greenie

LALate, why won't you share *any* of your tips in public? Hmmm? What are you afraid of?

Just wanted to chime in here that epope is 100% dead-on with everything he says about Rehab here. Never, ever underestimate the demand for Rehab, particularly the amount of money people are willing to drop just to get in. Let alone to secure a cabana. EVERY day at Rehab is big; holiday weekends are simply MASSIVE. Thing to keep in mind is this: unlike Saturday night, where opinions vary greatly on the best place to be (Jet, Tao, Pure, Tryst, BE... not to mention OPM, Moon, Drai's, Empire, Light, Rain, 54, Tangerine, Triq, Seamless), come Sunday absoultely everyone who wants to party during the day knows that nothing remotely compares to Rehab. Throw in the considerations that clubbing in Vegas is relatively cheap compared to other major cities... and that people are in vacation mode... there's a willingness to spend the kind of cash at Rehab that is only seen at a handful of spots/events around the world.

Biggest benefits of using a quality VIP service? 1. ZERO HEADACHES 2. ZERO EFFORT 3. Best bottle minimums possible 4. Guaranteed quality location of table For me, the first two are the kickers that make it worth spending the money on a quality host. It's one thing if you want to put forth the time required to set things up on your own in advance of your trip... but once you're in town, the last thing you want to do is spend a single minute dealing with anything!

After catching Faarsheed for two of his sets at WMC this year I have to agree... the man is simply ON FIRE right now... must-must-must-must-SEE!

I still think a sub-forum or at least separate threads for various locations works better than an all-in-one... but I've sent a couple of messages to the mods and not even gotten a response...

Incredible decor, great lighting, killer sound... but a bit weak in the crowd department, sometimes closes down early, and a massively inconvenient location. Decent potential for an early-evening (11p-1a) spot if you've got your own car or have a limo reserved for the whole night.

I've only been to Cherry once at night... gorgeous club with a killer sound system, but the crowd was a bit weak in terms of energy/vibe and the club thinned out very early.

You're the only bullshitter here, Freeze. If you "just wanted to know" things like this then you should start by sending a PM -- not by printing an accusation in your title or by insulting someone in your post. Seriously man, what's your problem? As for Sien's work at Teatro -- the was the site of MANY great nights for me in the past, some that went well into the late hours, and I could always count on Sien dropping great tracks that the crowd loved to hear. His involvement at Teatro was the definition of a "resident" in my book -- doesn't matter what the paperwork says, the residents are the guys who bring their flavor to the scene on a regular basis.

Mike, when are you booking your trip? I'm not sure when the Tao Beach is opening, but you may want to check with the Venetian... I think for the party lover that's a much better choice than the Wynn pool.

I personally think hotel selection is very important in Vegas, even moreso for hard partiers. If you're only sleeping a few hours a day, it's critical those hours are spend on quality bedding, in a quiet room, where you won't be bothered. Assuming you take pride in your appearance, a spacious bathroom and a clean/nice ironing board is a requirement -- especially if you're traveling with women. When I'm going hard for a few days it's hard to beat a location that has a variety of good food on-site, as well as quality room service. I'll go anywhere on/off-strip for dinner, but when it comes to breakfast and/or lunch, convenience rules... and I'm not talking about McDonald's. I take care of my body and refuse to feed it crap, especially when I'm pushing my limits! My favorites, depending on budget and location requirements: Venetian (best overall) Paris (high quality of rooms/food for the price, but the pool blows) MGM Grand (incredibly cheap given the range of high-quality amenities on-site) Flamingo (best value-to-location, esp. considering the pool) I've stayed at the Barbary a number of times and while the rooms are nice, location is key and price is great... half of the rooms are exposed to an extremely noisy intersection (so much so they provide ear plugs in the rooms) and NO POOL. The Flamingo pool is a very short walk and they never check for room keys there... but for the same price (sometimes less) you can stay at Flamingo or Bally's. Bally's rooms are indeed HUGE, they have great room service food and there's a nice indoor connection to Paris. Otherwise not nuts about the place... pool isn't great and though you're center-strip, the property (and thus your rooms) are set so far back you lose a lot of the advantage. Better off more at Paris or less at Flamingo. Mandalay and THEhotel offer nice rooms, fantastic restaurants on-site and an unbelievable pool... but it's just so bloody far removed from it all. Good thing they have the fastest valet and taxi stands in town. The Hard Rock is ridiculously overpriced for the relatively dumpy rooms and far-off-the-strip location. No reason to stay there unless Rehab is a major part of your plans. Palms rooms are very nice, much better than the HR and for less money... and the pool is pretty slick... but given the off-strip location, only worthwhile if you're determined to spend a serious amount of time at Moon/Rain/Ghostbar.

