Bellagio
The Bellagio
Vegas Junky Hotel Review
| The Twenty Dollar Trick Results | |||||||||||
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| By: iain wet we checked in for a 3 night stay (wed-sat)and went to the first attendant available. it was a 30ish woman, and i tried the trick with the money between my passport and credit card. the woman smiled as i handed it over implying that she had seen this trick many times before. i also told her that it was mine and my girlfriends annaversary, and i was planning on getting engaged (all little lies) she upgraded us to a fantastic room with full fountain views. i thought i would push my luck and ask if she could do anything else for us, and she threw in a line pass for the cofee shop and buffet (if you dont ask you dont get!) i also tried for military forces discount at the box office for Cirque Du Soleil. i was offered 25% discount no questions asked (on a $110 ticket) and after an obscene amount of flirting with the young gril (about mid 20's) was offered her staff discount of 50%. well worth it! $20 trick well worth a try and i will definatly be using it next time! | ||||||||||
| By: Kristina We were looking forward to trying this, and were disappointed when the woman at the front desk separated the cards and let the $20 fall on the desk and asked if we wanted change, even though we had just asked for any available upgrades. She did offer an upgrade for either $30/night or $100/night to either fountain view or a suite. No thanks, that is extra gambling money... | ||||||||||
| By: Holger My wife and I were on honeymoon 2009th My wife told the lady at the check Inn + $ 20 and she gave us a suite in the annex building in the 27 floor (Suite-Level). incredibly beautiful | ||||||||||
| By: Alex I was nervous, but handed 2 twenties between my card and DL. I asked "what are teh options for upgrading. He looked me right in the eye and said, "let me see what I can do." I went from the crappiest room from Hotels.com to a corner mini-suite with a Jacuzzi with view. The fountain show was incredible. | ||||||||||
| By: JC Booked a Bellagio "coupon code" rate of $159/night for 4 nights. As this was the beginning of spring break season, as well as the start of the NCAA tournament, I expected my attempt to fail. Thinking my chances were low, I tried the $20 trick with a $50. The agent politely asked if I could wait a moment, picked up the phone, and 2 minutes later, I was getting what she referred to as a "junior suite" - room 15083 - it's actually called a "Tower Deluxe King" on the Bellagio website. While the room itself was similar to a standard room, it is slightly larger (100 sq ft), has a separate water closet, and double vanity. Further, as it was a corner room, it had three huge windows that provided lots of natural light. All in all, I think that my $50 was well spent, given that it only raised my rate $12.50 a night on a room that would have surely been $40-$60 more per night at standard rates. | ||||||||||
| By: JR Glad I read this site before heading to Vegas. I booked a standard room using just air miles to cover it. We checked in on Valentines Day/Chinese New Year/Presidents Holiday weekend, which was very busy. Put a 20 between the license and credit card and asked if he had any rooms available with a view of the fountains. He worked on it for a few minutes and came back with a room on the 25th floor of the spa tower with a view of the fountains and the Strip. Worked great! | ||||||||||
| By: eKuL All good, put the sandwich to the check in chick and she knew what it was all about. Bit of stuffing around trying to find a room, but she eventually said that we had been given a complimentary upgrade. Ended up with a great view of the fountains, well worth it! | ||||||||||
| By: Brian Booked a standard room at casino rate $99 bucks. Asked for a complementary lake view upgrade and offered up the $20. The guy just let the $20 sit on the counter while he searched for a room. He found us a lake view room with a king bed but I needed two beds. Since we were checking in early, I asked if we could get a lake view room a bit later if we were wiiling to wait. He said no problem, and we went for a walk and came back an hour and a half later and we had a sweet room dead center on the fountains on the 24th floor right near the elevator. Best room/vegas experience yet and I have been to Vegas about 20 times. Will definately use this trick again! Try it! | ||||||||||
