I guess this might be a bit different. Just passing along what I went through to get a table for sat on MDW.
Hope this helps anyone who has never gotten a table before. Enjoy.
I've been with others for bottle service before (Moon), but never had to organize it myself. The goal was to get a table at XS, Sat night MDW, for 11 people (10 girls/1 guy) to celebrate a 21st birthday.
Lesson #1 learned on this trip: "People head out to Vegas to pretend and hopefully get treated like a high roller. It's much easier to do when the 'acutal' high rollers aren't in town."
Not only was this a holiday weekend, the UFC fan expo was in town, and a UFC fight on Sat night. Oh and no one bothered to mention that the WSOP also started this weekend as well?! It didn't help that on my flight into Las Vegas, I also had about 8 San Jose Sharks on board! Hey now my money is just as green as theirs, but sadly, I'm thinking theirs will be stacked a bit higher than mine.
Arrive Thursday and we head down to StripSteak. Dinner was fantastic, people ogling and taking pictures of Dana White, then I get my 1st twist. I had texted my host at XS to mention we are in town and ready to go. The text reply was "I have to call you shortly"
Really? I'm praying that the call would be "hey good to hear you're in town. Use this special VIP entrance and have a great time ..." Um no. The call consisted of him saying that none of his reservations are going through and that people who were willing to go 2K handshake at a 5K min table weren't going to get in. Great. 48 hours before my event and now I have nothing. He offered me XS on Fri or Sun, but we had plans set. The only other option he could setup was to book for Tryst on Sat.
What made this frustrating was for 6 weeks I had been texting and confirming with my guy about the table and price. With 1 week to go I asked if I was good. He replied that I was good to go and would talk to me on Friday. People in my group were now worried about getting bumped again from Tryst and the reliability of my host and honestly, I had some of the same thoughts. I mean if you knew all these events were colliding on MDW and it was going to be a $10K min to get in that weekend, just tell me up front so I could have planned accordingly 2 weeks ago, not 48 hours. But with the holiday, fight crowd, and WSOP, I knew I couldn't compete with the amount of money being thrown at XS.
Fast forward to Sat and called the host for specific directions as he requested. Told me to use the South entrance of the Wynn then ask for two guys, either Rod or Jarrod. Also said be there at the latest by 10:30 because he couldn't hold the table for longer than that. If there were any problems, text him and he would come over from Encore. Got there at 9:45 and a line was already starting to twist its way back into the garden. Talked to one of the security guys there and asked for either Rod or Jarrod. He claims that both were not answering.
So we wait. Huge line of guys get in. Wait some more. More dudes get let in. And wait more. It's around 10:15 and I text my host to tell him I need some help to fight through this line. At the same time, one of the women in my group manages to flag down Natalia. "ALL HAIL THE ALL MIGHTY NATALIA. HOLDER OF THE CLIPBOARD AND PASSES!"
Natalia finds my name on the list and says:
"I see you have made arrangements with Ryan."
"That's correct." I reply
"Do you have that arrangement with you?"
"Are you talking about a credit card?"
"No, I'm talking about cash." She replies and then leads my group up to the front.
Yeah the original handshake amount for XS was carried over to Tryst. No big deal, I was ready to part with it to begin with, but some in my group didn't want me to tip him as much if we weren't walking into XS, but I didn't want to get denied now. Not this close.
As we are walking up, my host calls me and he is 1 min away. I tell him we are at the front podium and if I'm going to hand over cash to anyone, it might as well be him. I found the position of the podium very interesting. Its at the end of a curve so that no one in the main line can really see whats going on. Specifically the ridiculous amount of cash that is being forked over. I wait for him, hand him the cash, and he leads me to our table. It's a great table on the inside, in an alcove facing the stripper pole.
Lesson #2: "When vacationing in Las Vegas and intending to spend huge amounts of money at a club, it would be best if you call your credit card companies in advance so they don't block the charge."
Yes after all the stupidly of getting in, I get held up by my own mistake. My first card is doesn't go through and for the second card, I have go into the back on possibily the oldest land line phone in Las Vegas and talk to Bank of America to allow the charges. But once the card goes through, the booze starts flowing and all is well with the world.
We go untill 4:30AM and people are dragging so I ask for the bill. There is a nice bright light attached to the booklet holding the tab, the $8 waters, $9 Red Bulls, and a stamp that clearly states gratuity is NOT included. Our waitress hands me the bill and literally sits down right next to me and says "I'll just wait right here." No pressure at all huh? I was afraid she was going to slap me in face if I didn't put down enough or made some horrific drunk math mistake!
Lesson #3: "They won't let you carry any unused booze out, but if you have some sneaky people and interesting attire, you can smuggle it out."
Sadly we could not finish all the booze and had 1 full bottle left! Luckily one of the girl's dresses had a pocket big enough to hide the 1L bottle. I didn't see the details, but we were able to get out with it.
Overall this night ended up being fantastic. Great table location, plenty of good music, and all had a great time. Even though there was late notice bounce, Ryan came through, responded to both my calls and texts, and even showed up when I was crying for help. I have nothing but good things to say about him and would recommend him. Thank you Dinx for the contact!
And now I have one question for everyone. What is the trick in getting a cab out of the Wynn? The South entrance was NOT the right choice, at least not at 5AM, as it took 20-30 min to get a cab! Please someone tell me what exit I'm supposed to use so that the next time I can get a cab in a reasonable time.
