Oh you’re adorable. Believe me, bribing people has become exponentially harder over time. At least in America.
I am surprised that a whole $20 is all that is needed for this “trick”.
Look at it this way.
Any revenue is better than no revenue
It is 6PM there are two empty rooms in the hotel $70/ and $700 per.
You are reserved in the $70 room. You ask for a comp upgrade.
The clerk can:
A) Give you the $700 room and hope someone else who wants a $70 room shows up
or
B) say no and hope that someone that wants a $700 room just happens to show up.
Now what do you think the odds are that someone looking for a $70 room will show up vs somebody wanting a $700 room? You are far more likely to get another $70 customer.
It makes good business sense to give the upgrade.
Rick, you’re right with respect to the short-term calculus, but my point was about the long-term effects on the business. Again, if all the customers had a reasonable expectation of getting a big upgrade for $20, why would they ever book anything but the cheapest room? And your example supposes as well that the clerk’s interests are aligned with those of the hotel. They’re not; the clerk is mainly interested in those twenty-dollar bills.
I disagree with this. It would make better sense to give the person with the reservation the $70 room. Then when you have only the $700 room available, you might get lucky and get someone to pay $700 or you could tell someone looking for a $70 room that today is their lucky day! They can have a $700 room for $150!
If they walk, then tell them to hang on, go “talk to your manager” and come back and say $100, or even go down to $70.
Either way, by giving up the $700 room to the first guest, you’ve foreclosed any possibility of scoring on that good room.
My family and I went on a trip to Disneyland in June and I booked a room at the Anaheim Hilton using my United flight miles. When I checked in, they gave me a free upgrade to the presidential suite even though I had only reserved a room with 2 queen beds… and I didn’t even offer the clerk the $20 sandwich. Obviously, there are other factors in the hotel’s calculus than “likelihood of another customer paying full price for the room”–such as positive word-of-mouth/online reviews and customer loyalty. I have to admit that, in my case, it totally worked, as I left a glowing review on tripadvisor, and I’ve vowed to make every effort to stay at Hilton hotels in the future.
I’ve done it twice in Las Vegas, once successfully and one time declined. At the Luxor, I was upgraded from a regular tower room to a Player’s Club suite. I always try the $20 trick unless I’ve already booked a comp upgraded room. The hotel doesn’t mind the front desk staff doing this, They can pay the front desk staff less and the chance to make extra money helps reduce turnover and absenteeism. Also, the person receiving the upgrade feels lucky and probably spends more time and money in the casino.
The whole way Vegas works is by comping people and making them feel happy and like they are “lucky” and “winning.” The hotels don’t care about the rooms- they want your butt down in the casino, throwing money down the toilet like it’s going out of style. And if you, the average tourist, gets that $700 room for $70, you’re probably going to think your trip has just started on a lucky streak. And you’re going to feel like you “owe” the hotel a bit, so you’re probably more likely to gamble in house than to go elsewhere.
It’s the same reason anyone who gambles even a little bit gets free rooms, free dinners, free show tickets, free drinks-- eating the cost of those comps are built into a casino’s business plan. Hell, I don’t even gamble (like, not at all), but because I’m here so much, I think the hotels think I do-- so I regularly get free room offers emailed to me, too.
Plus, on a different level: as someone who comes here for work and usually hits up the cheaper places (South Point/ Orleans/ etc.), getting to see what I can get at the nice hotels does effect my choices on where I stay when I come here for pleasure. So, the Cosmopolitan comping me that amazing room with the crazy view has made me determined to stay there again someday-- sure, it’ll probably be a special occasion of some sort, but that was the most amazing room I’ve ever had in this city and I definitely want to do it again AND would probably be willing to pay (a well researched price :D;)) for it.
As far as why the hotels don’t care that the clerks are getting tipped-- well, it goes back to my first point: they want to keep customers happy and feeling lucky. Hotels here are all about comping you and making you feel like a king, you just have to know where to look and who to ask.
Going to Vegas in two weeks. I’l try it and will report back.
Make sure you check the hotel you’re staying at on the various sites-- people leave comments about the best ways to make it work with particular properties.
People with the money and inclination to stay in pricey suites can’t be bothered trying upgrade tricks. Rich people will just book the expensive rooms to start with. Hotel room prices are heavily price-discriminating; the marginal cost of renting out the $1200 suite is not actually $1130 greater than the $70 room.
And in Vegas, frankly, they just want you to stay there. Their assumption is that whatever you save on the room will be given back in the casino, and they’re quite often right.
All that said, I find you can get upgrades just by asking and being sweet and funny. I’m sure the $20 doesn’t hurt, but I haven’t needed it.
Treat the desk clerk like a human being and you’ll get all sorts of things without tipping. They get dumped on by every asshole that checks in and expects the world. Smile, be polite and request things that are reasonable and most of the time you’ll get them.
This makes a lot of sense. Thanks.
Whats her phone number?
This. My neighbor is the local comptroller at one of the KC casinos. They hired Hilton(?) to run their hotel, and the first thing the Hilton folks did was explain how they could increase the profits from the hotel.
They were told that that was very nice, but the hotel existed to get people into the casino. In particular, the casino wasn’t at **all **interested in “family” type promotions.
Former desk clerk here-
If there are nicer rooms open, clerks are happy go give out upgrades with or without extra cash (though they must think the cash is nice- if you make $7.00 an hour, $20 is a decent chunk of change.) It doesn’t cost the hotel much of anything (clerks have an extremely good idea of what the market is for their rooms, and if there is any chance of a walk-in snapping up the room) and it builds a lot of goodwill. Hotels live and die off of goodwill. A repeat customer will make you a lot of money over time.
I thought this thread was going to be about an article I saw in Esquire; I was surprised to see it was from eight years ago. Time flies.
The Twenty Dollar theory of the Universe - Tom Chiarella
The Vegas part fits well into this overall theory. I’ll have to try it next time I’m there, which may be soon.
Hey, I remember that article, too!
I have never heard of the $20 trick. I’m anxious to try it; but for now I don’t need to. I use the old fashioned free upgrade because my wife is a gold medallion level in almost all things travel related. Just a couple of weeks ago in key west (and she wasn’t staying with me) I dropped her reward points number while checking in, I got a top floor suite. It was a very very nice room, full kitchen, living room, 2 bathrooms.
Man, the writer comes off as a prick though, especially in the airport.
“The flight attendant, still a little pissed, wouldn’t get me my free drink once we took off. So I slipped the guy across the aisle from me twenty dollars to get me three little bottles of single malt. I drank one to flaunt it to the stewardess and pocketed the other two for later.” (italics added)