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clubs and rip offs (pg. 4)
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| Lilith |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fledz
Except you pay for your tables and ours are free and you pay loads for your wine which pales in compariosn to ours. And ours is cheaper :D |
Plus if you're really running low on funds there's the $20 Aussie option of avoiding all the queues, heading down the park with wine in a box and a picnic table!
le class! :stongue:
Actually there are a few spots in the capital cities which you can drop a lot of money in, get smashed on overpriced drinks and have a seat. They're called casino's and there's a fair few of them. There's also the private clubs. |
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| nekholm |
Wow, both America and Australia are ed up. What about the VIP tables, are they in regular clubs or only some ultra-ing-exclusive-VIP-clubs where superfamous celebrities go to?
In Finland we have tables, which is a good thing, cause not everyone feels like dancing all night. And I would never pay to sit at a table, or buy a whole bottle of something.
$600 in one night? That's about 380€! I get worried when I go over 50€.. And $1000 for 2 bottles and somewhere to sit? Damn, you guys are crazy! Well if you got that kind of money to spend on a night of fun, then good for you. |
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| malek |
hehehe no offence, but people from europe are cheap bastards (yes i am generalizing) :D
you should see some of the people getting a couple of grey goose 4 or 5 Liter bottles, thats like 4 grand on the table right there! |
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| Fledz |
| quote: | Originally posted by malek
hehehe no offence, but people from europe are cheap bastards (yes i am generalizing) :D
you should see some of the people getting a couple of grey goose 4 or 5 Liter bottles, thats like 4 grand on the table right there! |
You don't know what cheap is until you've witnessed south americans, specifically Brazilians. Every continent has it's cheapo's. |
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| malek |
Buying by the Bottle
Hot spots across the country are copying New York and Miami's hyper-expensive "bottle service." Barney Gimbel explains why clubs are clamoring to let you play bartender.
By Barney Gimbel
January 30, 2006: 1:44 PM EST
(FORTUNE Magazine) - Up the stairs and past the velvet rope at the Vapour Lounge not too long ago, Michael Jordan was just one of the many smartly dressed folks clinking glasses with friends on the suede couches and chairs. Three stories below, through the open atrium, a deejay spun records next to the club's dance floor and 50-foot arched ice bar. But upstairs you couldn't even think about ordering a shot. The cheapest drink on the menu was a $125 bottle of Absolut. Bottles of Dom Perignon were $300.
New York City? Miami? Las Vegas? No, Indianapolis. Come again? "People here want to feel special too," says Kyle Gilliatt, the club's manager. "I'm not just selling a bottle of vodka, I'm selling exclusivity."
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Since Vapour opened two years ago, Gilliatt says, six other nearby clubs have started offering bottle service. In fact, VIP lounges that serve booze in bulk are all the rage at nightclubs in more than 15 cities nationwide, ranging from Chicago to Milwaukee to Orlando to Toledo. (They've been de rigueur in New York and Miami for nearly a decade.) "People are not quite used to it here in Toledo," says Ahmed Dia, the owner of Club Rain, Toledo's first bottle service establishment. "But it's a big hit in Columbus."
Here's how it works: You go to a lounge and sit in a couchlike seat at a cocktail table in a section typically separated from the rest of the club. You order by the bottle, and if menus are any measure, the emphasis is typically on vodka and champagne. (Ordering by the glass is against the rules.) With the bottle come glasses, ice, and mixers of your choice. You pour. And depending on the city, that same 750ml bottle of Grey Goose vodka that goes for $30 at the liquor store could set you back anywhere from $145 to $500. (Cristal or Dom Pérignon champagne can top $1,000.)
What's happened in the past few years is a kind of reeducation of clubgoers. "People who want to live the lifestyle they read about in Us Weekly don't just live in New York City or L.A.," says Andrew Fox, CEO of clubplanet.com, an online nightlife guide. "And club owners have finally figured that out."
From a business standpoint, do-it-yourself libations are a no-brainer. "If you figure I'm buying a bottle of Grey Goose for $26 and selling it for $350, that's a hell of a lot better than getting maybe 20 drinks out of that same bottle behind the bar at $10 a glass--and when people pour drinks themselves, they tend to pour much stronger than the bartender," says Jamie Mulholland, who runs Cain, one of New York City's most exclusive lounges, where the average check ranges from $5,000 to $8,000. Across the country, perks for patrons can include getting to jump the line outside and VIP seating. And for the biggest spenders, it's not uncommon for club staff to make introductions to women at the bar.
Still, who in their right mind would ring up a $1,000 tab in a few hours? In places like Indianapolis or Boulder, there's a mix of locals, traveling executives, and celebs who happen to be in town, while on the coasts you'll find groups of I-bankers and hedge fund types (as well as boozing starlets--though they often don't pay). At Cain, Mulholland says 60% of the bottle business goes straight on a company card.
For liquor companies the bottle movement is a mixed blessing. Some companies--notably Louis Roederer, which produces Cristal--have fueled clubgoer demand by severely restricting the number of bottles any one hot spot can buy. Unestablished spots simply can't get their hands on Cristal, while other clubs work their way up the supply chain (Cain gets two to three cases a week). But privately, other liquor industry insiders fret about a potential "image problem" surrounding a trend that involves a way to get very drunk very fast.
