A ‘club’ is the designated name for any entertainment venue that operates late at night and features a bar for alcohol consumption. A nightclub sets itself apart from a regular bar by featuring a dance floor, a stage for live music and presentations, and a DJ booth. The more popular the nightclub is, the bigger the chances it features a VIP section frequented by celebrities, their entourage, and the city’s big players. Bouncers are a fixture of serious nightclubs to carefully vet hopeful clubgoers based on their appropriate looks and overall vibe.
Nightclubs commonly operate on guestlists and it allows attendees whose names are admitted on it to enter for a reduced fee or even completely free. Employing internal price tiers, the club determines which guests are deserving of a reduced or fee-free entrance, and which pay full price ticket. Guest lists also get full, and the guest list line is often not much shorter than the regular entrance queue. Since the 2000s, websites have been enabled to sign up to guest lists, and more recently, mobile apps have been developed for the same purpose.
Large Alpha cities are home to what has come to be known as exclusive boutique nightclubs which feature a very limited capacity and strict entrance policy. Most operate in an almost members-only basis as to stay out of reach of the general public to ensure the privacy of their affluent, well connected, celebrity guests, looking to escape the crowd.