With that story, you're actually helping to make my point. It doesn't matter what your group was spending that night at Pure; if someone in your party was wearing gym shoes, they weren't getting in. Yet once you were inside, I can bet you would have been able to spot a few celebs/VIPs sporting shoes and clothes that have stopped anyone else at the door. Here's a question for you: what if those "gym shoes" your friend was wearing were $1,000 Puma customs, but the doorman still wouldn't let him in? Would you have asked to speak to a manager, raised a stink, said "fuck Pure, they're idiots" and gone elsewhere? Or would your group have kept a cool head and gone in while your friend changed shoes? Point is that places like Pure and Tryst are exclusive, in-demand spots for a lot of reasons, chief among them being who gets through the door and who gets the best VIP tables. There's no such thing as "fair and balanced" treatment at spots like these. Everything depends on the situation at the club the moment you arrive; night of the week, how busy it is inside, the vibe and scene the club desires at that moment, etc. And though you may have had no problem using the NN guestlist at Pure, a quick search of previous threads on CP will reveal many more people who've had no luck with various lists at Pure, some who have been simply turned away because the club is too busy, despite arriving before 10pm.

For pools, last year the only places that had truly-promoted parties were HR (Sun and Mon) and Palms (Fri-Sat). Caesar's/Pure hosted a party at their VIP pool on Monday, but it turned out to be fairly low key. Same goes for Red Rock. Otherwise over MDW most of the major casinos will have special events at their pools. Flamingo, Mandalay and MGM Grand all had DJs spinning sets of hip-hop and house at their pools and associated sponsors with contests and giveaways, but the only full-on parties last year were at Palms and Hard Rock. As for Sunday night, count on Jet to bring in a major house act as well for Sunday; last year was Sharam (of Deep Dish). Morillo kicks ass, but Tao isn't set up very well for a house event like that... the sound system is only average and there really isn't much in the way of lighting. Comparatively, the main room at Jet is a mind-blowing experience when they get a major house act in town. Obviously the best choice is the DJ you prefer more, but if you see Morillo all the time in NYC, doesn't make sense to see him at Tao.

You're right. There are PLENTY of places to party. Thousands, in fact. But where exactly do you draw the line? Think you'd be more "appreciated" over at Studio 54? Hell, why even pay for bottle service at all, when you can choose from a hundred different locations of PT's Pub and get a corner booth for free? Actually, fuck that. For what PT's charges for a pitcher of beer, you can You can buy a case of Old Milwaukee and rock out in your room at the Frontier.

I feel that the best nights to go out are the big local nights, and there's no bigger local night that a Monday following a 3-day weekend... that's one more night of money and/or stress for all the industry locals to blow off. Don't bother coming in on Friday and leave Tuesday instead. Saturday night: warm-up, in bed by 6am so you're fresh for Sunday Sunday day: Rehab Sunday night: major club promotion/event of your choice Sunday late: afterhours of your choice, straight through til Monday Monday day: pool of your choice to wind down Monday night: a truly proper party experience with the local crowd Monday late: afterhours of your choice, again with the locals

Oh HELL no, you don't want to miss Faarsheed at Jet on Monday! You will not be disappointed... a couple of us other CP folk will be there as well...

It's also worth mentioning that you can often work out a deal with the club when you go beyond the bottle minimums -- e.g. buy 4 get 5, or buy 3 get the 4th at half price. For those who are concerned about pricing, one thing I would recommend is take a close note of the bottle prices you're presented on the table when you arrive. On more than one occasion I've seen the bill reflect different prices than the menu did (e.g. $400 each on the menu but $425 on the bill). That said, I've often been the beneficiary of having one less bottle on the bill than what appeared at our table... but of course I'm a fan of taking care of my hosts...

"Out there" -- so where are you from? Of course there's a different sense of music in Vegas, at least with regards to house/EDM. Every major clubbing city in the world has a different sense of music, and local DJs tailor their sound to match what the crowd wants. The sound in Vegas is going to be as different from NYC as Miami is from Amsterdam. The sheer amount of new house tracks that are released every single week makes it impossible for any DJ to know the majority of what people ask him for -- especially as most decent house rooms don't want their DJs playing the kind of vocal house that flirts with radio play can be found on sale at a Best Buy in Oklahoma City. Finally, keep in mind that a lot of DJs will claim to not know (or have) particular tracks as a simple way to avoid requests. Bottom line is that a DJ should only be judged by the music they play, given the requirements of the venue and the crowd.

So much for the whole "bottles and goggles" attitude, eh? Of course I'm not surprised if this month was only the first time you'd ever been to Body English...

