ahiromu
ahiromu
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February 15th, 2010 at 7:51:17 PM permalink
So I'm not sure how many of you are aware, but for the basic rooms all over town they usually have a base of two people and charge you ridiculous amounts for 3rd/4th people. So ridiculous, that buying another room is usually pretty comparable. I'm wondering who here has "snuck" extra people up to your room. Such as, taking out a room for two people and bringing up another person or two. Personal experiences would be extremely appreciated.
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Wizard
Administrator
Wizard
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February 15th, 2010 at 8:18:05 PM permalink
I admit I've done that. In my younger days we crammed several guys into rooms in Vegas.

When I was with a big group that went to China last year I noticed the price skyrocketed if you claimed more than one child in a room with two adults. Perhaps a holdover of the one-child policy. The price for rooms was already sky high due to the eclipse. In our group we had 6 adults, 5 kids, and 3 rooms, but said we only had 3 kids. We didn't even attempt to hide the other two when we checked in, and nobody at the front desk seemed to care. I'm not proud of it. I guess my policy is I'll pay a reasonable price for what my kids consume. For example, I don't lie about their ages at the buffet. However, I don't want to get screwed either.
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jpprovance
jpprovance
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February 15th, 2010 at 10:54:44 PM permalink
i think you are wrong i always book a room with two queens and get 4 room keys and they never ask me how many people are staying or give me any funny looks at mgm or excal. the other weekend i had 3 buddies right next to me in the check in line at mgm. no extra charges.

ive seen some signs for example on the back of a bathroom door and i think the extra persons are just supposed to pay a little more tax.
FinsRule
FinsRule
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February 16th, 2010 at 4:13:18 AM permalink
We travel in groups to Vegas, and it's crazy to spend $60 extra per night to have four people in a room instead of two. Usually the hotels I stay in cost around $60 per night!

Sometimes there are people at the elevators checking for keys late at night (This happened at MGM). So if you have 4 people in the room, and 2 keys, the elevator guys were fine as long as one person in the "couple" had a room key.

If you're trying to get 6-8 people in a room, I say just get two rooms. But, if you had to, you could use the pass-through method.

The pools check for keys and write down your room number, so I'm not sure how many you could get into a pool.

I guess my answer is that most rooms fit 4-5 comfortably, so you should be fine doing that. Tip extra to housekeeping.

Ok, now everyone can yell at me for being cheap/dishonest. But do you know what? I don't care. It's crap that they charge you $60 for having two extra people. It's not unsafe, they are just gouging you. If it was $10 extra, I'd gladly pay it so I wouldn't have to worry about it.
Nareed
Nareed
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February 16th, 2010 at 7:18:07 AM permalink
When I traveled with my family we'd share queen beds in two adjoining rooms (there were six of us). Sometimes sleeping came hard under such conditions, but my parents only seldom asked for a cot. I realize now it was, possibly, because the cot would mean an extra person charge. I recall often we waited in the car while one of them checked us in.

It's amazing how much you miss during childhood, isn't it?

All the more reason to travel alone :P
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DetroitCobra
DetroitCobra
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February 16th, 2010 at 7:20:53 AM permalink
When I was younger, we always packed a bunch of us in a room. Especially in AC, where the room prices can get pretty high. The guy who lost the most in the casino each day would be reserved the first bed... haha.
FleaStiff
FleaStiff
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February 16th, 2010 at 7:43:49 AM permalink
Several aspects to this:
Security, convenience, potential for lost key cards, tax-fraud issue as pretext for eviction, etc.

Security personnel, particularly at night, can get concerned or they can just be following orders. Once when I was much younger and took an impromptu trip to Vegas with a friend we stayed, if I recall correctly, at Circus Circus and upon leaving the casino at 3:00am we encountered this darkened car in the parking lot and I simply showed my room key to the driver as I passed by. (My friend hadn't even realized it was unmarked hotel security, but my flashing the room key avoided any nocturnal questioning about what two young males were doing wandering around at 3:00am). If only a few in your group have room keys you might run into some problems or you just might find it always annoying to have to escort someone back to the room for some forgotten item because they don't have a key.

The fact that you are evading the twelve percent occupancy tax is used as a pretext if the hotel just decides they want to be rid of you and thinks they might want to remind you of the nuisance they can make for you if you protest about unfair treatment on some other issue that has arisen.

Face it, the hotels know this goes on. Just as the hotels know underage beer guzzling goes on in the hotel rooms. If they get a noise complaint and find extra people in the room and underage drinking, they usually say that you will be surcharged at checkout and they will be back in fifteen minutes to check id-cards. Its usually just an empty threat though, however, its best to avoid issues like that.

Its best to just spring for the extra room or the surcharge if you have to. Often the clerk who is asked for extra keys knows what is going on but won't apply any surcharge, but I feel its best to just spring for proper charges and avoid any trouble, particularly if you are traveling with friends who you know will be getting a bit rowdy. Getting two rooms is not difficult usually and getting them adjacent or at least close by is usually not difficult.

I find when I'm using someone else's room reservation its confusing when people ask the clerk or the phone operator and use your real name. (And its really difficult when they have those shiny brass "mailbox" shaped Quick-Check-Out thingies right next to an identically shaped actual mailbox. Ever put someone else's check out documents in the wrong box and thus screw up your friend's billing?).

So on balance, I'd say: just spring for the extra room/surcharge and hope they comp you for it when you leave.
jeremykay
jeremykay
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February 16th, 2010 at 1:24:54 PM permalink
I've done it before. Booked a room for two, but asked for 4 keycards. I think as long as you don't explicity tell the desk clerk that more than 2 are staying in the room, you'll be ok. Seems like they don't really care too much.
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