A Free Piece of Paper Does Not Make You a VIP

V, I and P are the most overused letters in Las Vegas, especially when used in conjunction with nightclubs. To quickly straighten this out:

-Tiger Woods is a VIP

-The dude that dropped 100 grand at baccarat is an IP

-Pretty girls are P’s

-As guys…we are lowercase p’s

That said, I’m sure you have all seen those supposed VIP to nightclub passes that are all over the place. They are usually obtained through cab drivers, guys on the street, online, or picked up at various stores or booths in town. But what do they really get you?

Well, we have limited experience with them, as they seem like a scam. (And usually they are) When there is a line a mile long at Pure on Saturday night, a pass you picked up from a guy on the street won’t get you a damn thing. It is still the bouncer’s discretion whether to let you in or not.

These passes can mean different things, some will:

-Waive your cover charge

-Waive your cover provided you are there by a certain time, like before 11 PM

-Allow you to skip the line

-Get you ‘Invited Guest’ status…which is a fancy way of saying you get to wait in a different, albeit shorter, line.

-Do nothing at all, especially on a busy night

From our experience, and what we’ve read, definitely don’t spend a dime on these. They are available free most places…hell, we got ours to Revolution from girls handing them out in front of the club. Most of the cab drivers and other low-lifes count on the fact that people buy them during the day, as it sounds like a good idea, then have no recourse when they end up not working later on.

Another thing we’ve seen is that hotel guests ‘usually’ get preference at a given club, although I’m sure this depends on time of night and how full the club is. For instance, we were staying at Mandalay Bay and were able to use the ‘Invited Guests’ line to rumjungle, and didn’t pay cover. In that case, all we needed was our room keycard.

The best advice given our experience is to do your research ahead of time and plan where you will be going for the night. Given the long lines to most popular clubs, club hopping is almost impossible, so pick one. Either plan to get their early to avoid the line, or arrange through the club’s host or hotel concierge for bottle service. This is a pretty pricey option, but will allow you to skip the line, not have to worry about a place to sit, and avoid the obscene price of drinks once inside.

If all else fails, grease some palms. Either that, or be a pretty girl…not an option for most of us.

VegasRy Review: Revolution

Earlier in our review of Tryst, we talked about how it might be a cool place, when you get down to it, a club is a club. After checking out Revolution, we decided a lounge is a lounge. Revolution is the new (ultra-?)lounge in the back of the Mirage, evidently conceived by Cirque du Soleil. They know French-Canadian acrobats, I guess now they know Jager-bombs and Appletinis.

Excited by the prospect of a Beatles-themed bar, we were looking forward to checking out the newly-opened Revolution on our latest trip, having just missed it on our trip over Thanksgiving. The concept is cool, (We’ve mentioned 7 or 8 times how much we dig the Beatles and Love) but I think there’s only so much you can do with a club of that nature.

Anyway, the club is in 2 parts, the actual club itself, and what they call the Abbey Road Bar, which is a fancy name for a walk up bar semi-open to the casino. From the outside, the place looks pretty cool, with Revolution spelled out in huge letters. Think the Bar at Times Square at the NYNY, the part that opens to passersby.

However, when we approached the place for the first time, they had these girls outside handing out free cover passes. Now it was cool to not pay cover, but it wasn’t exactly the classiest thing, something that I might expect at a lower-rent locale, not the new club in the Mirage.

So we took the passes and went inside, and were pretty underwhelmed by the interior of the lounge. It was basically just a large room with the requisite couches and flashing lights. Not sure what we were expecting per se, but with the way Vegas never ceases to amaze us, I guess we were expecting more than a club with Beatles lyrics written on the wall. They do, however, have the coolest website for an ultra-lounge that I have ever seen…ok, the only website for an ultra-lounge that I have seen.

Now we might have just come on a bad night, (I guess it was somewhat early on a Thursday) and I have since read that there are different themed nights, such as an all Brit-pop night. So it might be jumping on certain nights. While it might be a cool enough lounge, based on the setup of the club itself, Revolution is hardly revolutionary.

