Can you do a VIP min spend with just drinks, no bottles?

[tony67]

Is this doable? Lets say for example; $500 min + 28.1% tax and gratuity+handshake to host, busser, and security= $901.
The most common perception of VIp tables is getting bottles or "doing bottle service". Even though there are great specials such as 2 goose or 450-500 and such, is doing just a beverage min(mixed drinks, red bulls, waters, etc) accepted as well? Or would it be a negotiable thing since it may not be a common practice?

I understand all the reasons why i probably should not do it that way, but I have a lot of questions from my group pertaining to the 2 options.

[BayAreaOlli]

While I don't think there is a law or regulation from the club against doing drinks, it is a sure fire way to completely piss your waitress off. Can you supplement with drinks sure, but only drinks don't think I would ever do that.

Now this is for nightclubs, dayclubs are a completely different story from my experience. Most of the time we don't do bottles but rather mixed drink pitchers and beer and it has never been a problem there.

[kp3205]

We were able to negotiate beers to be included in the minimum as we still purchased bottles. Red Bulls and waters are add ons is how I understood it so I wouldn't hold my breath.

[GregW]

While I don't think there is a law or regulation from the club against doing drinks, it is a sure fire way to completely piss your waitress off. Can you supplement with drinks sure, but only drinks don't think I would ever do that.

Now this is for nightclubs, dayclubs are a completely different story from my experience. Most of the time we don't do bottles but rather mixed drink pitchers and beer and it has never been a problem there.

that waitress is getting 20% for 5 minutes work at a nightclub - heaven forbid they actually do something to earn that $400 from your table. lol.

i've ordered drinks after bottles no problem. and we built a mini-beer fort recently to help meet our minimum.

[tony67]

How about no bottles, just strictly ordering indivivual drinks?

[tony67]

So heres the situation; I've thrown out a bunch of tier 2 clubs to the guys in my group that are recommened by all the reviews I read on here that play hip hop/ top 40 such as 1oak, hyde, tryst, tao, the bank, etc. I tell him a $500 min is doable with a 2 bottle special and such. They dont understand the extra money i add on top for host, bouncer, security tip. So one guy searches on facebook for a host for LAx. Of all places, LAX. wow. my work has been put to shame. lol

Host tells him they have a 1k min for a table olus 40% tax. whoa. then they tell him 2.5k for a dancefloor table. whoa again. we are talking about LAX here, not a more reputable club. I have laughed and shrugged it off. So thats what brought up the question originally.

Oh and the host sent him an email saying if he gives his card info as a hold, he can knock the 1k min down to $500.

[artedm]

ask your friend to ask about bottle prices

So heres the situation; I've thrown out a bunch of tier 2 clubs to the guys in my group that are recommened by all the reviews I read on here that play hip hop/ top 40 such as 1oak, hyde, tryst, tao, the bank, etc. I tell him a $500 min is doable with a 2 bottle special and such. They dont understand the extra money i add on top for host, bouncer, security tip. So one guy searches on facebook for a host for LAx. Of all places, LAX. wow. my work has been put to shame. lol

Host tells him they have a 1k min for a table olus 40% tax. whoa. then they tell him 2.5k for a dancefloor table. whoa again. we are talking about LAX here, not a more reputable club. I have laughed and shrugged it off. So thats what brought up the question originally.

Oh and the host sent him an email saying if he gives his card info as a hold, he can knock the 1k min down to $500.

[EastCoast]

1. I will state an often repeated line on this forum - go where the girls are, not where the bottle deals are. If your boys just want to hang with each other and get drunk, then a club is a waste of money. Stay in your hotel room and drink liquor store bought booze. But if your boys want girls and atmosphere then go to the club that has girls and atmosphere. Every Vegas club is not the same.

2. How many guys are in your group? Four? If there are four of you then you will crush two bottles early and will buy at least a third. That's a fact. You will be at the club for 4-5 hours and you will be pouring drinks for women you meet in the club. I always recommend you determine your realistic bottle purchases and then buy those upfront. Better to get a table location based on 3 bottles than to get a table location based on 2 bottles and buy 3 bottles.

3. I think you are making a mistake going to a club based on music. Go to the clubs with the girls and atmosphere. This isn't karaoke night. Nobody wants to see your boys standing on the booth singing along to Biggie.

