ASK! and you MIGHT receive *moments I'm proud of booking rooms for players*

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Justa- these stories are fantastic, not only did they draw me out of lurking as you have been, but they are entertaining to one on the flip side of the coin. Small word of warning, your information is quite easily verifiable to hotel (casino) to one who knows. A Floor with hand/hour adjustments as well as a pool table in a room and comp rates based on triple digits tells a lot. While i have absolutely nothing against a once a year vegas traveller having the experience of a lifetime.. your info is transparent to others on the inside who may "know".

I am very interested in your tales as well as many others im sure are. Live not in fear.

While many of these stories should be able to be told with impugnity, sadly its not entirely the situation. The comp criteria is quite simple, tho as far as I know not The fact that an accounting dweeb understands standard deviation/variance/risk of ruin when it comes to player rating, again afaik hasn't been stated. Mind you i KNOW i am more interested in the math behind our profession, I warn OP to the simple fact, he's (she's) alluded to enough that if someone were monitoring his/her activities here, there is risk.

The database(s) of most if not all casinos now are quite extensive, To compare a player who comped off a relative's playing history then got married in vegas isn't truly difficult if you understand the base player rating program. I, as i believe the OP does as well, love my job, but to sacrifice it on an online forum...

Justaguy, I had a couple of questions for you regarding comps.

Without saying which casino/hotel you work for, could you tell us if you are in a high end property, mid level property, or low level property and give us a rundown as to what the following average bets would give a player?

Average bet of $50 for 4 hours a day would give a player...

Average bet of $100 for 4 hours a day would give a player...

Average bet of $250 for 4 hours a day would give a player...

Average bet of $500 for 4 hours a day would give a player...

I know you are not a host, but since you work with them on a daily basis, this information would really help us out. Just general information, like "an average bet of x would give a player a free room and some food comps". This way, we would have a general idea of what we can ask for.

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People are funny. I can't believe the way I see front line people getting treated by guests. With this in mind, you would think it would occur to people that being reasonably nice and polite will get you further than being nasty, but noooooo...everybody thinks they should get a comp because there was a hair in the sink.

I'm a low roller, my bankroll's usually about $4 - $5k a trip, I usually bring at least half home. I only make one or two trips to Vegas a year, but I tip well, treat the staff with respect, know (I think) what they can and can't do, and I get treated very, very well. I don't think you even have to have direct knowledge of the hospitality industry, any service industry will do.

I've gotten a couple of spectacular (free) upgrades simply by emailing and asking about what the correct upgrade process is, and schmoozing a bit (not insincerely). Let the person on the other end help you and give them some reason to want to, other than a dollar sign; don't look at it like some sort of duel.

Appreciate your posts.

@justaguy:

Could you give us some insights into how earned comps not used translate into rolling forward as significant future offers?

For example, what does it take to be invited back and given some promo chips? I assume if you always use up your comps, you won't get offers like that.

Or, will a casino send out offers "on the come" based upon past play history, but no real comp balance?

OK, I'm staying at Paris Las Vegas on Sunday and want to get upgraded to a Red Room. I already made the mistake of booking my reservation online -- nothing I can do about that.

My question is: how can I get upgraded without being upsold? I heard about the 20 dollar trick, but for one night 20 bucks is more than I want to tip. I'd do $5 or maybe even $10. Will they be insulted or will they understand I'm not staying a whole weekend, plus I'm from in town. The upgrade itself costs only $30, so the $20 sandwich isn't much of a score.

I thought about saying something like, "We'd like a room as high up as possible." Thanks for your advice!

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Interestingly, I read read somewhere that Paris has supposedly installed video screen(s) at the front desk displaying the types of rooms available for upgrade that day, and the price.

Quote: justaguy

Nyuhossier, I wish you the best of luck. I'd be as direct as possible, depending on how convenient it is for you you may want to call either vip services (just call the hotel and ask to be transferred) or your casino host. Let them know your interested in being upgraded to a rednroom and not upsold. You can even wait until you hit the front desk and ask if you can be given a redroom and not upsold (or you could do both and hedge your bet). I've done it myself at strip hotels and had some luck. You may even want to come up with a story such as your celebrating a special occasion or your trying to sell some first time Vegas visiting family on Paris for future visits cause you like it so much. You have several things going in your favor. First off being a one night reservation helps, when blocking rooms if things are busy but not too busy upgraded rooms and suites are a good place to stick one night reservations to make it easier to block standard rooms for the people staying multiple nights, being a local plays well into the impressing visitors story, also by being on this site I'd imagine your a serious gambler to some degree so you may want to nicely make the point that based on your play your worthy of an upgrade.

I dunno how much luck you'd have with the $20 trick if you wanted to. I've read online that the reason Harrah's upsells suites at the front desk (and gives the front desk a commission on upsells) is to avoid the $20 trick being overly common place. Plus straight up asking guests if they want to be upsold sells otherwise empty upgraded rooms versus the old school of holding them back (and letting them fill either with players or the $20 trick people).

If they have a good inventory of redrooms while being a bit more crunched on standard rooms you run a good chance of getting upgraded without an upsell.

Asking to be on the highest floor possible might just get you into the highest standard room they have available, I'd just be honest you want the redroom, also if a view isn't too important for you let that be known as well.

Thanks for your help. This is very useful info. Unfortunately, I don't have the level of play required to get an upgrade on the merits. Mostly I play low-minimum blackjack and video poker, so I don't put in a lot of play at the Harrah's properties. That might change on this trip if I find something decent to play.

I will take your advice and be upfront about what I want and maybe I'll get lucky. I don't care about the view at all, so I'll let them know that as well. As you said earlier, it never hurts to ask politely -- the worst they can do is say no!

When I stayed at Paris in January 2009 the $20 trick worked for me.

Quote: nyuhoosier

I don't have the level of play required to get an upgrade on the merits.

Total Rewards (Harrah's Player's Club) is funny but not in the Ha-Ha way. I'm a Platinum level player which is just above the entry level of Gold. I mostly (95%+) play slots. I'm in my mid 40's. My buddy is over 60, still at the entry level of Gold and also plays slots almost exclusively. He maybe plays at Let-It-Ride for a couple of minutes per trip.

I get crappy offers and he gets amazing offers even though I'm at the next level. I always have to add his card to my reservation information to get comp'd. When I start with his number alone in the reservation process, he gets the awesome comp offers without my card number riding along.

I think Harrah's likes old people better, age trumps card element.

Get your grampa on the Total Rewards plan, you'll get better stuff in the future.

By the way, Paris is gorgeous but Planet Hollywood (also a Harrah's property) has better energy. Since it's right next door, I'd go gamble there. Both hotels have nummy buffets.

Quote: nyuhoosier

I will take your advice and be upfront about what I want and maybe I'll get lucky. I don't care about the view at all, so I'll let them know that as well. As you said earlier, it never hurts to ask politely -- the worst they can do is say no!

Rejected! I flat-out asked for a Red Room and was told I could have one for $40 extra. (The room itself was only $40.) The woman was pretty robotic and sounded as if she was reading from a script. My guess is that Harrah's has cracked down on free room upgrades. The room we got was nothing special but quite adequate. The carpets are a little worn, but the bathrooms are still nice--they're a step up from the bathrooms in a Holiday Inn or Doubletree. We spent most of our time gambling in other casinos on the Strip because the Paris floor had a sleepy vibe. One big disappointment was the crepe we bought at a stand off the casino. It was possibly the saltiest dish I've ever had.