Yes, Going to Clubs in Vegas is Expensive

A table reservation requires guests to spend between $1,000 and $10,000, depending on the night, and among its perks is access to a special line. The table line is the line you’re supposed to see from other lines and think: Why am I not in that line? Or: Why didn’t my boyfriend get me into that line?

I have a diverse circle of friends — some are homebodies saving up money to take weeklong trips around the world every couple of months, some prefer concerts over readings (or vice versa), dive bars over lounges, restaurants over pretty much anything else, and then there are the club-goers — the ones who love dancing while Mark or Samantha Ronson do their thing, can stay out all night, and drop hundreds or thousands of dollars within a span of a few hours, or convince people (usually men) to drop hundreds or thousands of dollars on them. Spending all that money is easy to do if you’re looking for “bottle service.”

GQ has a story looking at Vegas nightlife and club culture, and includes tidbits like Pitbull “throwing thousands of dollars in the air like it’s just napkins,” a prince from Indonesia spending “$90,000 a day at the club, for weeks at a time,” and, of course, people like Kim Kardashian who get paid $100,000 to simply show up at a club for 20 minutes.

I have been to the club a handful of times with friends and have discovered that it’s not really my thing, but there has also been exactly one time when I experienced the sort of club-going outing described in the GQ story. I was 21 and in Las Vegas to celebrate the birthday of a college friend. We had a massive suite at the Bellagio that was paid for by the birthday girl’s generous (and wealthy) relatives. The room also guaranteed us a table at some fancy club I can’t recall the name of, and I just remember sitting at the table and having champagne and cigars (which I pretended to smoke, because I don’t smoke) and thinking, “Is this happening? People pay all that money to just sit here for an hour?” It was interesting to experience, but decidedly not for me. Especially when I saw the bill (which, thankfully, was also paid by the generous relative).

I’d love to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience.

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