Advice needed for organising a stag do from london

[Charliemerritt]

Im planning a stag trip for 4-8 of us, numbers largely depending on cost unfortunately - some can easily afford whilst others may struggle. Looking to go july or october next year, preferably early october and flying from london gatwick. Advice needed:

1. Is october a good month to go? If not, when is best to go?
2. Where should we stay? Need to be mindful of those with less money but dont want to jeopardise location to save money, needs to be a balance.
3. Try to get a suite for the whole party or multiple rooms?
4. What is a must for a stag party while we're there? Pool party? Nightclubs? Which ones and best way to organise?
5. How long should we go for? Was thinking 4 nights...
6. How much do you think people need to budget for per day for drinking, eating, entrance fees, partying? $300 per day?
7. Book a package deal or get flights and accommodation separately? (Appreciate this may be a difficult for anyone to answer unless there are vegas veterans from london on the forums)

Any response/advice on anything would be HUGELY APPRECIATED!! Thanks everyone!

[Ralph Mallett]

Hi mate

I am by no means a veteran (did my first trip to Vegas in September and from London!) but hopefully this thread will help you out, was really useful for us when organising;

http://forums.jackcolton.com/showthr...677#post202677

In terms of your other questions;

1. We went September but the general consensus on here is you will have a good time whenever you go
2. Really depends on budget but you wanna be on the Strip ideally otherwise you'll spend loads of cabs
3. Depends on number of people and budget
4. Yes - pool party, nightclub. Also strip club and a good steak dinner (the thread above should help)
5. Most of my mates who have been say 5 is enough for a stag do. We did 3 which felt a bit short
6. Within reason, it can be as cheap or expensive as you want....If you're eating at buffets and drinking in happy hours (of which there are loads) or whilst gambling, you can do it pretty cheap. On the other hand if you're getting a table at a club or a daybed/cabana at a pool you can easily spend $000's. Also depends how much you are gambling, whether you wanna do presale at clubs vs bottle service, etc etc.
7. Definitely get a package. We went to LA afterwards and got hotel & flights through Expedia which was much cheaper than booking separately. Also, depending on where you are in London (I'm West), Heathrow flights were not more more expensive but had a load more choice in times.

Hope this helps.

[Charliemerritt]

Hi mate

I am by no means a veteran (did my first trip to Vegas in September and from London!) but hopefully this thread will help you out, was really useful for us when organising... .

Cheers Ralph! Really helpful!

We're right next to Gatwick but could quite easily go from Heathrow if its cheaper/more flexible.

Anyone know if we're better booking last minute or early? Some of the costs I'm getting back from travel sites are $1000 + for 4 nights. Pretty sure I've seen deals in the past for $600-700 inc. flights and thats in the bigger, better hotels.

Any help on where to buy the package from and how much i should expect to pay would be appreciated! )

Thanks again Ralph!

[artedm]

+1 to Ralph's- it can be as cheap or expensive as you want
you can get $30- $40 hotel rooms or can spend thousands

1. keep in mind- vegas major event/holiday weekends vs regular vegas weekends- Example MDW, EDC, LDW, NYE, Fight weekends
2. summer months vs winter. Pools high season is MDW-LDW but runs month and half before/ after
3. Friday and Saturday Night are most expensive for hotels Sunday-Thursday are cheapest days
4. All clubs are open Friday/Saturday some are open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays, Mondays Tuesdays
5. all strip clubs do free limo/ free entry some do $100 bottles before 8pm or 9pm

[DrNinjamonkey]

.

[tomm0]

Alright chaps

OK so ive been to Vegas lots of times from London and this forum is the best place to start.

1. Avoid virgin. Fly from Heathrow if possible with BA. Its a far far better experience. Planes out of Gatwick are old stock and the newer planes with better in flight entertainment etc fly out of Heathrow. Remember Gatwick is a charter airport and as such its a bit of a mare with Virgin. Its more than worth an extra £50 or so to leave on time, be more comfortable, not "Run out" of refreshments or be sidled next to screaming kids and chavvy mothers.

2. Hotels
You have to be on the strip. Remember EVERYWHERE in vegas requires a cab. The costs mount up. You'll be doing 2 cab journies at least per day, and will be doing about 20 dollars each on both legs. Thats 200 bucks over 5 days minimum. My suggestion for a stag group is Cosmopolitan or Wynn. More expensive outlay yes - but then you will be going to the Encore Beach Club pool parties which is the best in Vegas by a distance, or Marquee Day Club if at cosmo. Also these hotels have XS, Tryst, Surrender and Marquee. XS is probably the best club in Vegas. By staying at Wynn for example you will save a FORTUNE in cab costs cos you basically dont really even need to leave the place. Well worth taking into account.
If you wanna save a bit go to MGM. That good, but taxi costs are high. Avoid off strip hotels.