The Beatles REVOLUTION LOUNGE: Now Open at The Mirage

Revolution Home Page

Score:
2.5 Cheques (Out of 5)

VegasRy Review: Tryst

On our last trip to Las Vegas, our friend Brandon’s younger brother turned 21 the last day we were there, and as such, wanted to celebrate it in style…with bottle service at Tryst Nightclub at the Wynn. Now, the pluses and minuses of nightclubs in Vegas is the topic of much debate, and will be covered later in more detail.

Reservations were made through the concierge at Bellagio, for bottle service on a Saturday night. We were provided with the cell number of the host, and instructed to call when we arrived. We got to Wynn around 10:30, and the line was already pretty significant. One simple phone call, and the host located us, removed us from the line, and escorted us directly to our table. Great service yes, but we had to pay for it. Being a Saturday night there was a 2 bottle minimum. We ordered our bottle of Rum and Vodka, and settled in for the night.

Another note, our party consisted of 4 guys and no ladies, and unsurprisingly, the line waiting to get in was 95% guys. I think bottle service is a must for groups of guys.

Tryst is a pretty slick club, large, but not huge, and decorated in a very cool, very red, way. The club and dance floor open out to a lake and waterfall in a private alcove, with the Wynn Mountain on one side and the casino building on the other. Private tables lined the lake, and this outdoor section provided relief from the sensory overload inside.

Our table was located near a stripper pole, where all ladies were free to show off their skills. It seemed that our table was in a happening spot, as the pole area became very crowded later. As the night went on, more and more ladies tried there hand at the pole, and it was quite obvious that this was not the first time on a stripper pole for many of them.

A short commentary on the pole: Proximity to the pole can be a very good, or very bad thing depending on the wannabe stripper performing at any given time. The following video captures the good, the bad, and the ugly…although not necessarily in that order.

Our waitress was very nice, and very implanted, but I think after she brought the bottles, we saw her 3 more times. Now not to seem snobbish, but for $1,200 (yeah, I know), we shouldn’t have to pour and mix our own drinks.

Now these clubs are pretty much all the same in my opinion, but Tryst was a step above. The current hot spot on the strip, (until next week when the next one comes along) and I have not seen a collection of that many good-looking people in one place. If you can only hit one club on your next trip, or if money is no object, Tryst is your place.

Tryst Home Page (At Wynn Las Vegas)

Score:
4 Cheques (Out of 5)

VegasRy Tip: Use the Concierge

In Las Vegas, entry to the hottest nightclubs and restaurants is all about who you know. Since we don’t know anyone, we sometimes need to rely on someone that does.

That’s where the concierge comes in. For those who might not know, most (if not all) of the hotels have a concierge desk manned with people whose job it is to answer questions, arrange show tickets, tee times, etc. It’s their job to take care of any planning or problems, so you don’t have to. Some hotels even have concierge floors, dedicated to providing a higher level of service, albeit for a price. There are also 3rd party companies in town that provide the same services.

Simply approach any concierge desk and ask them to make dinner reservations or to be put on the list at a club. It doesn’t necessarily need to be at the hotel you are staying at, although obviously it helps. Also, be prepared to tip them, the size of the tip relative to the difficulty of the service. Most of the time we have reservations set up ahead of time, so there’s no need, but on certain occasions we have made use of the concierge, to mostly positive results.

For instance, one afternoon we decided that we wanted to eat at a restaurant on the strip and we didn’t have reservations. I asked the concierge at Paris (along with a $10 tip) to call and make them for me (we weren’t staying there). When we got to the restaurant we were led down a corridor to a semi-private room, very nice and there’s no way we would have been afforded that if we had simply called the reservation line ourselves, well worth the ten bucks.

However, during the last trip, the party we were with tipped the concierge very generously, and asked to be put on the list for Mix. When we got there, we weren’t on the list. Luckily the club was pretty dead, so entry was not a problem, still it was the principal. Turns out the associate was transferred to another position at Bellagio (see service review here), and had not alerted anyone prior to leaving. This is simply unacceptable.

Despite the odd bad experience, we would definitely recommend using the concierge in Las Vegas, especially if you are requesting reservations at the property you are staying at (such as Tryst, if you are staying at Wynn). Just be prepared to tip for the convenience.