[tony67]

1. I will state an often repeated line on this forum - go where the girls are, not where the bottle deals are. If your boys just want to hang with each other and get drunk, then a club is a waste of money. Stay in your hotel room and drink liquor store bought booze. But if your boys want girls and atmosphere then go to the club that has girls and atmosphere. Every Vegas club is not the same.

2. How many guys are in your group? Four? If there are four of you then you will crush two bottles early and will buy at least a third. That's a fact. You will be at the club for 4-5 hours and you will be pouring drinks for women you meet in the club. I always recommend you determine your realistic bottle purchases and then buy those upfront. Better to get a table location based on 3 bottles than to get a table location based on 2 bottles and buy 3 bottles.

3. I think you are making a mistake going to a club based on music. Go to the clubs with the girls and atmosphere. This isn't karaoke night. Nobody wants to see your boys standing on the booth singing along to Biggie.

Forgot to mention we are all married and going as couples. We have 1 night for EDM walk in and another night choosing hip hop/top 40.

[artedm]

+1

1. I will state an often repeated line on this forum - go where the girls are, not where the bottle deals are. If your boys just want to hang with each other and get drunk, then a club is a waste of money. Stay in your hotel room and drink liquor store bought booze. But if your boys want girls and atmosphere then go to the club that has girls and atmosphere. Every Vegas club is not the same.

2. How many guys are in your group? Four? If there are four of you then you will crush two bottles early and will buy at least a third. That's a fact. You will be at the club for 4-5 hours and you will be pouring drinks for women you meet in the club. I always recommend you determine your realistic bottle purchases and then buy those upfront. Better to get a table location based on 3 bottles than to get a table location based on 2 bottles and buy 3 bottles.

3. I think you are making a mistake going to a club based on music. Go to the clubs with the girls and atmosphere. This isn't karaoke night. Nobody wants to see your boys standing on the booth singing along to Biggie.

[DeX]

Maybe if you run up like 2/3 of the min in beer buckets/cases and the rest in drinks the waitress won't be as upset but as drinks only that's about 30-40 drinks she'll have to keep bringing over and then you gotta worry about the busser cleaning up drinks that aren't finished. Just seems like too much of a hassle for everyone that's why it's not really heard of.

Also lax isn't open anymore

[AxelFoley]

I was at Marquee in Sept 14'. Had a $500 minimum and we didn't do bottles. Just got beers, water and nixed drinks. Had no problems. Hard to hit the minimum so we ordered a few Blue Label rounds and even bought a marquee tank top lol. But it is doable for a low minimum like $500.. Sometimes you don't feel like a bottle. Wouldn't do it for a higher min though.

[ccc]

Tel your boy it's a club, not a restaurant. They don't really have the systems in place to do drink orders at tables in a timely fashion at all. You'll wait longer for drinks, and it'll take longer for your waitress to get back to your table since she's spent all that time at the bar waiting for your drinks and leaving her other tables unattended. Never understood people wanting to do things this way.

[maxutilsperusd]

I think the biggest problem with bottles is the lack of variety. I don't care for vodka, but like whiskey. My girlfriend loves vodka. My friend doesn't care for vodka or whiskey, but likes gin. My other friend only drinks beer. How do we reasonably get a table together with all of us getting drinks that make us happy?

I think not buying a single bottle is totally unreasonable in that it is asking for a lot more work from the staff along with not having as easy of a setup for giving out drinks to fellow partiers.

On the other hand I think if a club isn't willing to do a bottle worth of mixed drinks and beers when you have already purchased a bottle it shows a lack of service.

So my advice if people have more unique tastes than vodka and orange juice or vodka and cranberry juice would be to buy that one bottle of vodka so you have something to do a couple of shots of and share with whoever you happen to meet, and then a case of beer, and a couple of double cocktails of anything your group is wanting. Then you are compromising in that you have more variety, yet aren't asking for a lot more effort from the staff.

With a one bottle minimum though I think you're just going to have to deal with getting a bottle, if your friends think it's too expensive for too little maybe just do pre-sale or go to a pool party where food and beverage spends are more reasonably spent on things that aren't bottles.

[EastCoast]

Forgot to mention we are all married and going as couples. We have 1 night for EDM walk in and another night choosing hip hop/top 40.

Ahhh. Well then ignore my advice. I will save that rant for another poster going with a group of guys. I will let someone with experience on a couples trip chime in. I will say that LAX won't have a fraction of the atmosphere of the tier 2 clubs.