The Value of the Vegas Strip Club Royalty Treatment
Mae is a Sapphire Gem
Based on feedback from readers, I’ve been reconsidering my typical advice on Vegas strip club package deals. What’s been happening is, readers seem to like packages a lot more than I anticipated they would, and their arguments in favor of packages make sense.
If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you know that I focus on steering readers not only to the best clubs, but to the best ways to do those clubs to have both the best time and the best deal. I talk about the clubs’ free limo transport, advise what times to get to the different clubs to get in free or get a good seat. I talk about which places offer friendly drink prices and where you need a package to get a break on drinks. I talk about where the VIP is worth it and where you might as well save money because the mileage is just as high on the floor.
I focus on all this stuff because, if you do them the wrong way, the Vegas strip clubs can be ridiculously expensive, even rip-offs.
The Wrong Way to Do a Vegas Strip Club
The average Vegas tourist who goes to a strip club spends $25-$30 on a cab to the club. He has no idea which club to go to, so he asks the cabby, who automatically steers him to whichever club is paying the highest cabby bribe that night. It may be the worst club in Las Vegas, a clip joint and stripper graveyard that every local knows never to enter, but that cabby knows he’ll never see you again.
Upon arrival at the club, the tourist waits in a long line to get in. On a Saturday night at peak hours, in the tourist and convention seasons, a club like Sapphire not only gets to standing room only, they get to the fire marshal’s max occupancy number. On those nights, you may wait in line up to an hour or two to get into a club. Then, when you finally get admitted, the admission fee is $50, and you will likely be required to pay for a couple of drinks up front. That’s when you find out the high prices Vegas strip clubs charge for booze.
As you enter the club, you’re into this evening for over $100 already, and facing another $25-$30 cab fare back to your hotel. There’s no place to sit down, so a lap dance is out of the question. You crane your neck, trying to see the stage show, and sip the two drinks you paid for, hoping a seat will open up. None do. When you finish your drinks, you leave angry, vowing never to return to a Las Vegas strip club.
The Better Ways to Do a Vegas Strip Club
Renee Dances at Palomino Club
Most Vegas strip clubs offer package deals that allow a guest to pay one price that includes his transportation, entry fee, and drinks. (I often point to the better Vegas strip club package deals in reviews and articles about the various clubs.) The packages for solo guests, couples and groups have a wide range of drink options, from a specified dollar figure for drinks to pitchers or buckets of beer to premium bottle service.
Usually the packages include a discount on the club’s normal drink and bottle prices. Usually they include a reserved seat or VIP table so that, even if you arrive at peak hours, you have a table waiting that is yours for the entire night. And usually they include a line pass so that, no matter how long the line when you arrive, you are whisked past it by your limo driver straight into the club. Vegas’ most luxurious club, Treasures, which has a gourmet steakhouse on property, even offers dinner packages here.
Although you can sometimes do as well, or even save money, at a Vegas strip club without a package, if you know exactly where to go at what time, know the best drink deals at that particular club, have relationships with favorite dancers, and so on, most out-of-town visitors to Vegas probably want more flexibility. You’re going out to dinner or a show or a fight with your buddies or wife, and you want to hit the club after without worrying about arriving before the admission fee goes up. Or you want to see the club at its very best at peak hours without wasting time standing in line.
Here’s what yesterday’s post, Exploring My Wife’s Bi-Curiosity in a Vegas Strip Club, had to say about getting a package versus not getting a package. It was written by a couple that went to Palomino, a premiere Vegas nude club, on three different nights. The first night, they got a package deal and said: “The VIP Package service really is just that. We had a server immediately at our table, bringing us mixers, a pitcher of water, a lit-up tub of ice … it was quite regal. You are paying for a lot and it can really end up being a deal.”
This couple was especially glad to have a reserved table for the night when they enjoyed VIP dances: “Thanks to our ‘Two of a Kind’ couple’s package our table was right where we left it and everything was intact as well. The place had been getting busier and knowing we could come and go from the table as we pleased really made us appreciate the package even more.”
