tipping for a better room
 

I was reading on other travel sites that if you tip the check-in person at a hotel you might get a better room or an upgraded room at no extra charge.
Has anyone tried this, and did it work?
Thanks

Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

BUT, I would rather try this as opposed to LYING about the following:

We are on our honeymoon

We are stressed out

We are cheap and stressed out

Our kid just robbed a bank

Website on tipping for upgrades:

http://www.frontdesktip.com/ ((*))

Thanks for the info Jed; I went to the website you sent and I think I am going to try it !!!!

Your best option is to ask if there are any upgrades available and how much they cost. Be charming and well-dressed. If the hotel is fairly empty the chances are they will offer it to you.

But, if the hotel is fairly full - and they are probably going to get a higher rate for the upgrade - the chance that a $20 to the desk clerk will get it for you are nil.

I would do your requesting to a manager via email ahead of time.

Tips or not, often the desk clerk does not have control of room assignments. It's not theirs to give, is my point.

That website for tipping was all Vegas hotels.

My guess is that the culture there is very different than other places.

In fact, from what I read, most hotels don't like you to try and tip the front desk person. Some may even take it as an insult.

I still think the best way to get an upgrade is just be polite and friendly and ask if there are any upgrades available.

A tip is given after a service is performed.

Money slipped to a room clerk for a better room isn't a tip, it's a bribe.

A bribe is given to persuade somebody to do something that is illegal or dishonest.

Why demean yourself by bribery when you can get the same result by asking for a room on a higher floor, a room with a view of the mountains, or whatever it is you want?

And if there are no better rooms available for free, do you pay? Or demand your tip back?

Good point, FA. Emphasizing the simple fact that tipping to get at upgrade is a fool's game.

Also, with wall-to-wall surveillance in Las Vegas hotels and casinos, I am surprised to learn that room clerks there are taking bribes from hotel guests.

I have had good luck accepting any room given to me and then calling the front desk if there is something about the room that is objectionable. I've never been disappointed.

That's a little harsh happy trails. I never thought of doing it at a hotel, but haven't you ever tipped to get a better seat in a restaurant or to get seated more quickly? Hardly a bribe, imo. I think it is a tip. I've never asked for a better room, but as I read this, I thought that perhaps I would try it, not for an upgrade, but a better view, not a more expensive one, but one of the non-guaranteed sort. Do you also consider the restaurant tip a bribe? I think I understand what you mean about upgrades that one normally pays for, how that might bother you. It might bother me too, I think.

claire, here's why it's a bribe and not a tip -- say there is an upgrade available, but they don't give it to you because you don't "tip", but they do give it to the next person, who proffers a "tip". That, like happytrails said, makes it a bribe. On the other hand, if they simply offered it to you without you asking "We have an upgrade for you today..." and you then gave a tip, that would be different.

Well, I do agree about "bribing" for an upgrade, if one defines upgrade as something that costs more, but I have stayed at hotels in which for example the cost to be on a lower floor versus a higher floor is the same. If one asks for a higher floor, and basically one would be asking someone to check for, and if available, make that change which is some work, then a tip would not be out of line. I see what you are saying about doing the tipping after the request is made, yet it still seems like a tip to me either way.

I actually find it even less fair for people that have paid nothing to be upgraded, but I realize that it is a business and sometimes it is done out of necessity or to encourage business and positive reviews, etc., but if one is paying for a suite and someone else is upgraded from an ordinary room, if I am the person paying for the suite, I don't even want to know about the person who got the upgrade. I understand it and it is fine, as I said, but ignorance is bliss in that case.

As I said, I have never attempted to get an upgrade and had not even thought of "bribing" or "tipping" to get one. I would tip to get something like my example above, but I suppose I will think further about the timing of it.

Author: claire_bluesky
Date: 06/26/2008, 06:30 pm
That's a little harsh happy trails. I never thought of doing it at a hotel, but haven't you ever tipped to get a better seat in a restaurant or to get seated more quickly? Hardly a bribe, imo. I think it is a tip. I've never asked for a better room, but as I read this, I thought that perhaps I would try it, not for an upgrade, but a better view, not a more expensive one, but one of the non-guaranteed sort. Do you also consider the restaurant tip a bribe?

