Nightclub tipping: $120 for the bathroom?
March 10, 2008 | 11:20
am
The resort corridor remains awash in gossip while waiting for the next move in the IRS investigation into nightclubs operated by Pure Management Group at both Caesars and Luxor. The question, of course, at the heart of any IRS investigation is what happened to the money. We are no closer to that answer yet.But coming out in many forms is where the huge amounts of nightclub cash came from, and that alone is a story that is disgusting in its alleged details.
The Las Vegas Sun has a great article about the experience of one local couple, the Hendersons, attempting to take their daughter and her girlfriends out for her 21st birthday to red-hot LAX at Luxor. They claim they arranged a table through LAX and had reservations (LAX claims to find no record of the reservation, but the Hendersons provided credit card receipts to the Sun).
As I discovered on my much earlier trip to Pure (another club run by Pure Management Group), being on a list can be meaningless. The doorman expected $100 from me to look for my name on the list. The couple in the Sun story at LAX (as I was at Pure) were also asked to pay the doorman $100 to check the list. My experience ended when an owner of the club recognized me and walked me into Pure.
The Hendersons, of course, were not writing a story for the Las Vegas Weekly or Movable Buffet, only trying to give their daughter a memorable birthday party; and so, for them the alleged fleecing continued, turning an expected $1,000 night into a more than $2,000 experience. And it wasn't just the money they spent but how they were made to spend it that is so disgusting. Let me excerpt some sentences from the Sun article:
"Some burly man appeared, identifying himself as the group's 'security guy.' For $100 the man told the Hendersons he would ensure the safety of the group at the club. Henderson said he paid him. The 'security guy' never returned."
"The Hendersons said their restroom tips for the night came to about $120."
"Eventually, a manager showed up, and the Hendersons said he told them that because there was such a demand for the tables they needed to buy two more bottles of liquor to hold on to both of theirs (tables). The Hendersons refused. They said the manager then brought another group to occupy one of the tables the couple thought they had reserved for the night."
There is much more in the Sun article that shows the alleged pattern and practice of teasing cash out of patrons incessantly. I have heard about 10 similar stories (yes, 10) from patrons at PURE and LAX who are too embarrassed to let me run their names. But the details of those stories are all very similar to what the Hendersons tell the Sun of their LAX experience.
This is a town that loves being tipped for the outstanding customer service provided to tourists. But the experience the Hendersons and others allege to have had in resort nightclubs is a perversion of Vegas culture and strikes at the heart of why I love Las Vegas. If I was a resort executive responsible for Luxor or Caesars, my stomach would be churning reading how customers in my casino may have been routinely treated by the tenant nightclubs on the property.
Still, I could not help noticing one tiny bit of Vegas irony in this horror story of the Hendersons' alleged treatment. If Mr. and Mrs. Henderson had simply sent their 21-year-old daughter and her girlfriends to LAX without them, the ladies probably would not have had to pay anything or even wait long to get inside the club. The nightclubs treat groups of young women very differently than co-ed groups (especially ones with Mom and Dad and Dad's money clip) at the door.
Still, no tourist should leave a Vegas vacation with an experience anything like what the Hendersons claim to have endured. The fact that they are locals in this story makes it even more shocking. Locals are the worst people to alienate in Vegas because of the tiny size of the town and the tendency of visitors to take as gospel what locals tell them about places to go to while here on vacation. Most nightclubs don't even charge locals a cover.
This is a town that loves being tipped for the outstanding customer service provided to tourists. But the experience the Hendersons and others allege to have had in resort nightclubs is a perversion of Vegas culture and strikes at the heart of why I love Las Vegas. If I was a resort executive responsible for Luxor or Caesars, my stomach would be churning reading how customers in my casino may have been routinely treated by the tenant nightclubs on the property.
Still, I could not help noticing one tiny bit of Vegas irony in this horror story of the Hendersons' alleged treatment. If Mr. and Mrs. Henderson had simply sent their 21-year-old daughter and her girlfriends to LAX without them, the ladies probably would not have had to pay anything or even wait long to get inside the club. The nightclubs treat groups of young women very differently than co-ed groups (especially ones with Mom and Dad and Dad's money clip) at the door.
Still, no tourist should leave a Vegas vacation with an experience anything like what the Hendersons claim to have endured. The fact that they are locals in this story makes it even more shocking. Locals are the worst people to alienate in Vegas because of the tiny size of the town and the tendency of visitors to take as gospel what locals tell them about places to go to while here on vacation. Most nightclubs don't even charge locals a cover.
In related news, Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith has weighed in on the issue of how much some of the employees of PMG were allegedly earning compared to what they were declaring to the IRS: "An informed source says select friends of Pure management who played traffic cop at the front door of the popular club were making more than $300,000 a year ... but declaring only $30,000." Variations of this story have been floating around for a while from sources in the nightclub world. But what makes Smilth more authoritative (and why I quote him here) is that he is not in any way a nightlife reporter, but rather is known for his connections among law enforcement officials and, as he proved during the Crazy Horse Too case, IRS officials. (Courtesy photo, Paris Hilton at LAX)
I suspect that the IRS will be glad to investigate the disparity in reported and real income for all the employees and owners of these nightclubs. And if I were the IRS I'd look at the income of several other people in the hotel to nightclub "food chain" .