The second night, they decided to drive themselves and just order drinks as needed, without the package . . .
“While the server was attentive, there is a big difference between ‘VIP package’ customer and ‘walk in off the street’ customer. The latter isn’t poorly treated, mind you, but the former feels like royalty . . . Our bar tab without a package was over $100 just in mixers and water. When you’re on a package, pitchers of water flow like wine. When you’re ‘off the street,’ they bring you $6.50 bottles of water . . . When we paid the bar tab on a credit card (we) realized that ‘no package’ was no deal. And if we were ever to come back in the future, it will be ‘VIP package’ all the way.”
On their third night, this couple got the package deal again, and said: “The VIP package is really a requirement if you want to do this right. Not only will it control your bar tab but it can save you time and grief dealing with losing your table.”
My New Advice on Vegas Strip Club Package Deals
You Can Even Get a Dinner Package to Dine with a Dancer at Treasures
So my new advice on package deals is this: If you’re a guy heading to a club alone, and you’re very flexible on the time you go to a strip club, you like to sit on the rail, and you want to save every penny you possibly can, look for my tips throughout the website on how to do the best Vegas strip clubs without a package.
But if you’re here on vacation, you’ve got some discretionary money, and you’re looking to give yourself a good deal in a premiere Vegas strip club at its peak, with the best possible treatment, go for a package. Isn’t it time you spoiled yourself?
Or if you’re going on a strip club date with your wife or girlfriend, and you want her treated like royalty and want to make sure you don’t lose your table, get a package.
Or if you’re going to a Vegas strip club at peak hours with your buddies, and you want to make sure you can all sit together in a prime location, get a package. There’s nothing like a group of guys with a bottle on the table to attract top dancers’ attention.
I was in town last year, and despite plans to go to multiple clubs, I ended up going to Little Darlings both nights I was in town. Didn’t get a package, but thinking about getting a package when I go again in January. The thing I want to know is about the bottle that’s left on the table all alone. If you’re going to the back, do you bring it with you? Probably rare to have someone mess with it, but isn’t it a bad idea to leave it out like that without being watched?
Paul: Tell the waitress before you go into the VIP room that you would like your bottle left on the table as you will be back. She’ll watch it for you and it will keep your seat reserved.
Sometimes it’s about who you know as well. Did a package got VIP treatment from sapphire. Waitress was over quick got my pick it tables and the host sent any type of lady I asked for. Another night late Friday night at 11pm I texted one of their promo models and within 40 minutes was in the club, I walked straight passed the really long line to get in and got a table right next to the stage 5 minutes before the feature adult star took the stage. If you have the right connections you can get VIP treatment without packages.
You’re probably a young good looking single guy? I imagine some doors open based on the quality of the clientele 🙂
Nice guess but no I’m not, some doors open just for being polite and friendly. Sometimes you just have to ask the right person.
As I mentioned in my wife and I’s article – treating the dancers right definitely gets you a better overall experience.
True because the dancers do talk to each other about customers. But I don’t see why you wouldn’t treat them right or with respect. I would kind of feel bad if I didn’t do that.
Yup just like in the real world of things, sometimes who you know or connections are important but most people don’t have those type of connections. But yeah John’s statement is true.
But would say for the average person would still go with the packages.
From experience, I have gone to Palomino’s and Sapphire both with packages and without packages. I haven’t tried other clubs with or without packages yet but with Palomino and Sapphire its like night and day between having a package and not having one. I would highly recommend getting a package if going to a club. And at least for me, kind of makes you feel like a hot shot for a little while, where when you have to go back to the real world things aren’t like that.
Very sound advice!
When we purchased the packages for Palomino – we bought online ahead of time and saved a good chunk of change (almost a full lap dance savings).
As Arnold says, we won’t come back again without a package.