Paying your table service bill

[Heater913]

We are going to Light also and doing table service there. Pardon my lack of knowledge but is Mandalay an MGM property?
I will check with Noah on this but there shouldn't be a problem with paying the minimum etc up front when we arrive or, alternatively, charging the bill to our room at MGM?

Yes, the MGM Vegas properties are : Bellagio, Aria, Mirage, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Monte Carlo, ny-ny, and circus circus. I've never had a problem (not sure if it was even an option not to) paying the minimum upfront after ordering in cash. Let me know what you find out about charging to the MGM. Otherwise ill give you an update on how it all goes as I'm going next weekend.

[ccc]

Chuck - thanks for that. When you say close out at start of the night, would I pay over the cash($5K minimum+40.1% tax/gratuity)as soon as we're at our table?
If we go over that, we'll be presented with a further bill at the end?
Is that a common way of doing it - the servers would all be aware of it?
Many thanks

People do this all the time. You pay your min w/tax and fees up front, and if you want more bottles later you pay for each order at that time. It's a good way to make sure you have you min handled, and can stop people from going crazy ordering bottles when they're drunk.

[KEVINLJ74]

I like the Idea of paying with cash and closing out if sharing a table.
Say my share of a table is 1000.00, and I have a few tables like this over a weekend....
Can I with draw cash from the cage at a casino before hitting the club? I know some of the casinos have high limit ATM machines.
Just wondering, don't like having traveling with and having large amounts around until needed.

[shawndescoteaux]

Chuck - thanks for that. When you say close out at start of the night, would I pay over the cash($5K minimum+40.1% tax/gratuity)as soon as we're at our table?
If we go over that, we'll be presented with a further bill at the end?
Is that a common way of doing it - the servers would all be aware of it?
Many thanks

Why +40,1%? Isnt it 8,1% tax+20% grat?

[meerkatfrankie]

I refer to Thomas Gorman's post on Hakkasan's pricing of last week. The 40.1% represents a 22% auto tip to waitress, 8.1% US tax and 10% LET on all VIP reservations. The extra 10% LET is a tough pill to swallow but that's how it is.
Hope this helps.

[shawndescoteaux]

Is there a 10% LET at every club? Going to surrender end of May and the host didnt mention LET

[pantlessbellman]

LET = Live Entertainment Tax, charged by clubs usually when they have top end talent, the ones I know that are charging this are Marquee, Hak, Light and maybe XS/Tryst, Surrender I don't think charges it but I do not know for sure.

[nighthawk06si]

At the beginning of the night your server will ask you whether you want to keep the tab open incase you want to order more bottles as the night progresses or close it out. You can tell her to close it out and you're paying with cash and the card you gave the host when you got walked in will get returned to you.

If you're worried bout getting mLife credit, just keep a copy of the receipt and you can go to the mLife desk the next morning and have them add the spending to your mLife account to get the credits, harder way of doing it compared to charging it to the room but still doable. Same with Grazie and Identity programs. And I don't think when you charge things to the room it shows up on your overall credit card statement, just shows the total lumpsum from MGM Grand, not 10k from Hakkasan and another 5k at Wet Republic.

LET is charged pretty much at all the EDM based clubs so expect it whether you're at Hakk, Light or Surrender.
38%-40% is an easier way of calculating the overall spend on a table cause all the percentages are added together so you don't have to do it one by one (Minimum agreed x (8.1% tax + 20%(22% for Hakkasan) auto-gratuity + 10% LET))

[sbrese]

Will waitresses/clubs be willing to split up the bill so each guy can pay their portion using a credit card? or if your group is paying with a credit card, does it all have to be put on one persons?

[cre487]

If paying cash isn't a problem...then I would just pay cash when you're at the club.

If you pay cash, the server will close your tab before she opens the first bottles. I think that's a rule for them.

[nighthawk06si]

Will waitresses/clubs be willing to split up the bill so each guy can pay their portion using a credit card? or if your group is paying with a credit card, does it all have to be put on one persons?

I believe you can split it up between cards but try to minimize the number of cards used. If anything grab a card reader and take care of it all beforehand or venmo each other the money so only one or two cards are used and the rest is cash or something. The more difficult it takes the waitress to process it, the longer it'll take for you to get your bottles.

card reader: www.squareup.com