Is bottle service in Las Vegas worth it?

Start with what you were going to spend anyway

Almost everyone compares a table minimum to zero, which is why it looks absurd. The honest comparison is against the night you were actually going to have.

Take six people at a strong Strip nightclub on a Saturday, entering as walk ups:

• Cover: roughly 50 dollars for the women and 80 for the men. Call it 400 dollars for a mixed six.
• Drinks: Strip club cocktails run roughly 20 to 26 dollars. Three each across the night, at 22 dollars, is about 400 dollars.
• Running total: around 800 dollars, standing, no seat, queueing at the bar every round.

Now the table. A good but not marquee room starts around 1,200 to 2,000 dollars in minimum for that group, plus tax and service charge of roughly 20 to 30 percent on top. Say 1,500 plus about 375 in tax and service, so around 1,875 dollars all in, or about 310 per person.

So it is more. It is not three times more, which is what people expect, and for that difference the six of you get a reserved seat all night, a dedicated server, your own bottles and mixers, entry with no cover and no line, and somewhere to put your things and actually hear each other.

Where the number really comes from

Two things move a minimum more than anything else, and neither one is the club's name.

Where the table physically sits. A booth against the dance floor at a sold out show and a table on the perimeter on the same night can differ by thousands. You are buying real estate. This is the single biggest reason to book through a host who knows the floor plan rather than accepting whatever gets offered at the door.

The night and the headliner. The same table on a Thursday and on a Saturday of a holiday weekend are different prices. If you have flexibility, moving your table night is the largest discount available to you, and it is free.

What the minimum is, and what it is not

A minimum is a spend commitment, not a cover charge. If your minimum is 2,000 dollars, you are committing to spend at least 2,000 on bottles and mixers, and you drink what you buy. It is not 2,000 to walk in and then more for drinks on top.

What is added on top is tax and service charge, together usually 20 to 30 percent, and then any additional tip you choose to leave. Any host quoting you a minimum without volunteering the all in number is doing you a disservice. Ask for it in writing.

At a 2,000 dollar minimum you are typically getting two to three bottles, since standard vodka and tequila run roughly 600 to 900 dollars inside a club, with champagne and premium labels climbing from there. Two or three bottles comfortably serves six to ten people with the mixers included.

The four times bottle service is a bad idea

1. Two of you. You cannot drink a minimum and you will not want to. Get on a list and buy at the bar.
2. Nobody in the group drinks much. The minimum does not care. You will leave with unopened bottles and a large receipt.
3. You want to move around the club all night. A table anchors you. Some people love that. If your plan is to roam and dance, you are paying for furniture you will not use.
4. You are buying it to impress people you do not know. Being honest: the room does not notice, and the bill is real in the morning.

The cheaper versions people miss

• Weeknights. The same room, the same residency calibre, a materially lower minimum.
• Dayclub daybeds. Often starting around 750 to 1,500, which for a group is the best value seating in Las Vegas.
• Table share. Some venues will seat two smaller parties on one table and split the minimum. It is not offered everywhere and it is not always advertised, so ask.
• Earlier tables. A table booked for the early part of the night, before the room peaks, can carry a lower minimum than the same table at midnight.

If you want the real number for your date rather than a range, tell a host the venue, the date and the headcount. We will come back with the minimum, the all in figure and where in the room that table actually sits, at no cost and with no booking fee, and if the honest answer is that your group should be on a guest list instead, we will tell you that too.