Hope this helps anyone who has never gotten a table before. Enjoy.
I've been with others for bottle service before (Moon), but never had to organize it myself. The goal was to get a table at XS, Sat night MDW, for 11 people (10 girls/1 guy) to celebrate a 21st birthday.
Lesson #1 learned on this trip: "People head out to Vegas to pretend and hopefully get treated like a high roller. It's much easier to do when the 'acutal' high rollers aren't in town."
Not only was this a holiday weekend, the UFC fan expo was in town, and a UFC fight on Sat night. Oh and no one bothered to mention that the WSOP also started this weekend as well?! It didn't help that on my flight into Las Vegas, I also had about 8 San Jose Sharks on board! Hey now my money is just as green as theirs, but sadly, I'm thinking theirs will be stacked a bit higher than mine.
Arrive Thursday and we head down to StripSteak. Dinner was fantastic, people ogling and taking pictures of Dana White, then I get my 1st twist. I had texted my host at XS to mention we are in town and ready to go. The text reply was "I have to call you shortly"
Really? I'm praying that the call would be "hey good to hear you're in town. Use this special VIP entrance and have a great time ..." Um no. The call consisted of him saying that none of his reservations are going through and that people who were willing to go 2K handshake at a 5K min table weren't going to get in. Great. 48 hours before my event and now I have nothing. He offered me XS on Fri or Sun, but we had plans set. The only other option he could setup was to book for Tryst on Sat.
What made this frustrating was for 6 weeks I had been texting and confirming with my guy about the table and price. With 1 week to go I asked if I was good. He replied that I was good to go and would talk to me on Friday. People in my group were now worried about getting bumped again from Tryst and the reliability of my host and honestly, I had some of the same thoughts. I mean if you knew all these events were colliding on MDW and it was going to be a $10K min to get in that weekend, just tell me up front so I could have planned accordingly 2 weeks ago, not 48 hours. But with the holiday, fight crowd, and WSOP, I knew I couldn't compete with the amount of money being thrown at XS.
Fast forward to Sat and called the host for specific directions as he requested. Told me to use the South entrance of the Wynn then ask for two guys, either Rod or Jarrod. Also said be there at the latest by 10:30 because he couldn't hold the table for longer than that. If there were any problems, text him and he would come over from Encore. Got there at 9:45 and a line was already starting to twist its way back into the garden. Talked to one of the security guys there and asked for either Rod or Jarrod. He claims that both were not answering.
So we wait. Huge line of guys get in. Wait some more. More dudes get let in. And wait more. It's around 10:15 and I text my host to tell him I need some help to fight through this line. At the same time, one of the women in my group manages to flag down Natalia. "ALL HAIL THE ALL MIGHTY NATALIA. HOLDER OF THE CLIPBOARD AND PASSES!"
Natalia finds my name on the list and says:
"I see you have made arrangements with Ryan."
"That's correct." I reply
"Do you have that arrangement with you?"
"Are you talking about a credit card?"
"No, I'm talking about cash." She replies and then leads my group up to the front.
Yeah the original handshake amount for XS was carried over to Tryst. No big deal, I was ready to part with it to begin with, but some in my group didn't want me to tip him as much if we weren't walking into XS, but I didn't want to get denied now. Not this close.
As we are walking up, my host calls me and he is 1 min away. I tell him we are at the front podium and if I'm going to hand over cash to anyone, it might as well be him. I found the position of the podium very interesting. Its at the end of a curve so that no one in the main line can really see whats going on. Specifically the ridiculous amount of cash that is being forked over. I wait for him, hand him the cash, and he leads me to our table. It's a great table on the inside, in an alcove facing the stripper pole.
Lesson #2: "When vacationing in Las Vegas and intending to spend huge amounts of money at a club, it would be best if you call your credit card companies in advance so they don't block the charge."
Yes after all the stupidly of getting in, I get held up by my own mistake. My first card is doesn't go through and for the second card, I have go into the back on possibily the oldest land line phone in Las Vegas and talk to Bank of America to allow the charges. But once the card goes through, the booze starts flowing and all is well with the world.
We go untill 4:30AM and people are dragging so I ask for the bill. There is a nice bright light attached to the booklet holding the tab, the $8 waters, $9 Red Bulls, and a stamp that clearly states gratuity is NOT included. Our waitress hands me the bill and literally sits down right next to me and says "I'll just wait right here." No pressure at all huh? I was afraid she was going to slap me in face if I didn't put down enough or made some horrific drunk math mistake!
Lesson #3: "They won't let you carry any unused booze out, but if you have some sneaky people and interesting attire, you can smuggle it out."
Sadly we could not finish all the booze and had 1 full bottle left! Luckily one of the girl's dresses had a pocket big enough to hide the 1L bottle. I didn't see the details, but we were able to get out with it.
Overall this night ended up being fantastic. Great table location, plenty of good music, and all had a great time. Even though there was late notice bounce, Ryan came through, responded to both my calls and texts, and even showed up when I was crying for help. I have nothing but good things to say about him and would recommend him. Thank you Dinx for the contact!
And now I have one question for everyone. What is the trick in getting a cab out of the Wynn? The South entrance was NOT the right choice, at least not at 5AM, as it took 20-30 min to get a cab! Please someone tell me what exit I'm supposed to use so that the next time I can get a cab in a reasonable time.
I have nightmares of the bankroll getting lifted or lost in a cab/limo.
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