Just checking to see if anyone ever tried tipping front desk for an upgraded room...staying at golden nugget next week - wondered if this ever works??????Any fun things to know about downtown (Fremont street area) first time staying there!

Just a note. The downtown area is a pretty sleazy place. Your better off in the middle of the strip.

It is suggested to hand the check-in clerk a $20.00 bill and politely ask for an upgrade. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I haven't personally tried it. I did, however, stay at the Golden Nugget 10 years ago.
It was VERY nice then (clean and pretty), and it still gets rated very highly now. See the light show at night downtown.

A tip is something you give after the fact to show appreciation.

That's a BRIBE you're asking about. What is YOUR employer's policy on employees accepting BRIBES?

If you're implying that the $20 is a bribe in the sense of being an illegal inducement, that's not really correct.
Desk clerks at most hotels in LV have the freedom to upgrade guests as they see fit, having been given basic instructions by their management as to when this is appropriate. If things are slow and the clerk's in a good mood they will occasionally upgrade guests for no reason at all except that it's a good will gesture.
If $20 is enough to convince a desk clerk to offer an upgrade that's the clerk's call. At some hotels clerks can be fired for accepting tips like this, at others management simply looks the other way.
You have to remember that in LV, more than in any other city in the US, money talks and everything seems to have a price.
Offering cash for an upgrade may work in many other cities but would be considered in poor taste, but in LV it doesn't even raise an eyebrow.

Ah ... the "everyone does it so...." argument.

There's a lot of assaults that occur in LV too .... so when you get mugged then ... ??

rb, tips aren't always given only after the fact, but they're still not bribes, and neither is what dekinjack is suggesting a bribe. Bribes are used to persuade someone to do something illegal--upgrades aren't illegal. That said, I've never tried tipping a desk clerk for an upgrade--I'd be afraid to give offense, for some reason. But if you're willing to act as a guinea pig for the rest of us, try it and report back!

One of my past jobs was front desk manager. Hotel employees work for the HOTEL, and should be maximizing yield, or profits for their employer. Certainly if a better room type is available by a large margin for the next 4 days, and a guest is staying for 3 days, the clerk has some discretion about an upgrade. But when there is PERSONAL REWARD in awarding the upgrade, then it *is* bribery, whether the act is legal or not. It's unethical. Allegiance to the employer, who pays the clerk week after week, has been compromised for a one-shot deal that benefited the clerk at the owners expense ... after all, if the guest REALLY wanted that better room, he'd have paid for it. Rationalize all you wish, but the facts remain unchanged.

I'm looking for a miter saw. How much should I tip the clerk at Sears to give me Craftsman for the same price as the Sears-brand?

From the American Heritage Dictionary, this is the definition of the word "bribe":

bribe (brîb) n.

1. Something, such as money or a favor, offered or given to a person in a position of trust to influence that person's views or conduct.

2. Something serving to influence or persuade.

As you can see legality or illegality isn't a factor.

As I said in the other thread on this subject, Vegas operates on a set of rules applicable to Vegas and Vegas alone, but if one of our employees accepted your money for an upgrade they would find themselves jobless post-haste. Do not pass "Go" just head right on out the door.

A traffic cop also has the option of letting you go just this one time for that parking ticket (speeding ticket/light running/illegal lane change/failure to signal a turn--you name it), or writing you up. What do you think that $20 you slipped him with your drivers license would be called...right after he hauled your @** off to court? LOL

You obviously weren't working in LV.
The industry runs very differently there and the things that casino hotels will do to entice and woo guests are unlike anything which goes on in the non-casino industry. And all the "creative tactics" used in LV are considered fair game in the local industry.
Hotel upgrades, free buffet coupons, comped meals, free show tickets, free champagne, free limo service, etc are given away like candy in LV and it's all considered part of "the price of doing business" competing for guest loyalty.
You're truly comparing apples to oranges here rb.

In any other city but Vegas I would call it a bribe. In Vegas, it is the cost of doing business.

rwilliams you are talking about perks of staying with a particular hotel, offered to the customer by the hotel in your list above, not customers trying to influence room assignments by paying money to the staff, and money which goes straight into that individual's pocket, not the corporation coffers. That is a bribe. The other is a perk for staying there and those or similar perks are available all around the world in the industry. What is Free Nights Faster program but a perk for staying with Hyatt x# of times and paying with Master Charge. What are chocolates on a pillow? A welcome champagne? Your list was truly apples and oranges...!

That is not to say this isn't done in Vegas, I have no idea, I'm just saying how it would most likely be viewed in the rest of the (above board) world.

But the subject is Las Vegas, and I can't tell you how many times in my case I've tipped for extras. I agree that Las Vegas is the only city I would tip for extras, and in LV it is widely common and expected. They don't call it Sn City for nuttin