BOUNTY FOR CUSTOMERS

6/21/2009 12:44:57 AM

Strip clubs in Las Vegas have long paid bounties to cabdrivers who deliver customers, but Rick's didn't grasp the payments' importance when it bought the former Scores strip club in September. By February, the Las Vegas club was registering only $257,000 a month in sales.

Moving to reclaim its share of the slumping tourist trade, Rick's boosted its payments to as much as $100 a customer from the usual $30. By April, it was notching nearly $1.9 million in monthly sales in Las Vegas. The club still lost money that month, because it paid the cabbies about $1 million, but the loss was smaller than in previous months.

Eric Langan, Rick's chief executive, blames the bounty inflation on other clubs' recession-induced desperation. "The pie got smaller, and everyone started trying to steal each other's piece," he says.

-Wonder if any other cities operate this way...

9 comments

Latest

wallanon

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15 years ago

Rick's is a nice club but it's really in an awkward location. You can't even see it from a main road unless you know where to look. If a franchise like Scores (that had brand equity in that location) couldn't make it work, it might just be a bad investment given this economy.

Good question on the bounty angle in other cities. One of the European towns I was in recently had a similar setup, but I can't think of any other U.S. towns where it's a prevalent as Vegas. But I'm rarely in cabs enough to give a firm answer.

shadowcat

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15 years ago

I know that it prevalent in most Mexican cities. Especially TJ.

robofan

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15 years ago

The only other city in the US where that might work would be New York City. Everywhere else people generally rent cars and don't use taxi cabs to get around.

wallanon

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15 years ago

I was thinking San Francisco because the cabbies are all over the place around Broadway hanging out, but the one time I wasn't in a car my hotel was in walking distance.

Joe from NJ

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15 years ago

I have always loathed the LV cab tip scam. If you read my reviews, I have often written against them, and have sometimes rated clubs lower that really practice the scheme.

Actually, I thought that LV passed a law against the scam.

I usually rent a car when in LV, and many clubs will treat you like a local when you drive up.
What I don't like is a club that charges me the same $30 for me driving there myself as they do for the cab drop-offs, where they payoff the cabbie with the $30 I just gave the club. Don't guys realize that the entrance fee is a rip-off and is just giving a cabbie twice the money for your trip.

samsung1

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15 years ago

I read a few reviews on Spearmint Rhino in LV and they are now charging $50 cover charge unless you use their "free" limo service ($10-20 tip expected), which feels like a great deal because you get free cover. I do know of one club in Columbus, OH (X club) that offers a free shuttle service if you are staying at one of the nearby hotels. I don't know about the taxi kickbacks though.

londonguy

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15 years ago

I had that issue as well Joe, I rent a car in LV too, problem is that when you park up they don't realise you have driven yourself there by the time you get to the kiosk. The 'free' limo service seems the way to go but the only problem with that is you have less freedom to go from club to club, unless you intend staying at the same place for the entire evening. Kickbacks is a worldwide problem, the worst I have heard about is in Prague.

wallanon

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15 years ago

LG, you can tell the LV club when you walk in that you drove yourself and lot of the time that works. Plus, many of the door guys will drop into the lobby and know if you drove because they saw you stroll up. For the more industrious, you can try and do a distance drop off from the cab and see what happens when you pull the "I drove" routine.

Another tip is to chat up the door crew on the way and they'll sometimes "forget" to double check that you aren't a local.

londonguy

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15 years ago

I did wallanon but it didn't make any difference, my English accent will always stop me being a 'local'.

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