VIP - Bottle service

Hi .. 6-8 of us from London UK will be in Vegas from 21st-26th March 2013 on a stag party staying at the MGM .. The stag wants us to go to a bar/club on a V.I.P or Bottle Service .. So, this is where I need help .. should we contact an agency or book directley through the bar/club. If you guys can recommend an agent can you give me some advice . The maximum we would want to pay is $150 each per person with everything included maybe a little more as the stag has a few clients which he has invited and they might bump up our resources. But, we know we are going during March Madness so it might be more expensive... Any advice will be valuable...Thanks..Oh and is there a big difference between V.I.P and Bottle service..Thanks again

 

A lot depends on how many people and what else you're looking for.
There are a lot of options.
Most bottles are between 400-500 a bottle. They sometimes add an additional entertainment tax of 10% and 20% tip. Your minimum is going to be around 150 a person.


Main thing you need to know is how many people and what you want to drink.
You should also figure out which club you want and if you want a table, cabana, or whatever.

 

Thanks for the reply I'm pretty shore the bottle will be standard Vodka and redbull I know that is what we would all drink maybe Coke or Orange Juice as well... There are a few agencys that we might contact .. Does anybody have any good experiences with any ...Thanks.........

 

I didn'y mean to click on that smiley face licking its lips by the way..ha

 

I think the agencies are a rip-off. you can get everything they provide you by calling a host at the club. No need to pay the extra cost of using an agnecy to buy their packages.

With one bottle of basic vodka per 4 people, you're looking at 150 a person. That's why it's crucial to know how many people and how many bottles you want.

 

Thanks for the advice .. Who do we tip the host and our waitress, anybody else does the doorman need to be tipped or anybody else .. thanks

 

Only need to tip your server. When you reserve your table, the host will walk you to your table and set you up with a cocktail waitress. If you want to tip your host, you can. But all he does is walk you to the table. If he comes by and checks on you throughout the night to see how your doing, then you can tip him/her. Your waiter is going to be doing all the work. She'll take your drink order, set up your table, keep the ashtrays clean, pour you drinks, makes sure the mixers are filled, ice bucket filled, and whatever else you need. They do a lot of work and they definitely deserve a tip. sometimes you'll have the same buser cleaning your table. you can tip him if you want. I only tip the host if he actually hosts us and if i want to have him as my host next time.

 

Thanks for your advise ... Much appreciated ..!

 

You got it. Hope you have a blast. Have fun!!

 

nobody does 1 bottle for 4 people anymore. it's 1 bottle for 3 people at most. however, if it's an off weekend you can swing deals. but during MM it's going to be tough. your best bet would be to try Thurs-Fri night and not Sat night.

as far as who to tip, the more people you tip the better your experience will be. you should throw the host that set you up 100-200 depending on what kind of table he got you and what kind of deal he got you. last trip i had a host get me a nice low minimum and a great table on Sat night, so i gave him 200. but a lot of that is setting things up for next time. next time i call i know he'll do me the same thing. if you're not concerned about next time, you can stiff him, but it's not recommended.

then after you get there, a security guy will come up and introduce himself and let you know he's taking care of your area. throw him 100 and he'll be at your beck and call all night. whether that means you want nobody near your table or you want hot girls galore brought over, that's for you to decide. tipping your waitress is done at the end when you sign the bill. it will almost always include a tip/service charge and you don't have to tip any extra unless you want to.

the bottom line is 150 pp including everything is going to be tough. you'll need to stick to second tier clubs and try off nights where you can get BOGO offers.

 

I'm with Shifter. I don't know what clubs you guys have been going to or when. Any of the upper end clubs have insane minimum these days, regardless of who you know. You have to look at the level of club, size and location of the table as well. What night of the week also plays a factor in addition to any special event/DJ that club is having. You are going on a busy week. You may find yourself spending what you think is a good deal of money only to be shafted with a small table that cant fit your group in some back corner. Clubs like Marquee or XS don't even do the bottle per person thing anymore. Its strictly a cash spend. Dance floor tables at Marquee average $5-10k minimum spend on a weekend night. I was able to get one not long ago via a friend for only 3k. After tax and tips, etc the bill was $4,397.00. This was for 6 people. It is nearly impossible to drink these minimums and finish them, you have chase your liquor drinks with gulps of vintage champagne.