***************************

No offense, but IMO, all your examples are bribes.

It would be tip if they gave it to you FIRST without any promise of recompense, then you gave them the money as a thank you.

Now I feel totally guilty just at the accusation, so I'll think about what you said. I have tipped at a restaurant to get a seat quicker, and just recently.

No, I have never "tipped" for any of those things (better table, faster seating, room upgrade).

I think its better to tell the check-in desk that this is your honeymoon or some other special occasion and that would be better to get an upgrade. Also if you didn't book already then check out the deals on www.smartervegas.com lots of them include a free upgrade and more.

Who cares if it's a bribe or a tip? If it gets you what you want that is the whole objective. This is a ridiculous argument. It's not like your doing anything illegal even if it is considered a bribe.

Hey .... it's Vegas. Isn't Vegas all about "taking chances?" Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose!

Bribe . . tip . . just different words for the same act.

Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. I do it all the time when I want preferential treatment.

Rich

I think the practice is a bit gauche. Or, greasy-haired i-banker for me ("Now, what can you do for me?").

It also really won't work in a number of international hotels where they have your keycard and room assignment already prepared and waiting for you - not just something they can change in the computer.

Be friendly, courteous and presentable and take your chances asking if they have any last minute availability in upgraded rooms.

Rich & Bawlmerhon nailed it exactly! People in the service industry (especially Vegas) anticipate / expect tips and do not think of them greasy. As noted on FrontDeskTip.com, most staff will not take the tip if they are unable to upgrade you....i.e provide you some sort of service(so you lose nothing by trying). In Vegas I've experienced the following: no upgrade, upgraded to a room overlooking the fountains, upgraded to a two room suite.

"Who cares if it's a bribe or a tip? If it gets you what you want that is the whole objective. This is a ridiculous argument. It's not like your doing anything illegal even if it is considered a bribe."

I think a lot of people might care about the difference, even if it is an issue of morality rather than legality. Also, I'm not sure that at least for the recipient, that it isn't illegal.

Hotels, like other businesses, sell a product. Their product is a night's stay, and the price is determined by size, comfort, view, amenities, etc. If an employee (assuming they aren't also the owner) offers you something that would typically cost more, and receives a payment to themself rather than an additional premium to their employer, they are essentially stealing from their employer and selling to you at a cut rate.

Imagine if you were buying a car, and the salesperson suggested they could get you a nicer model for the same price if you "tipped" them $100. What would you call that?

Even if the goal is not to get a room that would typically be more expensive, but just one that is nicer in the same price range, (and I don't think that is what we're really talking about) I think the car purchase analogy still works. If you were the owner of the dealership and you allowed your salespeople to make that upgrade to get the sale, would you be happy to find out that the deciding factor on whether or not to offer that was a $100 tip?

I hope I never have to do business in the countries where these hotels and car dealerships are located.

When I was young, I worked in a cafeteria where the manager told me to always give the customer whichever displayed piece of cake was the largest and that in that way everybody would feel they got the largest piece of cake.

To withhold from one's customers in hopes of receiving cash under the counter is a reprehensible way to do business.

DH and I tip for a service provided not in hope that we will get something more than we are paying. I have never worked as a valet or waiter but do believe that respect I give to that person makes a difference in the service.

I ask if there is a room we may like better and do think I will have to pay for the upgrade. And I always do ask.

The best room we had in Hawaii was because I had just came out of a cast for a fxed ankle. Trust me don't try this......

Another option is to book the room you want rather than the room you don't want.

milford: One little hole in your logic. It assumes the owner doesn't know what's going on. As for the car analogy, do you really believe it would be possible for a salesperson to hand over a better car to you because of a tip? C'mon, willya. The comparison is silly.

And do you really believe that hotel owners don't know or condone the way upgrades are handed out? Do you think that no one checks to see that someone got a $500/nt room for $250? If a desk person is taking tips to upgrade people, it's no secret to the hotel manager, unless the manager is a total idiot.