| By: Jodi Got a friendly looking guy in his late 20s. It was 11:30am so early check-in as well but worked after a slight hiccup. i gave my reservation voucher (room booked by my company) and then $40 with my ID - asked for a view. He asked if a smoking room was ok (I wanted non) and showed me on a map where it was. I said ok but when I got to the room on the 8th floor I was disappointed; could live with the smoke smell but the view wasn't that great because it was so slow. i mean, better than a room facing the freeway, which he said is what was reserved, but not great. My husband went back down to retry with same guy and asked for a higher room. He gave us a 22nd floor king, non-smoking, deluxe lakeview room with the most awesome view. no smoke smell. how did i know it was for sure an upgrade? the 8th floor room didn't have bathrobes, this one did. | ||||||||||
| By: Jason $20 trick got us a room facing the center of the fountain on the 9th floor (10th and above are considered to be fountain view rooms by the hotel). The view is pretty good, but higher floors would be better. We also got line pass for the buffet by asking. | ||||||||||
| By: Michael Gilliland Can't believe this worked. I checked in today (12-22-09) and I put a 20 in between my drivers license and my credit card and I asked if there was anything with a lake view. He said that it's an extra 100 a night (we are staying two nights) but we do have one available and gave it to us and we didn't have to pay the extra $100 and he also gave us buffet passes for the 2 days that we are going to be here. This couldn't have worked any better. | ||||||||||
| By: James Checked in very late on Sunday evening (technically monday morning)at Bellagio. Front desk was very quiet and only two women on. When passing over ID and $20 I mentioned we were on honeymoon and asked if she could do anything to make our trip extra special. She asked what I was after and i said anything really, even a fountain view. She checked out back and came back saying her supervisor wouldn't allow it as we were already in a suite. That said, we did get a partial view of the lake and the room was very good. | ||||||||||
| By: Chris No Upgrade!But the vacition was perfect! | ||||||||||
| By: Scott Fleming Managed to get upgraded to a Lake View room overlooking the strip from a standard which would have been at the back of the hotel. | ||||||||||
| By: Matt Checked in with my wife next to me - picked a younger looking guy. Handed him the sandwich and asked for something with a fountain view, adding that it was our anniversary (which it was). He smoothly took the 20, made some chit-chat, and eventually told us we are on the 17th floor overlooking the fountains. Couldn't have worked out better! | ||||||||||
| By: Jason Went really well. I was nervous about it, but found a young girl and got in her line and kindly asked about upgrades and slipped the $20 between my DL and CC and worked like a champ. My wife and I couldn't believe it. Room was on the VIP floors, felt kind of important for the night. It wasn't at the Bellagio as selected, but it was one of their "sister" hotels not on the list. | ||||||||||
| By: Chris We had a standard "Deluxe" room reserved for the stay three nights/pay for two promotion ($159 a night - $358 total with tax). I tried the standard trick - fold the $20 between the credit card and drivers license and ask "Do you happen to have any complimentary upgrades?". We were put in a 25th floor Deluxe Lake View Room which had an utterly fantastic view of the strip. Walking in to the room, the first thing we saw through the window was the Eiffel Tower in front of Paris. The entire fountain show could be seen as well. I don't think it is possible to have a better view than the one from our window. Definitely was worth the $20. | ||||||||||
| By: N Checked in at noon and it was packed. The person beside me was trying to get an upgrade and the front desk staff told him that he would have to pay an additional $80 per night. I handed my front desk person a $20 in my passport and told him I was celebrating my 10th wedding annivesary (which was true). He upgraded us to a 22nd floor room with a view of the fountain. All I can say is it was awesome. | ||||||||||
| By: Erin We just got back tonight from my weekend in Vegas with my boyfriend and he did the tip trick at check-in just like we learned how to from this website. She left the $20 on the counter till she found an upgrade and then we gave her the $20 because she didn't take it from the counter. When we got to our room on the 28th floor, almost dead center of the hotel, we were more than satisfied, to say the least!! | ||||||||||
