Nightclub & Bar - October 2011

The digitalization of nightlife is pressing on, thanks to a handful of new nightlife “deal” websites. Nite Tables.com, ClubHost.com, Poggled.com, VIP-Bottles.com and more are all rushing to stake their claim in various U.S. cities as sound options for patrons making evening plans.

The way they work is simple.
“We’re just like a travel website,
such as Priceline.com, but for
nightclubs,” says Reef Mowers,
president of ClubHost.com.
“We’re a site where customers
can research, plan, book — and
save — all in one place.”
Mowers’ site lets consum-
ers compare a city’s venues
(currently only 12 venues in
San Diego are available, but the
site is expanding to include Los
Angeles and Las Vegas) and
instantly book entrance, take
advantage of VIP specials and
price and order bottle service.
ClubHost.com even allows site
visitors to name their own bottle
service price.

“Guests can submit an offer to
one or more clubs they choose.
They give their credit-card info
when they submit the bid, and
the first club to respond and
accept wins the business,” Mow-
ers explains, adding that if no
venue accepts, the customer can
submit another offer.

to the venues on the backend, and we license that out for ap- proximately $200 per month,” says Alson, who added that they also take a percentage of the reservation’s bill. At ClubHost.com, “we take a 24% commission on bottle service and 30% on all VIP admis- sions, drink tickets sold and any tickets to special events,” Mow- ers says. ;
Both sites have seen a mostly
favorable response from venues
they’ve approached. “One of the
nicer responses was, ‘Where have
you guys been for the past five
years? I’ve been waiting for this,’”
Alson says.

Because ClubHost.com doesn’t charge venues for listings, “any of the sales we bring them, they take [with] open arms. They think of us like a lead service, and they have the potential to upgrade the clients once they meet them onsite,”

The ability to aggressively offer deals on everything from entry to a club to VIP bottle service is an interesting proposition for venue operators. EXCLUSIVITY AND PERSONALIZED SERVICE ; AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO PAY HANDSOMELY FOR SUCH PROVISIONS ; IS THE CACHET OF NIGHTCLUBS.

The ability to aggressively offer deals on everything from entry to a club to VIP bottle service is an interesting proposition for venue operators. Exclusivity and personalized service — and the opportunity to pay handsomely for such provisions — is the cachet of nightclubs. So-called “deal sites” can make the nightclub experience readily available to the masses, something elite club operators may eschew as counterproductive. At the same time, these marketing tools are music to the ears of smaller or struggling venues seeking ways to quickly fill their clubs and marketing databases. Like any new opportunity, operators need to do their homework and take the route that best serves their venue’s needs.