<i>The comparison is silly.</i>

It's not a comparison, it's an analogy, and it's actually right on. The only difference is the product and the amount of money involved in the transaction.

I just received my copy of &quot;1,001 Smart Travel Tips&quot; from Fodor's, and guess what?

Tipping a check-in person at a hotel is NOT mentioned, apparently because it is not a SMART travel tip.

Happy Trails to You

My daughter worked in a hotel and it was considered a benefit to the desk clerks, who got paid very little. If they had upgrades available, the clerks were told how many at the beginning of their shifts. They might hand them out for a $20 tip, or they might hold them hoping to get a $40 tip later on. It was something considered somewhat of an employee bonus. The most experienced workers were given the 3 to 11 shift because this is when upgrades were handed out.

So those of us who don't bribe, get bad rooms...

On several occasions I have inquired about an upgrade and after I declined when told the price I was given it for free. Now I wonder if the clerk was expecting a tip. Hmm...

In Vegas there is no morals. Thank God there's somewhere.

&gt;&gt;The only difference is the product and the amount of money involved in the transaction.&lt;&lt;
Oh, that's all? LOL!

btw:
Comparison: &quot;a. the representing of one thing or person as similar to or like another b: an examination of two or more items to establish similarities and dissimilarities.&quot;

If that ain't a comparison, then I don't know what is.

&gt;&gt;The only difference is the product and the amount of money involved in the transaction.&lt;&lt;
Oh, that's all? LOL!

j_999_9,
I was under the impression that LOL meant &quot;Laugh out loud&quot;. Does it actually mean that you have a &quot;Lack of Logic&quot;?

Are you unable to understand how two scenarios might be similar in some respects, but very different in others?

Although I didn't think my analogy would require further clarification, let me see if I can help. The situations would be similar in that an employee would accept a personal payment from a customer, and in return the employee would give the customer a more valuable product that the employer was selling. The differences, obviously, would be the ones dmlove pointed out in your quote above.

I specifically chose an example for my analogy that seems somewhat unlikely (perhaps even &quot;silly&quot;), to point out that some of us might feel differently about this type of arrangement if it was in an entirely different type of industry.

With respect to the possibility that employers endorse or encourage this type of exchange, that would certainly make the arrangement morally approprate for the employee. That said, I doubt that I would want to be a customer at those establishments, and I absolutely wouldn't want to be an investor in such a business.

Just my .02 cents: Comparing cars to hotel rooms is apples &amp; oranges. Regardless of whether a tip is issued, I would think a salesperson giving away a nicer car for the same price would be illegal and not a standard practice. However at a hotel, regardless of whether the clerk received a tip or not, I don't believe upgrading ones room is illegal and a common practice.

Now, about the original topic, it seems some of you are saying that if I give the clerk a 20 for a nicer room, that's considered unethical, but what if I gamble lots of money at their casino and as a result I receive a nicer room, is that ethical?

&quot;Now, about the original topic, it seems some of you are saying that if I give the clerk a 20 for a nicer room, that's considered unethical, but what if I gamble lots of money at their casino and as a result I receive a nicer room, is that ethical?&quot;

kate7ann,

Yes...because it is the casino's nicer room to give away. It isn't the clerk's. The casino is a business, and it has every right to make the business decision to updgrade your room when you spend a lot in the casino.

So here's the scenario from another point of view.

A friend of mine was recently planning a trip. She booked a room at a hotel and asked for one with a particularly nice view. It turns out that the room she wanted was more expensive, so she declined.

However, when they checked into that hotel they were upgraded to that room at no extra cost. It was just the check-in clerk's decision. I was happy for her but to be honest, if I were paying the extra for that view and she got it for free, I'd be some pissed off.

If you would would not offer the check-in clerk $20 tip/bribe for a potential upgrade, would you still be willing to take it from that very same person for free, even knowing that the guy next in line was going to pay full price?

And further, why would you assume it would be illegal to give away a more expensive car? Unethical maybe, but why illegal?