| By: Steven D We had a similar experience to the person below. I asked about a free upgrade when we checked in an mentioned the cypress suite as well. The check-in guy made a call but said he didn't have anything available but that he did move us up to the 27th floor and gave us a partial view of the fountains. Was really hoping for a nice upgrade for our 9th anniversary but to no avail. Of course it's mid-July so the place could have been pretty full and something bigger than a $20 may have been needed to persuade the guy. We were given the buffet front of line pass which was great, especially for breakfast. Overall we enjoyed the room and our stay at the Bellagio. | ||||||||||
| By: Bobby Asked about availability of complimentary suite upgrades as we are celebrating our 10-year wedding anniversary. Mentioned that the pictures of the Cypress suite looked fantastic. He agreed and then said "oh, I don't think I can do that." He typed around for a bit and said I was already in one of their premiere rooms (b.s.), but he'd get me on a higher floor since I was slated for the 10th (he put us on the 28th). He was asking questions while he typed, like have we stayed with them before and such. We used the bellagio web promotion to book the room at a discount, so I'm thinking that since we already were paying a discount, he felt we were already getting plenty for our money. He did also give us buffet line passes which were a blessing. All in all, I would have rather saved the $50 and been on the 10th floor. I felt that if he couldn't give us at least something remotely like what I had inquired about, he should have given me the $50 back and just said he couldn't do it. Overall, I think the Bellagio thinks VERY highly of itself, disproportionately to the quality of the hotel. My $139 room was no better whatsoever than the $59 rooms I usually stay in at the Monte Carlo. Watching the fountains from the room is almost like watching it on TV anyway and does not compare with watching it from the sidewalk in front of the hotel. Have learned my lesson and will try the trick at the Monte Carlo next time...at worst I will not get much for my money but will have spend half on the room rate. | ||||||||||
| By: www.scampmanio.blogspot.com I used a $50 and the reception guy's eyes lit up. He upgraded us to a fountain view in the spa tower and gave us a $46 bottle of Champagne! The room was a disabled room so there was no bath but it was fine. We'd paid a rock bottom price for the room so I was very happy. | ||||||||||
| By: David Put the $20 between DL and CC, the clerk took all 3 and looked in the system for awhile but couldn't find anything. He gave us the next best thing, a view of the pool area and passed the $20 back to me with my DL and CC. Tried the next morning, put the $20 under our room key and asked if we could get moved to a fountain view, but we were told there were none available after she looked in the system for awhile. | ||||||||||
| By: Doug Tried $50 tip, no dice. Clerk didn't even accept the money, stated upgrades were unavailable....but it was her first day, per the clerk at the stand next to her. | ||||||||||
| By: kILLa CaM My friend G-Money showed me this site. This hotel was not in Vegas, it was in San Francisco at a nice hotel there. I performed the trick as instructed in the FAQ. The lady seemed to know right away what was up. She said let me check for you. And she upgraded us. I was worried about trying it outside of Vegas, but it worked. Thanks for the cool site. | ||||||||||
| By: andy t checked in with a young guy around 4pm on a sunday for 5 nights. put $50 inbetween passport n cc. asked for any complimentary upgrades. there was no fountian views going in non smoking (a must for us)was offered a partial view in the spa tower or a king tower deluxe. took the latter, great room. are friends got a fountian view (smoking) our room was bigger and had loads more light with the extra windows and a great view from the jacuzzi bath of the rio. try this trick when checking in. | ||||||||||
| By: Jon Checked in at about 5PM on a Monday. Handed the sandwich to the clerk and asked for any complimentary upgrades. He hid the cash very well and started typing away. He asked, "How would you like something with a view?" and I quickly accepted. Got upgraded to a Lakeview room on the 28th floor (top floor of non-suite rooms) with a great view of the fountains and strip. Lakeview rooms are typically $50 more a night, so I got a $150 value for $20. Yet another successful $20 upgrade! | ||||||||||