3. Clubs
Best clubs are: XS, Light, Hakkasan, Marquee. Followed by 1Oak, Surrender, Hyde. These are the days that count
Thursday: Tryst
Friday: Light
Saturday: Anywhere
Sunday: XS
Monday: Marquee
Tuesday: Hyde or 1oak
Wednesday: Light or Surrender

Bare in mind you will require table bookings to get in or pre-sale tickets. You wont get in a big group of guys on general admission. For 8 people you will spend a total of around $4000 per night at the Tier 1 clubs (XS, Light, marquee, Hak). The contacts are all on this site. Many of us know these guys personally so will help you out.

4. Pool parties
These are the best thing about vegas. Id go to a pool party over a club.
Best ones are Encore Beach Club at Wynn, Marquee Day Club at Cosmo. Daylight is the new kid on the block at Mandalay Bay. Also to be visited are Tao Beach, Liquid and Wet Republic. Encore Beach in my view is by far the best. You can of course get cabanas to do the whole vegas experience. However my advice is get pre-sale tickets and just mingle, its more of a laugh. Its more important to have tables at night clubs over cabanas at pool parties.

5. Spends
This is subjective, but generally plan to spend around $500 at nightclubs each and have around $200 - 300 for days. Remember you gotta eat and get around which'll be around $50 - $100 a day. Id say you will spend about $800 a day on a stag do. Its an expensive place, best thing you can do is be prepared. You WILL spend a fortune, just accept that VIP fun comes with VIP money. You of course dont HAVE to go to clubs on VIP tables, but its much much better if you do. Bigger the club, bigger the group = bigger table, bigger real estate and big money.

Try to avoid major holiday weekends. Dont be fooled into thinking that its a better idea to go then. Vegas is brilliant any night. But costs around major holidays are alot higher.

6. Tipping structure
You'll get quotes for minimum spends on tables/cabanas. Rule of thumb is 1 bottle per 3 people. So 8 people would be 3 bottles.

Bottles are about $600 each

Bigger groups however would need more than a 3 bottle minimum.

So lets say a 4 bottle min spend
- bottles = $2400
- tax and gratuity runs at 28% mandatory - $672
- Alot of places have local entertainment tax (LET) @ 10% - £240
- You have to pay a "host handshake" for setting up your table. Usually around $200 - $300.
- Tip the security guy $50 - $100
- Tip the busser - the dude that picks up your empties etc - $50.
- Waitress tip is part of the 28% tax/grat but you can of course tip her

So total there would be $3500 for a 4 bottle spend. Bout $470 each give or take...

[aaron07smith]

tomm0, thats some great information!

Charlie, just to let you know, me and my mates have booked Vegas for next June. There are 8 of us staying at the Planet Hollywood for 5 nights, Saturday to Thursday, and it cost us £975ish. That is flying from Gatwick with Virgin, so hopefully I can avoid the screaming kids and chavvy mums! I am not sure if its a particularly cheap or expensive as its the first time I have been but thought it would give you a ball park figure.

[kp3205]

Going to throw a slight curve for you regarding hotel. Take a look at Vdara.

All of them are suites and have a kitchen. Can load up on snacks, alcohol, etc for pre gaming with the fridge in the kitchen.

I took 7/10 -7/14 of next year to give you an idea on cost and the Deluxe Suite is $504+ $28/day resort fee but only has a king bed just under 600 sqft. The Vdara Suite is $684+ $28/day resort fee but has a living room with a pull out Queen bed and a washer and dryer with just over 800 sqft.

First one split, I added the resort fees into the number, between 2 guys is $308 each before taxes while the 2nd one is $398 each before taxes. Put 4 in the Vdara Suite if you don't mind sharing the bed it's $199 each before taxes.

It is a non gaming location in City Center but you are centrally located on the strip and you can hit Marquee from there, Cosmo, etc.

Link to their Vdara Suite page:

http://vdara.com/suites/vdara-suite.aspx

Just a thought.

[Charliemerritt]

Tommo that is some damn fine help, legend! Its a shame with the breadth of budgets im dealing with. Id happily spend 5k but others im trying to get to come are little tight for cash unfortunately. Funny thing is im the bloody groom, didnt want to leave to my best men as im desperate to get a good deal for all ;o) Will digest all the info and no doubt have some questions but one quick question for now... Whats the deal with "bottles"? Whats that actually mean? Are we actually buying a bottle of booze or is it a tab??

[headstrong]

Well, at clubs your are buying bottle service. It's expensive when they they have high tax and auto gratuity adding nearly 40% on top of 600ish bottles. What you are actually paying for in the high cost is ambiance and realty. Your group will have a place to sit, hang out, get people to come to your table, etc. To get a table you'll have a minimum amount of bottles to secure specific locations. (or minimum overall price). The higher the tier club the more expensive the minimums will be and more youll tip your host to secure a better location. You can get get good deals during the week though.

That being said, bottle service is the way to go. It's expensive, but single drinks aren't either. You can easily spend 200+ at a club on drinks, when you could spend 250/pp on a table.

[ccc]

Since you're coming next year your mates have time to save money. Putting away a set amount every paycheck can net you all of the money you nee. I'd say only plan for the guys you know will make the trip. If anyone else comes up with the money great, but at least you have a set number of guys you can count on to be there.

[Johnkiddtaylor]

www.vivastagvegas.com - free travel guide for a stag in las vegas, enough said