at the michael mena pub in the mgm grand. beer was ok but the food was oversalted and the service was terrible.

had the bacchanalian buffet at caesers. so-so, nowhere near as good as expected but perhaps i was expecting too much.

pretty much the best meal we had was at the lotus of siam, located in a strip mall on west sahara street. go hungry, share everything and ask the waiter for recommendations.

found some excellent dive bars though. fremont street was good for bar hopping [atomic liquor, the beauty bar, the griffin etc] but try the doubledown if you want spit n sawdust and live bands. frankies tiki lounnge is also highly worth a visit.

had a mixed experience really. strip did nothing for me. some great places on the fringes but then that's not what vegas is about and LA does dive bars,m music and good food so much better.