| By: Chris I was leery of actually using the $20 dollar trick at such a nice place. I didn't need to give a CC because I booked through a website and it was paid so I just gave my ID and put the $20 on the counter, under my hand but made sure that he could see it. Asked for "free" upgrades to a fountain view. I wholly expected him to say nothing available but he looked and asked us if we were ok with a handicapped accessible room with a partial fountain view. We said sure and room was great with an actual full fountain view. We were in the new SPA tower so not right on the fountains but they were in full view. I'd recommend trying this wholly. | ||||||||||
| By: Jennifer It was Great. My friend wasn't sure if he could go through with it... but he did.. the desk clerk slipped the $20 next to her keyboard, and he asked if there were any fountain views available and she said that she was right on top of it. We got a full fountain view, got to check in early.. and a free rollaway bed, since we had originally had a double bed room. So the view definately was worth asking and the $20. | ||||||||||
| By: susan We asked nicely for an upgraded room, and we got it without having to show or give a $20 bill. | ||||||||||
| By: Carrie Upgraded to fountain view on 20th floor from standard room. Incredible view!!! No problems at all with $20 trick- recommend giving it a try. | ||||||||||
| By: Gene B. First time trying this. It worked great. We got upgraded to a TDK on the south end of the main building with a great view of the fountain and the Strip. Wife walked up to registration desk, chatted a bit, indicated that it was her birthday (which it was) and handed the young, female clerk a $50 sandwich. This seemed appropriate since we were staying for 6 nights, including the weekend. She requested a suite or room with a jacuzzi. The clerk said that a suite would be $75/nt extra but we could get a TDK room at no additional charge. She assigned the room, and never tried to take the $50. My wife moved it across the desk as a tip. A great deal - the TDK was going for about $625 more than the standard we had booked. | ||||||||||
| By: Timbre Bjornson First time trying this in Vegas. Walked up to the counter with the $20 sandwiched between the CC and DL. Clerk accidently slid the two apart and a big smile came on her face. She worked for a while and offered either a full fountain view or a larger room with a pool view. We took the fountain view. She called the room about an hour later to make sure we liked the room or if we wanted to switch. She also sent up a box of chocolates for us. The people next to us in line also asked about upgrades but I'm guessing no $20 becasue they were quoted higher room rates for what we had just recieved for free. | ||||||||||
| By: Aaron I did the trick, like everybody else, money between drivers and Visa and handed her the sandwich. I asked if she had anything special for us, free of charge. We ended up getting the GRAND LAKEVIEW SUITE!!! We paid around $600 for the 2 nights, only paying for the standard room. Later we found out that the Grand LAkeview Suite starts at $2000 a night. Money well spent. | ||||||||||
| By: d. Walton Because of a five day say I decided to slip in a Mr Grant between my ID and credit card when attempting the trick. The nice lady behind the counter quickly snatched the bill out and placed it beside her key board as she went to work for me! I asked for a complimentary upgrade as I explained that the room was for my elderly parents who were celebrating an anniversary. She offered a suite upgrade with fountain view. My research beforehand proved handy as I knew the the suites contained only one bed (and I was joining my folks during the stay) so I asked if a complimentary roll away bed was available. She said "OF COURSE! and how about some chocolates a a gift for your parents?" I paid 167$ per night (including the trick cash and all taxes and fees) for the 5 day stay!!!!!! without a doubt the best hotel experience of my life!!!! THE TRICK WORKED FOR ME!!! | ||||||||||
| By: mike Ask if we could please have an view of the fountain, they gave us a room on the 25 floor. Did same trick as others, put $25 between Credit Card and Driver License. Good luck. | ||||||||||
| By: Micah67 Checked in for five days. The $20 stayed on the counter (but between the CC and license) while she typed away. Ended up with a fountain view from the 23rd floor. Once I said that sounds great, the $ disappeared. I'm very pleased with the room. | ||||||||||
| By: SB Slipped in the $20 in between credit card and driver's license, and asked if there're any upgrades. The front desk associate was able to get us a fountain view on the 19th floor without even taking the $20, but suggested that for $300/night, we can get upgraded to a penthouse suite. Well, we decided it's just once in a lifetime to stay in a penthouse suite of a 5* hotel, so we took that deal, and glad we did too! | ||||||||||