 

yeah, but it sure is easy to drink those minimums if you're cracking the bubbly. we had a 2 bottle min last time with 7 people and there's no way we could drink 2 bottles of vodka, so i made the mistake of ordering a bottle of bubbly to go with the bottle of vodka. well next thing you know everybody has some bubbly and wants more and nobody wants to drink the vodka. went in at a 2 bottle minimum and ended up buying 4 bottles of champagne at 500 a pop.

 

I actually have the receipt from that last encounter and quite the tale. I knew it was in my Email bc I sent it to cosmo for points. I don't know how to add photos but basically we ordered 2 magnums of goose at $950 each and a bottle of Le Grande Dame for $1200 bucks. Some Red bulls and water for 80 bucks. $636 in Gratuity and $576 in Taxes. I drank most of the champagne myself before getting thrown out in the second hour. I have never been tossed from any establishment before in my life. I will not go into the details as I am quite embarrassed by the situation, you can use your imagination. Nothing worse then getting tossed from a club by you own security guard with 2 nearly full magnums of liquor on table and a $4,376.00 bill in your hand. Lame.

 

Thanks for the advice .. Much appreciated..!

 

it's gotta be bad to get tossed by your own security guard! did you at least grease his palm with 100 or 2 at the beginning of the night? i would figure they'd find a way to keep you around with a bill like that.

 

Shifter, I knew you wouldnt let that one go so easy. I tried everything. And yes, I always tip upfront. At one point, I thought I was making progress in a back stairwell until my one extremely drunk friend (who got me in the situation to begin with) went off on one of those crazy rants. He did one of those "Youre just a security guard, youll always be a security guard, I make your yearly salary in a month" thing. At that point, I just gave up and prayed for no police involvement. He's actually a good guy, clearly acting in very poor taste that evening. As I mentioned earlier, I was hooked up by a friend in the music industry. I wasnt looking to rock the boat, I dug my own hole. I signed the check and told the rest of my group to hang until they were done. We were escorted out of the club AND up to our suite by 4 security guards. Thirty minutes later I was down at the tables and soon after my group emerged from the club and we partied till maybe noon. It was a fun night despite the situation.

 

The truth is that you can get a deal and stay within that kind of budget IF you option for one of the nightclubs that is not 1. the newest place on the strip 2. does not have the biggest talent. if you want to eschew those then you will need to go on a "off" night (think Mon-Thurs)
For an example of pricing;
XS on a Friday night with Tiesto spinning is going to charge $750 per bottle (Greygoose for example), 1 bottle per 3 people, and there will also be a 20=30% auto-gratuity added.
So your group of 6-8 would be looking at between 2 and 3 bottles with a price range of between $1500- $2200
Cathouse ( i'll use this example as it ties into a thread in a different forum) on a FRiday night would likely charge a 1 bottle minimum for a group of 6, and most likely a 2 bottle minimum for 8, and their bottle started at $300 a piece, so you's be able to walk out of Cathouse with 2 bottles for around $650 tax and grat included.
Another thing to look out for is upsells, like a 4 pack of Redbull will cost you about $36 in a nightclub. ( think i'm kidding call one and ask their pricing for Redbull, you'll shit yourself.)
If you are really looking to go out and keep within a budget like that you are best off going to spots like Voodoo Lounge, Mix Ultralounge, Tabu, PBR Rockhouse, the Lily, or one of the other ultralounges that have less stringent requirements. If your really worried about staying within that budget you should almost DEFINITELY stay away from most agencies, they are marking up costs so they can make a profit for themselves.

 

You can definitely still go to XS with bottle minimums. As long as it's not a holiday or with a special guest, you can get one bottle. If the limit is 3 per bottle, then go in the with 3. then have the other guy get in on his own paying cover. That will be only one bottle you have to get. It's easily done. XS, Tryst, Vanity...