Have you ever tipped for an upgrade?

[Kittyblue]

I'm thinking specifically of hotel rooms, but it can be for anything. I never have, but I know people who have been put in a better room for doing it. I'm usually too picky to leave it up to chance, I know exactly what I want and I'd worry too much I wouldn't get it.

 

[Micca]

I don't think so. Years ago we'd ask for an upgrade at WDW but never got one, and then I learned that it's not cool to even ask--you're getting it without asking, or you're not getting it.

 

[JimMIA]

I've found that loyalty programs sometimes yield upgrades. For example, I'm a Hilton Honors member. When I book a hotel room online, quite often it will give me a choice of an upgraded room at the same price.

 

[bcla]

Never. My wife suggested that I do that a few times. She heard that slipping a $20 bill might do the trick. However, I've never done it. I've still gotten upgrades even without it. We've gotten upgrades before, including in Las Vegas, NYC, and Anaheim. I have never slipped any money for anything.

Heck - I've been some places where tipping for service was seen as gauche. We were in the Vancouver area when we had something to eat but had not serving ware. So I called the front desk and just asked if they could bring a fork and plate. Someone came by, and when I tried to slip a Toonie, he said that it wasn't necessary.

 

[low-key]

All the time in Vegas, Vegas is the oe city in America where cash is still king, you supposed to give a 20 dollars when you hand over cc. I do 40, and 90 percent of the time, get great room. But as you know Sandi, now with social distancing you got t check in on line and cant do that for a little while longer

 

[MillauFr]

All the time in Vegas, Vegas is the oe city in America where cash is still king, you supposed to give a 20 dollars when you hand over cc. I do 40, and 90 percent of the time, get great room. But as you know Sandi, now with social distancing you got t check in on line and cant do that for a little while longer

Yep. $20 at the Mirage would always get you at least a one level upgrade. I would always book the cheapest rooms overlooking the freeway. $20 would get a pool view room and sometimes a Strip view room.

 

[Kittyblue]

All the time in Vegas, Vegas is the oe city in America where cash is still king, you supposed to give a 20 dollars when you hand over cc. I do 40, and 90 percent of the time, get great room. But as you know Sandi, now with social distancing you got t check in on line and cant do that for a little while longer

Nope, your charms and cash won't sway a kiosk

 

[bcla]

I've found that loyalty programs sometimes yield upgrades. For example, I'm a Hilton Honors member. When I book a hotel room online, quite often it will give me a choice of an upgraded room at the same price.

That's not quite in the category of where one might try to slip some money to the desk clerk though. I just sort of assume that the clerks know what they're doing, and I'd hate it if someone got in trouble or even fired. Being nice to a customer is one thing, but quid pro quo is another. And often the difference in rate was less than most people slip to a hotel clerk unless it's maybe an upgrade to a suite.

I got an upgrade to the Lanai deck floor at the Hilton Anaheim once. I can't even say I was a big spender since it was at a $59/night national promotional rate. Seems more like they had a lot of empty rooms and just felt like it would be a treat for their customers.

Sometimes I've gotten weird deals online that a manager later told me were mistakes. I booked a room on Priceline (knew the exact hotel) where it said parking was included in a graphic. But later when I checked my reservation the graphic was gone, but I had saved a PDF of my original reservation and the desk clerk asked the manager what to do. Even though it was a mistake the manager honored it. Another time there was some special deal with supposedly $80 worth of gift cards at a local mall and restaurant. The rate was $20 more than the AAA rate. When I came in the manager was specifically there because of all the people who booked that rate. Said it was a corporate error but I would get the discount rate without the gift cards.

 

[disneychrista]

I found that checking in late has gotten me an upgraded room, no tip required. It wasn't an intentional thing but I checked in late twice and both times I got upgraded from a basic/standard room to a suite.

 

[bcla]

I found that checking in late has gotten me an upgraded room, no tip required. It wasn't an intentional thing but I checked in late twice and both times I got upgraded from a basic/standard room to a suite.

That's happened to me when I checked in WAY, WAY late. For some reason they sold the last standard room in the hotel but had plenty of suites. But everything looked well maintained but rather old.

 

[RedAngie]

Not for a hotel room, but occasionally to the maitre d’ to get a good table at a casino showroom or nightclub.

 

[tvguy]

Not for a hotel room, but occasionally to the maitre d’ to get a good table at a casino showroom or nightclub.

Tipped $20 at the check in kiosk at Harrahs casino showroom at Lake Tahoe. Got an amazing table close to the stage. The performers were Debbie Reynolds and Don Rickles. My wife's Aunt got picked on by Rickles during the show.

 

[pearlieq]

I wish I was that slick, but I'm just way too awkward to pull it off.

 

[robinb]

I did a million years ago in Vegas. We tipped for better seating at a classic showgirl show. I think the show was called “Splash”. There was topless diving and swimming lol.

 

[bcla]

I might still get minor upgrades like once a suite at a casino hotel even though we reserved and paid for a standard room rate. It was weird at a trip to Vegas to stay at the SLS (now back to being The Sahara). I booked the rooms for our group and it was their basic rooms, which looked bizarre in photos. It had plastic furniture and exposed concrete. They were going for some sort of industrial chic. But when we checked in (all separately) we ended up being assigned rooms at a different building where it was nicer with regular furniture and a normal look. We could have dealt with it but I guess they had a lot of people booking the cheapest option and not the next cheapest.

I don't know if I could have done it for a rental car. The big thing with rental cars is that they'll upsell everything including CDW, gas (trying to return with a near empty tank), and of course a different class of car. I had one employee go after me to upgrade and I said I was fine with what I reserved based on the price, and she just gave me the upgrade anyways. I've gotten upgrades when no cars in my class were available, but that's pretty normal. I was thinking of the possibility that my class was gone and they were trying to get the upset rather than just giving it to me right off the bat.

 

[Kitty 34]

I've never tipped for an upgrade but certainly have expressed gratitude when I have been upgraded.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I tipped concierge in Vegas for getting me a great ticket to Cirque du Soleil's Beatles Love, when the performance was 'sold out'.

 

[neverlandsky]

With Vegas we don’t tip the front desk for an upgrade. Instead we over tip the severely under tip areas of housekeeping, butlers, servers, bartenders, dealers, and valets.

 

[Traveling on cc points]

yup. Every time we go to Vegas. We are very low rollers but always manage to get a few comped nights in the lowest category rooms.

this past October we stayed at the Bellagio. I had 5 comped nights and paid a discount rate for the 6th. I put a $50 in between my license and CC for the “trick” and got a dead center view of the fountains on a high floor.

I have heard that more and more Casinos are moving to the kiosks so I’m not sure if this will work on future trips.

 

[loves to dive]

Tipped - nope. Paid for one - yes. I've paid to upgrade on airlines if it's less than $50 and I've paid to upgrade rooms if it guarantees something special, like a room that looks over the ocean. I never pay to upgrade a view at Disney, just doesn't matter to me. Now we do tip a little extra for things like baggage handlers at airports to make sure our bags actually make it on the plane or hubby tips the dog groomer a little more and our dog usually goes to the head of the line.