| By: Dennis Bainbridg We checked in to the Bellagio for a three day day starting Sept.23rd thre Sept. 26 of 2008. I have used the $20.00 idea a few times and it always worked to get a nice upgrade. Well this was our 40th. anniversary and I told the clerk that as I handed her my licence a twenty dollar bill and my credit card. The clerk said they had no suites that faced the strip but they did have some very special rooms that they held for special reasons and she gave us two keys to the very nice Cypress suite. It was amazing and yest the view was from Harrahs all the way down to the M.G.M. aLL FOR AN EXTRA TWENTY. | ||||||||||
| By: J.C. McDonald Worked great! Just asked if any upgrades were available and got a room in the middle of the fountains for a week. Have suggested it to five friends and it worked for four of them at other Hotels. | ||||||||||
| By: RC Slipped the person a $20 sandwiched between driver license and credit card and asked for free upgrades. She spent a few minutes searching and offered a suite or a normal room with a front view. We chose the front view and were very happy with it! | ||||||||||
| By: E.R. We got the the Bellagio early after a night in the worst room in the Flamingo. Slipped Krystal the $20 and asked for a fountain view. She said only pool view was available. I suggested I would come back later in the morning after everyone had check out and perhaps their inventory would look different. She stepped away, returned, typed some more and was able to find us a fountain view. The rest of my group had parking lot view. | ||||||||||
| By: Steve S. What a great room! We had a basic room reserved at the Bellagio, gave the young man at the front desk the sandwich with the $50 clearly visible, and told him it was our 10th anniversary (which it was). He smiled and said, "I have something very nice for you." He was right! We got a Salone Suite on the 16th floor of the Spa Tower, fantastic view of the pool area out one window, good view of the Rio and mountains out the other. Only one disappointment: when we asked for line passes he apologized and said that they can only give them out to customers who reserved suites ahead of time. Oh well. It was still $50 VERY well spent. | ||||||||||
| By: sivled | ||||||||||
| By: sivled I love the $20.00 tip it has worked for me at least three times now including last year at the Bellagio. We had a room with a view already reserved and I thought I would once more try the @20.00 tip idea. As I gave her my d.l. and my c. c. with a twenty in the middle I mentioned to the clerk we were at the Bellagio for our 40th. anniversary and was wondering if they had any upgrades open. Well the girl smiled and after it seemed like at least another five minutes of looking at her computer she smileed and said we would be booked in their special Cypress Suite and we should be very happy and confortable. WOW ! This was a beutiful suite and you had to see it to believe it and all for a lousy $20.00 more total. | ||||||||||
| By: Ranjeet Saini I was pretty sure it wouldn't work because before I left I checked online and Bellagio was sold out for the weekend I went...sure enough the front desk girl knew what I was doing but said it wasn't available since they were legitmately sold out. | ||||||||||
| By: Andy Checked in at 10pm and handed clerk $50 sandwich. She smiled and asked what I was looking for. I asked if there were any complimentary upgrades. She said she had a Lakeview room or a suite in the Spa Tower. I took the suite and loved the room. For $12.50 a night more (I stayed 4 nights) I was on a special access floor just one level below penthouse. It was great! | ||||||||||
| By: Stayed at the Bellagio and tried to slip $40 in between my id and credit card and asked for a Fountain View room. The girl at the desk quickly took my id and credit card but gave my money back and said it was unavailable. I was very surprised that she didn't take up my offer. So instead she put me in a pool view room which was nice as well. | ||||||||||
| By: Don Handed the $20 bill with the credit card to the clerk. She set it aside and made no mention. We got a room the size of shoebox (I didn't know rooms were that small at the Bellagio). We changed rooms the next day, paying over $100 more per night. | ||||||||||
| By: Ali C I used $100 because we were there 9 nights for a work convention. Put it between my ID and CC and asked if there were any "complimentary suite upgrades available". She was very sweet and said "let me check for you" she went to the back and was gone for a few minutes and came back with the book to show us which room we had. 1500 square foot suite. Very nice! We got moved during our stay because of electrical problems with our room and they moved us to the penthouse suite!! Even better! Best $100 I ever spent in Vegas. | ||||||||||
