The recent release of the CityVille Beach Hotel has a lot of players up in arms. Other than their regular non-informative guide, Zynga really hasn’t posted anything about how to use these Hotels, leaving it up to the player to discover for themselves. After all, the challenge is part of the fun, right? There are two ways of looking at these new businesses – as the Hotel owner and as one of the guests. Either way, you benefit, as long as you understand how they work.
When you visit your neighbors’ cities, you have the option of checking into their Hotel and you have the choice of 3 levels. You can remain on the first floor at no charge. You can upgrade to the second floor for 1500 Coins. Or you can ask to be upgraded to a VIP guest for a room on the top floor.
The upgrade to the second floor costs 1500 Coins but you will receive a Reward. Typically it’s either a few Experience points or Coins or maybe a fancy tree. But there are other prizes as well. None, however, that are worth 1500 Coins. So what’s the point? Why should you pay 1500 Coins for an upgrade only to get 30 Coins or a tiny, little tree in exchange?
If you don’t pay for that first upgrade, to the second floor, you can’t ask for an upgrade to VIP status – and THAT’S where the BIG prizes are found!
Upgrading to VIP status, though, is the major source of confusion. So let’s go step-by-step:
- Visit your neighbor’s city.
- Click on their CityVille Beach Hotel.
- Click on the Check In button.
- Click on the Upgrade button (this costs 1500 Coins).
- Click on the Request for VIP status button (this costs nothing extra).
Now, the most important step:
Watch your Facebook Wall for a response. If your neighbor is currently playing CityVille and he’s watching his Wall, he’ll see your request for VIP status. He’ll have to go into his own Hotel and approve you and when he does, you’ll see a message on YOUR Facebook Wall that so-and-so has granted you VIP Status.
Important! At this point, when you see that message on your Wall, you need to click on that message and go BACK to your neighbor’s hotel. Click on the hotel and click on Accept VIP Upgrade – otherwise you’ll remain on the Second floor and you’ll have wasted those 1500 Coins.
After you click on the ‘Accept Upgrade’ button, you’ll see the prizes start to spin on the left side of the screen. THIS is where you win the big prizes with the CityVille Beach Hotel. But, if you don’t remember to watch your Facebook Wall and go BACK to the Hotel to check in as a VIP then you’ll never see those prizes.
