I'd like to get everyone's opinion on something real quick. What's your opinion on the host tip when you order bottle service and never actually see your host? Let me give a little more info on the backstory here...
I used Patrick Green (listed on this site at Patrick Frank for some reason) to book a table for 8 at Tryst on Friday night and XS on Saturday night. I was told I would need 2 bottles at Tryst and 3 at XS, and I agreed. I pointed out that I would prefer an indoor table if at all possible, because half of my group would be girls, and they wouldn't exactly be layered up with clothes. Friday rolls around (I booked the table 3 weeks out) and I text Patrick. He texts me back that he won't be walking us in at Tryst because he's sick, and that he's have to be at XS even if he wasn't sick. I agree and get a person to ask for at Tryst.
We get to Tryst, I tell them who my original host was, and who I was suppose to ask for. They have some lady (not who I was suppose to ask for) seat us, and luckily we got a nice booth inside. But since about half the tables/booths were empty all night, I'm not surprised. I went ahead and gave $300 (on a 2 bottle table) to the lady that seated us, and told her that Patrick was my host contact, and to be sure he was taken care of. I also tipped just over 20% to our waitress and $40 each to our runner and bouncer. Waitress, bouncer, and runner were all amazing. Some other head of security guy not so much, but that's a whole other story.
So Saturday night rolls around and I text Patrick a couple hours ahead of time to reconfirm our reservation. He's texts back to just let him know when I'm there. We arrive at the club at the designated time, and I shoot him a text. He texts me back that one of the guys will take us in, because he's working the guest list line. So someone comes and gets us (the guy working the line cuts off the last person in our party and it takes a couple minutes just to get them to let him in with us for some reason) and then we head in. They take our group of 7 (4 guys/3 girls as we were down one person this night) to an outside booth in the far corner of the club that has about enough space to squeeze 4 people into. As soon as we're standing there I look over and can tell the girls are freezing. There's a heater next to the booth, but the breeze is completely ruining any good that it's doing.
So I ask the lady seating us if there's any tables inside that we could switch to. I wasn't worried about location, I just didn't want the girls to be uncomfortable. I also tell her that Patrick was our host, and that he's apparently outside working the guest list line in case they need to grab him to help us out. Instead she goes and gets some other guy, who comes over and tells me that they have over 100 table reservations for this night, and so there's no other table available. So I ask if that would still be the case if I was buying more bottles (I'm buying 3 already). His exact response was that "inside tables are a $2.5k minimum". So I ask, does that mean if I bought 2 more bottles I could get an inside table? He contemplates for a minute, and then asks if I'd like to see the table. I told him that I didn't really care, as long as it's inside, but I'd take a look at it anyway. He walks me in, and as soon as he shows me that it's a real table inside, I said I'd take it. We ended up ordering a Magnum Grey Goose, 2 regular Grey Goose bottles, and a Captain Morgan or something to meet the $2500 minimum. I tipped the waitress just over 20% (was about $550), gave the bouncer $80 (and another $20 later when I asked if he could escort us to the restroom), and gave the runner $80.
But our host didn't meet us or walk us in, nor did he let me know ahead of time they wouldn't be able to get me an inside table like I requested, nor did he come help me when I was having a problem with our table, nor did he ever come ask us how the night was going. So after tipping him $300 for 2 bottles the night before without seeing him, was it wrong to not bother tipping him on Saturday night? I'm usually a very generous tipper, and hate stiffing people. But I couldn't bring myself to give him more money when I already got hustled out of an extra $1300 to get an inside table like I requested 3 weeks ago.
On a side note, I felt really bad when half the people in my group got sick the next night and I wasn't able to do bottle service at Lavo. I can tell that Donnie would have taken much much better care of us there.
I used Patrick Green (listed on this site at Patrick Frank for some reason) to book a table for 8 at Tryst on Friday night and XS on Saturday night. I was told I would need 2 bottles at Tryst and 3 at XS, and I agreed. I pointed out that I would prefer an indoor table if at all possible, because half of my group would be girls, and they wouldn't exactly be layered up with clothes. Friday rolls around (I booked the table 3 weeks out) and I text Patrick. He texts me back that he won't be walking us in at Tryst because he's sick, and that he's have to be at XS even if he wasn't sick. I agree and get a person to ask for at Tryst.
We get to Tryst, I tell them who my original host was, and who I was suppose to ask for. They have some lady (not who I was suppose to ask for) seat us, and luckily we got a nice booth inside. But since about half the tables/booths were empty all night, I'm not surprised. I went ahead and gave $300 (on a 2 bottle table) to the lady that seated us, and told her that Patrick was my host contact, and to be sure he was taken care of. I also tipped just over 20% to our waitress and $40 each to our runner and bouncer. Waitress, bouncer, and runner were all amazing. Some other head of security guy not so much, but that's a whole other story.
So Saturday night rolls around and I text Patrick a couple hours ahead of time to reconfirm our reservation. He's texts back to just let him know when I'm there. We arrive at the club at the designated time, and I shoot him a text. He texts me back that one of the guys will take us in, because he's working the guest list line. So someone comes and gets us (the guy working the line cuts off the last person in our party and it takes a couple minutes just to get them to let him in with us for some reason) and then we head in. They take our group of 7 (4 guys/3 girls as we were down one person this night) to an outside booth in the far corner of the club that has about enough space to squeeze 4 people into. As soon as we're standing there I look over and can tell the girls are freezing. There's a heater next to the booth, but the breeze is completely ruining any good that it's doing.
So I ask the lady seating us if there's any tables inside that we could switch to. I wasn't worried about location, I just didn't want the girls to be uncomfortable. I also tell her that Patrick was our host, and that he's apparently outside working the guest list line in case they need to grab him to help us out. Instead she goes and gets some other guy, who comes over and tells me that they have over 100 table reservations for this night, and so there's no other table available. So I ask if that would still be the case if I was buying more bottles (I'm buying 3 already). His exact response was that "inside tables are a $2.5k minimum". So I ask, does that mean if I bought 2 more bottles I could get an inside table? He contemplates for a minute, and then asks if I'd like to see the table. I told him that I didn't really care, as long as it's inside, but I'd take a look at it anyway. He walks me in, and as soon as he shows me that it's a real table inside, I said I'd take it. We ended up ordering a Magnum Grey Goose, 2 regular Grey Goose bottles, and a Captain Morgan or something to meet the $2500 minimum. I tipped the waitress just over 20% (was about $550), gave the bouncer $80 (and another $20 later when I asked if he could escort us to the restroom), and gave the runner $80.
But our host didn't meet us or walk us in, nor did he let me know ahead of time they wouldn't be able to get me an inside table like I requested, nor did he come help me when I was having a problem with our table, nor did he ever come ask us how the night was going. So after tipping him $300 for 2 bottles the night before without seeing him, was it wrong to not bother tipping him on Saturday night? I'm usually a very generous tipper, and hate stiffing people. But I couldn't bring myself to give him more money when I already got hustled out of an extra $1300 to get an inside table like I requested 3 weeks ago.
On a side note, I felt really bad when half the people in my group got sick the next night and I wasn't able to do bottle service at Lavo. I can tell that Donnie would have taken much much better care of us there.
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