| By: Bruce Checked in and handed a $50 sandwich and got "upgraded" from my original fountain view Tower Deluxe King to a corner room with a view of the construction at Caesar's palace.. My parents reserved identical rooms but didn't do the trick and the only difference between my upgrade and their room was mine had an extra window but not view of the fountain. | ||||||||||
| By: B Ryerson We were staying at the Bellagio for my 30th birthday. I put the $20 in between my id and credit card. I said it was my birthday and asked if there was any complimentary upgrages tonight. He quickly pocketed the $20 and immediately upgraded us from a standard view to the 20th floor corner king suite. It had a west view of the Rio and Palms, a jacuzzi view of Ceasars and a west view of the corner of LVB and Flamingo! It was amazing! I have also asked at the Luxor before and they offered an upgrade from the pyramid deluxe to the tower deluxe rooms. | ||||||||||
| By: Rooboy Did it work? No and Yes!! Sorry if I blab on a bit here but i figure the more info the better for future travellers. (after rereading it's very long - sorry) Checked in the Sat night before christmas around 7PM. Yeah a bad time I know but had no choice. Had booked a non-fountain view room. Check in was absolutely packed. No line organisastion so picked a suitable candidate - young buck. Eventually got to front of line and had 2 x $50 folded in my passport (i figured $100 for the week was worth it). He opens passport and could have easily palmed the 100. Instead he says "there's no need to do that. You have a complimetary upgrade to a fountain view". So what happens next is the $100 sits on the counter. Due to my nervousness I can't quite register that i have a "free" upgrade and the $100 sits obviously on the desk untaken. It's all quite awkward and i feel a fool. Anyway we get the room cards and as casually as i can take the $100 back. It should be noted that there were at least 2-3 supervisors/managers hanging around behind the check-in staff. It should also be noted that my wife took great pleasure in ribbing me about my lack of "paying" for an upgrade. She was more than happy with our "fountain view" free upgrade though. Room was great - 6th floor but only a partial view of the fountains. Better than a mountain view though. Was it 5 star? - hmmm maybe more like a nice 4 star. Minor faults like a few lights not working and one of the automatic curtains not working. Anyway we were more than happy and set off to enjoy the Bellagio and Vegas. A couple of days later (inspired by this site and a friendly chat to a pit boss about my initial pitiful attempt) i tried again. It was coming up to 2am and I folded a $50 in my palm. Check in was quiet and in a very friendly manner explained that it was our 15 year anniverssary (true) and that while i was very happy with our room my wife was niggling me about the minor things (lights). I made sure she saw the $50 in my palm and said "you could really help me out with my wife if there was a suite available. And i would certainly help you out". Maybe not subtle but it worked. Anyway ended up in a corner room on the 25th floor. Not actually a suite it turned out but wife could not have been happier :)) Laying in the spa bath together watching the lights of the strip is a nice way to spend some time. Was $50 well spent. And had it for another 5 nights :) Was $50 too much? Maybe to some, but after this everything just went my way: - free line pass from concierge just because i chatted to him about Seinfeld and tipped nicely for booking a show. - from pit boss was comped buffet meal for two and another line pass on chrsistmas day when others waited over 4 hours for this (ok did play and bet a while for this but was unexpected). - front seats on Grand Canyon heli tour (one way) after i know we were originally allocated back seats both ways. - limo driver for heli tour making silly excuse about traffic and going out of his way to drop us off first on way back just because we laughed at his (good) jokes and tipped him on journey in and no one else did. So basically be genuine and nice, appreciate those that are working hard for your enjoyment, and tip well when appropriate. Worked for me and will definitely be back. | ||||||||||
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The official guide to using the $20 trick successfully!