What actually happens when you get bottle service in Las Vegas?

Before you go

Your booking is confirmed with the venue, under a name, for a headcount, at a minimum. Three things worth locking down beforehand:

• The all in number. Minimum plus tax plus service charge. Ask for it in writing.
• Where the table sits. Not the price tier, the actual location. Dance floor adjacent, DJ side, upper level, perimeter. This is what you are really buying.
• Your bottle picks. You can decide at the table, but choosing in advance means it is waiting for you rather than fifteen minutes into the night.

Arrival

You go to the bottle service or VIP entrance, not general admission. Give the reservation name. Everyone in the party needs physical ID. Once checked in, a host walks your group in and hands you to the table's server.

Expect a card authorisation at or near check in, for the amount of the minimum. That is standard and it is not a charge, it is a hold, and it releases as the actual spend closes out. One person in the group should be prepared to be the card on file, and if you are splitting later, sort that between yourselves rather than at the table.

At the table

What arrives: your bottles, a bucket of ice, a full set of mixers, garnishes, glassware, and a server who is looking after your table specifically for the night. At most rooms there is also a security host nearby whose job includes keeping your table yours.

What is included in the minimum: the bottles and the mixers. What is not: tax, service charge, and anything you order beyond the minimum.

The sparkler presentation, the one where the bottle comes out lit and the room looks over, is standard for champagne and premium bottles at most Strip clubs, and it is usually included rather than extra. If you want it timed for a birthday moment, tell your server early in the night rather than at the moment.

The check

At the end of the night the server brings the check. It shows the bottles you actually ordered, tax, and a service charge that at most Strip clubs runs roughly 20 to 30 percent. That service charge is not the same as a tip, and it does not all reach your server, which is why an additional gratuity on top is customary for good service. Something in the range of a further 10 to 20 percent is normal for a table that was well looked after.

If your consumption came in under the minimum, you still pay the minimum, and you can take unopened bottles to the table's remaining time but not out of the venue. If you went over, you pay the actual total. Nothing on the check should be a surprise if you got the all in number up front.

Table share, and what it is

Some venues will seat two smaller parties at one table and split the minimum. It is a real product and it is a good deal for two or three people who want to sit down without carrying a full minimum. It is not offered at every room or on every night, and it is almost never advertised, so it has to be asked for by venue and date. You will be sharing the space with strangers, which most people find completely fine and some people hate. Know which you are.

The mistakes that cost people money

• Not asking for the all in number. A 2,000 dollar minimum is a 2,500 dollar night. Budget for the real figure.
• Buying the biggest bottle for the show. The markup on the theatrical formats is steep. Two standard bottles usually serve a group better than one large one.
• Arriving at 1am. You paid for the table from the moment the room opened.
• Not naming the occasion. Say it is a birthday or a bachelorette when you book. It costs nothing and it changes how the table is treated.

If you want the real minimum, the all in figure and an honest description of where a specific table sits in a specific room, that is exactly what a host does, at venue price and with no booking fee. Tell us the venue, the date and the headcount and you will get all three back.