You sure you're not thinking of Rain?

Yup, Prez Day weekend is All-Star Weekend. So if you've got the dates screwed up and are actually there over the 16-19th, there are going to be a done of options for Sunday night. The following weekend you're down to the usual for non-holiday-weekend Sundays... BE, OPM, Tabu, Light.

Pure has long made a major significant effort of keeping their floors clean... shockingly so in fact... I think they've actually won an award or two for the cleanest floors. From they day they opened they've always had the guys "skating" about with the cleaning towels on their feet. Not to say there haven't been sticky nights there, but it's never been something that's stuck (ha!) out in my mind about Pure. Complaining about cost of drinks or cover charges? Hello, you're talking about the most in-demand spots on the Strip. If you want cheap drinks and free cover, head down to Fremont Street. Or better yet, a roadhouse in Death Valley. All the talk of hangover cures and recommendations for how to drink all night... does this really belong in a thread intended to be a "review of Vegas?" Once again, if anyone has pull with mods, make this into a sub-forum rather than a giant, meandering thread... I've asked the mods a few times and gotten no response whatsoever.

Um, Freeze? If you're all about showing respect to the godfathers of hip-hop... I'd think you'd at least make sure their names were spelled correctly on your flyers. MELLE MEL (no "i")

Leftymo -- big thanks for coming back to this thread, answering so many questions and providing some more insight into your situation. Although I'm still skeptical of Tryst staff acting in a racist manner, based on everything you've said in this thread there's no doubt in my mind that you received extremely poor treatment. Going back over this thread again, I realized that the first time I read your post I missed your mentioning how your party carried some of your mixers from your first table to your second. This is not only shocking to me but it's something that most clubs would consider absolutely unacceptable; it not only sends a bad image to you, but to anyone in the club that sees you doing so. Not to mention the potential liability issues involved. If the hosts needed or expected something different out of your party, then they should have told you this when you booked your table AND when you first arrived at the club. If they were expecting a significant "table fee" (tip), you should have been informed in advance. Plain and simple. With regards to tipping the host, I would never suggest that anyone pay the tip before being sat. Quite the contrary, as I point out in my post on pursuing bottle service, I believe you should only tip after you've arrived at a table in a preferential location. Now just to clarify, can you confirm this is the correct order of what happened regarding your table location: 1. You were sat outside, next to the waterfall, without a heat lamp 2. You tipped the host $80 3. You asked to be moved to a different location 4. You were moved to the back/corner table What reasons, if any, did the host give you for not moving you to a better table than your second one in the back/corner? And when they finally did ask you for a tip, did they specify a dollar amount and/or otherwise let you know that for X table they wanted you to spend Y dollars? I do hope you speak to Tryst and Wynn about this, at least in a careful and professional manner. I personally feel you'll get a lot farther if you focus on the basics of the matter, as opposed to making racial profiling the center of your argument. And I would certainly be very interested to hear what kind of response you get from both Tryst and Wynn.

First off, money spent, including tips, is an extremely relevant consideration in any discussion centering around a nightclub experience. Second, we're talking about a club in Las Vegas. Home to the largest tip-dependent workforce on the planet. Tryst is a very expensive club. Located in a ridiculously expensive resort. Operating in one of the most expensive cities on the planet. Suggesting that a place like this should give everyone equal service regardless of financial contribution is one of the most ludicrous and hypocritical things I've ever heard anyone say about anything pertaining to Las Vegas. Those of us who have responded with financial questions are not only justified in doing so but this has been our only recourse in this discussion. We've yet to hear any further elaboration or examples regarding the claims of racism, yet we were provided dollar and attendance totals. Masterweb: you know I have nothing but extreme respect for you. We've always been straight with each other, both in these forums and in person. I'm extremely impressed by everything that you (and your partners) have accomplished with OPM, and one of the things that I've always appreciated is the exceptional level of treatment that I've received from club staffers on each and every visit. Now here's the thing. I've also had nothing but extremely positive experiences on every visit to Tryst. So when throws out some heavy accusations without backing them up, I'm going to be very skeptical and if necessary, critical. I do the same thing when we hear the occasional slander about OPM. Or Jet. Or Tao. Or Body English. Any place where I've had nothing short of professional, courteous and dedicated service on each and every visit. As things stand right now, I put as much stock into Leftymo's accusations of racism by Tryst as I do Freeze's claim of a recent shooting at OPM. In other words, I don't believe it whatsoever. Not until I hear someone willing to back this up with additional information.

Not nuts about the colors but the physical layout is fine. How about getting a "Club Reviews" sub-form for us Vegas folk?