MGM Grand Hotel Room Upgrades

No Dice For AJ at MGM Grand...

I was actually there a couple of days early under a friend's reservation, and when I asked about upgrades later in the week they said it wouldn't be a problem. But when I went to check in, they said they were overbooked on Bungalow Suites so they couldn't give me one. They wanted money for the rest of the suites, but they weren't too appealing since they didn't have two beds, so I declined.

No Dice For Solar at MGM Grand...

Had 2 King-Bed Grand Tower nonsmoking rooms reserved. Showed up around 7-8pm, and they said that the hotel was full and that all the king nonsmoking rooms were gone. Had 2 $20s in plain view with the credit cards and DL, inquired about complimentary upgrades. Furious clicking but no luck. Kept the tip. Ended up with 2 rooms on the 4th floor (ugh) with 2 queen beds each.

Jackpot! mollimol Got A MGM Grand Room Upgrade

It was very smooth and simple.. the poor clerks are worked so hard, I went and got my clerk a coffee. She looked extremly tried and said they were super busy that day.

Jackpot! TravelingGirl Got A MGM Grand Room Upgrade

Checked in at airport. Put a 20$ with my id and credit card. Asked if there were any complimentary upgrades as I was celebrating my birthday. The woman clicked away on one keyboard for a few min and said she had a nice suite then moved to another keyboard and clicked away and said "I have a better one" Nice room, but didn't have a great view. I would try it again in a heartbeat!

Jackpot! DVP Got A MGM Grand Room Upgrade

I don't know why my review came up with FAILED when it was quite clearly a success. This proves you don't have to tip to get upgrades, be pleasant and friendly. Moments later I had upgrade and THEN I tipped and got a casino host & a limo. :)

Jackpot! jondiehl Got A MGM Grand Room Upgrade

Walked right up to the clerk at the airport check-in, no wait at all. He asked for my ID, which I took out and gave to him. Then he asked for a major credit card, which I took out as well as the folded $20 bill that I had ready to go. When I passed the card (and tip) to him I simply asked "do you have any complementary upgrades available?". He mentioned that they're really full due to a convention, yada yada yada (when aren't they BTW?) but that he would check for me. He put the card on the top of his keyboard (with the $20 still under it) and typed away for what seemed like forever (2+ minutes)... as he typed, the card inched downward to a point where the bill was clearly visible for all to see... it's obviously not a big deal for them to accept tips. Anyway, a few minutes later he produced a signature card for me along with the room key and some other info. After I signed (for the $69/night deal that I got online from them, which was a smokin' deal on it's on) he flipped open a small picture book with the various rooms in and told me that he was able to get the celebrity spa suite at no extra charge. I thanked him and proceeded to shuttle driver with my bag. I didn't have to tell him a story about a special occasion or anything (I was there alone), he just made it happen for the $20.

Jackpot! mcberry80 Got A MGM Grand Room Upgrade

I approached the desk and the clerk asked for my ID and Credit Card, I handed her both and as she was looking it over I brought out a twenty and had it on the desk - and inquired about an upgrade, she said she could give me a Bungalow suite, and I accepted and then tipped her the $20. The room was nice, however, beware - the shower heads are very low!

No Dice For agaethwe at MGM Grand...

I was in Vegas with three friends and thought I'd surprise them with an upgrade. Given that we had 2 rooms reserved, I thought I'd up the tip amount to $50. As I entered the check-in room at the airport I quickly scanned it for a good "mark" and thought I'd go for a 20-ish guy in the corner, but my friends, who weren't in on this thing, headed straight for the Asian woman in her early 30s smack in the center of the room. At that point, the die was cast, so I went with them, exchanged pleasantries with the woman, and then gave her my credit card and ID with $50 sandwiched in the middle, with a polite request for an upgrade. She then removed and pocketed the $50 so quickly and deftly that none of my friends, who were standing right next to me, noticed that anything was amiss. Anyone who said that there is no sleight of hand involved has not seen this woman! This was clearly a well-practiced move. Unfortunately, because she did it so quickly and surreptitiously, I'm pretty positive she didn't notice the bill denomination and assumed it was only a twenty. She then asked me what kind of upgrade I had in mind, I said "something with a hot tub" (going for the Celebrity Spa Suite), and she said she had to call and check. After a brief conversation on the phone, she informed me that the Celebrity Spa Suite would be $120 extra per room per night, or she could offer me a Bungalow suite for $80 extra per room per night. At that point I was out of options, so I said, "how about something with a view, then?" She replied, "sure," and gave us keys for relatively high-floor Grand Tower Rooms. She did not offer to give the $50 back, and was pretty cold and businesslike throughout the whole thing. When we got to the hotel, we discovered that the rooms had a rather mediocre view of the south strip. We probably could have gotten this "upgrade" if we just asked nicely, so overall it was a total loss of $50.

Lessons learned:

1) If you're doing this with a bunch of friends, make sure they're in on it, or they might do/say something to screw it up.
2) My original instinct to go for the guy in the corner was probably correct, so trust your instincts.
3) If tipping more than $20, make sure the clerk sees the bill.
4) Don't do this at MGM-grand/"target="_blank">MGM Grand! I was unaware of this at the time, but apparently they can fire their employees for accepting money for upgrades (See the update at the beginning of this thread).

Jackpot! coldduck Got A MGM Grand Room Upgrade

We headed to vegas early in the morning and checked in at 11am. My friend let me handle it since I was the one who had been reading about it here on fatwallet. I chatted him up a bit obviously mentioning it was my girlfriends birthday, etc. When he asked for my card I had the 50 dollar bill between my card and id. When he noticed it he actually mentioned it was there and I said "I know its for yourself. We were hoping you could offer us some rooms you think we would like" He got right to it upgrading us both to 1bedroom suites($200 more a night) on the top floor, right next to eachother and with great strip views. He also asked if we were headed to any clubs and we mentioned we were going to check out Pure. He said Tao was a much hotter spot and picked up the phone and got us on the list, no line, no cover. It was great. Tao rocked.

When sunday came around my girlfriend and I decided to stay one more night and called Ceasars Palace...

Jackpot! Neworld Got A MGM Grand Room Upgrade

Just slipped the clerk the $20 and asked if there were any complimetary upgrades so I can surprise my girlfriend. He saw the $20 and smiled and said he would see what he could do. Upgraded me to a Hollywood suite but said he was sorry because it was only on the 4th floor with no view. I said that sounds fine and it was a done deal. Very easy and a great suite.