Posted by: Jackie Aldridge | March 10, 2008 at 12:48 PM
I hope they shut down that place, and all the people falsely stating their income fine and jailed!
Posted by: Truth | March 10, 2008 at 01:00 PM
I find it ironic that so soon after the big VegasRex hooha that you profile a family named the Hendersons in your blog...way to subliminaly strike back, Richard!
I don't get clubs...pay outrageous money to sit at a table where you can't hear yourself think, dance to music, and pose like you are somebody important.
I say good on Pure for fleecing these morons for every cent they can for willingly submitting themselves to the worst of pop culture. The sooner the modern nightclub scene dies, the sooner we can get back to real music, real talent, and real fun.
Posted by: Big Karl | March 10, 2008 at 01:08 PM
I had a similar experience at the club, "Body English" at the Hard Rock Hotel. Some bulky suit with his hair tied in a ponytail and bad British accent would only let those who would pay him, pass to then pay the entry fee. It didn't matter if you were on the list, in line, V.I.P., etc. He looked at each person and would say, "You need to help me so I can help you", while holding his hand out in a pseudo handshake.
My group ended up going to the Palms Hotel nightclubs where I've never encountered this kind shakedown. The employees at the Palms treated everyone professionally and fairly. VIP's got VIP preference. Ladies got in faster, but everyone got in as soon as possible. They kept the lines moving and no one was looking to take a bribe.
With so many clubs in town, people should avoid these places. There are plenty of legit clubs to go to. They will then change their ways or have to close within a couple of months.
Posted by: Spencer C | March 10, 2008 at 01:51 PM
Are these people crazy? There's plenty of places to go in Vegas beside these "shakedown joints."Big burly" security man? A manager demanding more booze is purchased or you share your table? Who are these damn zeroes that are trying to ruin Vegas? Johnny-come-lately's we used to call punks like the so-called team management at LAX. Pure is really pure BS and smart tourists, even out-of-town regulars will avoid these rip-offs. Las Vegas has plenty of options, including classy places like the Palms, Wynn, etc. that still know how to treat guests right!
Posted by: Kirk | March 10, 2008 at 02:10 PM
This is not only Vegas issue, it happens averywhere if you ar not young and good looking , well dressed , you have to wait in the line for long period of time, and better club then tips are getting bigger and bigger, it's tactic for avoiding IRS
Posted by: jacek | March 10, 2008 at 02:40 PM
um, does anyone care what kind of MUSIC is playing any more? Guess not. I remember a time when going to a nightclub meant you were going to dance and listen to some GREAT tunes. It seems like all people care about now is flashing a bunch of cash and hoping to catch a glimpse of some psuedo-famous no-talents like Britney Spears, Linsay Lohan, or Paris Hilton. All those people dress like they are from NY, Night at the Roxybury.
Posted by: Armando | March 10, 2008 at 03:18 PM
We recently had a bucks weekend in Vegas, whilst money was no object (and we spent over $15K for 8 guys), value for money was an object and we all felt that we got taken by everyone in sight. When I winge to people about it I hear similar stories.
Vegas will go back to the hole it was, uless someone reigns in every aspect of your service industries, especially related to vice.
We cancelled a bucks night scheduled for 2 months later and moved it to Costa Rica (and we had more fun and spent less money in a nicer environment).
Posted by: Mike | March 10, 2008 at 03:20 PM
Mike! U nailed it brutha! Vegas is a hole. Good thing Richard lives in Henderson. HAHA!
But seriously, for what the club going loser spends at some overrated dump like Pure you can have a GREAT time in Costa Rica or any of many various Mexican party spots. And that's a real party/vacay...not the plastic BS imitation that Vegas offers.
I shouldn't bag on Vegas too much...the idiots who live around me in SoCal that go there regularly might wise up and start polluting my favorite getaways.
For all you Vegas club going losers reading this....Vegas Rules!!!! Don't ever stop going there!
Posted by: Big Karl | March 10, 2008 at 03:40 PM
The practice of turning over tables to customers not willing to buy bottles is common practice in nightclubs. Just because the Henderson's "thought they were reserving the table for the night" does not mean it is so.
I worked in many clubs in NYC selling bottles and each one of those tables is real estate effectively. If you aren't drinking, and not buying WHY in the world would a club want to keep you there? If your table is turned over as the Henderson's was, it was simply because it was a busy night at the club, they weren't buying bottles and had likely finished what they already bought, and there were PLENTY of people outside willing to buy bottles to sit at their table.
May not be the nicest thing in the world, but business is business.
If you think this is poor service to customers, people like the Henderson's likely didn't spend much money and won't be back. To the club, they don't care if these people are pissed. The high rollers that spend and come by regularly would never be treated this way. Sadly for them, people like the Henderson's are irrelevant in the scheme of things in a club like that.
Posted by: Giselle | March 10, 2008 at 09:43 PM
A fool and his or hers money is soon departed...
Posted by: Radical Raul | March 11, 2008 at 10:40 AM