Regardless, you won't find customers--on the coasts or otherwise--complaining. "Out-of-towners love it because we only charge $145 for Grey Goose" in Indianapolis, says Vapour Lounge's Gilliatt. "They say that it's a bargain." |
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| AndreaCKY772 |
| quote: | Originally posted by nekholm
Wow, both America and Australia are ed up. What about the VIP tables, are they in regular clubs or only some ultra-ing-exclusive-VIP-clubs where superfamous celebrities go to?
In Finland we have tables, which is a good thing, cause not everyone feels like dancing all night. And I would never pay to sit at a table, or buy a whole bottle of something.
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no, a lot of clubs around here offer v.i.p. the usual club i go to, (avalon) offers v.i.p but i refuse to do v.i.p because the room is away from the action (at least for me). the celebrities go to certain clubs around here but v.i.p is not only for celebs. when we went, the only celebs i knew that were there were rich boy and huey. coco crisp (i didn't know who he was until we got out of the club...i thought he was a rapper or something but i guess not) was there too but i don't consider him a celebrity.
i would love to see what a finnish club is like! |
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| lücid |
i've only gotten table service twice.
first time was in Miami during WMC '06, where we had a group of like 10 or 12 people that that were all going to see SOS (Desyn, Demi & Omid) @ Cafeteria. the club (if you can even call it that) was soooo ing tiny. it was literally the back room of a restaurant with a few VIP booths, a long bar, and then a make-shift DJ booth shoved back in the corner... with really low ceilings. we got there super early since we knew it would be a bitch to get in, and decided to throw down the money on a table. i can't remember how many bottles we had or what the total came to, but i wanna say we paid $600 for one bottle of Grey Goose and we got to keep the table for ONE HOUR (someone correct me if i'm wrong). after we finished the bottle someone came over and was basically like "oh yeah, your time is up now, you guys have to give up your table"... total rip-off imo, but i didn't expect much more considering we were in Miami during WMC and we didn't have any connections. it was still early so we mingled about the dance floor and back in the DJ booth until it got so crowded and annoying that RJT and i split and just went back to the hotel. i found out later from someone else that towards the end of the night, Desyn was passed out in one of the VIP booths because he couldn't stand up anymore, lol.
here's a pic from that night of me and Bas's friend Robin. we're sad because the vodka is gone.
second time getting table service was much cooler (even though there were some issues with who was paying once the final bill came). we had a -load of TAs that were going to see Sven Vath at Soundbar in Chicago, so we decided to all throw down on a table for the night. the VIP tables at Soundbar are pretty awesome since they're right next to the DJ booth, and the only thing that separates you is a huge piece of glass (which you can walk around to get into the booth). the whole area (DJ booth and VIP section) is raised a few feet above the main dance floor and there's stairs leading up on either side, so you get a great view of the DJ and the crowd. i'm not sure what the total bill came to that night, but i think we had 2 bottles of Grey Goose and we got to keep the table all night, and i ended up chilling in the booth drinking champagne and doing shots of Effen with Sven... so needless to say i got really drunk and don't remember much. it was probably my favorite night out this year, and that's saying a lot since i saw Luke Fair twice.
anyway, here's a picture of us chilling in the VIP earlier in the night...
and a picture of Sven and the booth (our table was on the other side of that glass).
LOL, and that little asian girl holding the camera totally made out with Sven. :wtf: |
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| Frenchie |
Umm, I have no idea how much they are here. I get it free in most clubs.
Woot, the power of knowing people. |
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| AndreaCKY772 |
| quote: | Originally posted by malek
and when people pour drinks themselves, they tend to pour much stronger than the bartender," says Jamie Mulholland
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we couldn't pour it ourselves...on the table, we had pitchers f cranberry juice, orange juice and some other juice and some ice. the bottle girl came and went with the bottle of grey. that was a bit annoying...
interesting read!!! thanks for posting :) |
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| bas |
I can't believe some people have never heard of getting a table at a club :wtf:
Myra we actually had that table for quite a while. I think they just sort of took our table away when none of us were at it. It had to have been like 3 or 4 in the morning. Also I thought we got 2 bottles? I don't remember lol. Anyway, I just remember it working out for us because with everyone involved it was like 50-60 bucks a person and we got the whole bottle of vodka. That was fun :D |
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| lücid |
| quote: | Originally posted by bas
I can't believe some people have never heard of getting a table at a club :wtf:
Myra we actually had that table for quite a while. I think they just sort of took our table away when none of us were at it. It had to have been like 3 or 4 in the morning. Also I thought we got 2 bottles? I don't remember lol. Anyway, I just remember it working out for us because with everyone involved it was like 50-60 bucks a person and we got the whole bottle of vodka. That was fun :D |
yeah i guess it just seemed shorter since we got there soooo early and started pounding drinks right away. Rob and i left not that long after we lost the table, and i think we ended up bailing out around 2 or 3.
hard to put all the pieces of that weekend back together. after the first night, my brain was a puddle of suck.  |
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| Beat Blog |
| quote: | Originally posted by nekholm
Wow, both America and Australia are ed up. What about the VIP tables, are they in regular clubs or only some ultra-ing-exclusive-VIP-clubs where superfamous celebrities go to?
In Finland we have tables, which is a good thing, cause not everyone feels like dancing all night. And I would never pay to sit at a table, or buy a whole bottle of something. |
Nah, I said before, we have plenty of tables. We just don't pay for them, because that's retarded.
| quote: | Originally posted by malek
hehehe no offence, but people from europe are cheap bastards (yes i am generalizing) :D |
Either that or Americans are ridiculously spoilt and frivolous with their money. |
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