$20 Sandwich Trick at Cosmopolitan Las Vegas for a Free Room Upgrade

This is my experience with giving a $20 front desk tip while checking in at the Las Vegas Hotel, Cosmopolitan.  You know the $20 sandwich trick.  When you check-in, you tip the front desk and hope that they’ll give you a room upgrade or something that’ll make your stay better.

Let me tell you what happened when I tried this at the Cosmopolitan which is one of the newest and nicest hotels in Las Vegas.

But first, let’s go back 2 weeks.

 

There was an email sent to me for the basic Cosmopolitan City Room.

 

It’s their basic room, but they were only $109 per night!

 I’ve seen these rooms run for $400-600 a night so there was no question to book it.

By the way, If you want to get these lower rates, just join their Identity Membership which is free and I’ll post the link below.

So the day comes and no matter how many times I do this tipping trick, I get a little nervous.

I checked the Cosmo website in the morning to see that everything was booked for the day I was staying.  

That’s not a good sign when you want a free upgrade.

 

Should I still waste it.

I’ll still give it a shot.

Maybe they’ll give me a coupon or at the very least, they’ll try to give me the best location for the basic City Room right?

 

Still felt nervous, so I took a shower and did a few pushups

I wore my happy looking shirt and got a nice and crisp $20 bill ready.

 

And I was at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

 

I marched towards the Cosmo hotel lobby with my proud $20 bill.

The hotel lobby was packed, there was a really long line for each check-in counter.

I scoped out all the front desk workers and couldn’t choose a person I liked so I just lined up where the line was the shortest.

As the long wait continued, my hope for an upgrade kept getting smaller and smaller.

 

Workers were right next to each other so they wouldn’t want to give me anything for free.

 

Should I still risk $20?  Ahh, it’s only $20.. But I’m booking a room for $109, they’ll laugh at me.  I have to do it, gambling is part of Vegas.  

 

You start having these conversations in your head.

 

Sir, I can help you next

I went into my battle mode and smiled and said “Hi! Just checking in” and handed the worker my ID, Credit Card and $20.

 

The worker, let’s call him John greeted me with a smile and placed the 3 items on the counter

 

John typed on his computer screen and then

 

he told me he wanted to confirm that I was booked in a Terrace Studio.

I was pumped and ready to fight back, let me make a counter offer.. But wait..

 

What?

 

I was totally caught off guard.  I booked a City Room and what did he just say?

 

John was playing it smooth and I had to confirm like an idiot.  “Wait, I’m booked in a Terrace Studio?!”

 

John says “Yes sir, we have you booked in a Terrace Studio for two nights”

 

Then something inside of me went on auto-pilot and

 

I said “I apologize for pressing my luck here, but is it possible to get the room with the Japanese tub?”

 

John smiles and says “sure! let me see what I can do”

 

He started to type away on his computer and even got on the phone.

 

John said he needs to get help and then another worker (let’s call him Tim) came over.

 

Tim comes over and starts typing on the computer.

 

Uh oh, the $20 tip is on the counter and in plain view and this guy Tim is going to find out what’s going on.

 

Why didn’t I just shut up and take the Terrace Studio.

 

This is like that moment on TV game shows where the contestant is too greedy and loses it all.

Tim looks up and tells me “Mr. Yagi, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure you get this upgrade with the best view.  Please do not worry sir”

 

What.. the..

 

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

 

Did I accidentally tip $100?

 

Was is going on?

 

I kept looking around like is anybody seeing this?!

 

John told me they placed me in a Terrace One Bedroom with Fountain View

Then John asked if there’s anything else they can do for me.

 

I giggled and said “no, I think I’m totally fine.”

 

and asked if the $20 bill was for him?

 

I said “totally for you”

 

As I went in the elevator and realized how high we were, it started to settle in that this really happened.

 

So, I booked this City Room for $109.

 

Let’s see, what the Terrace One Bedroom Fountain View room looks like

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll do a full review on the room in another video.