The “Spirit Airlines” of Venetian’s entertainment venues stoops to “customer endangerment” through a series of very unfortunate events…
VEGAS 411 readers know that we’re as dedicated to steering you in the right direction as we are to raising the “caution sign”. As it turns out, Venetian’s VOLTAIRE entertainment venue warrants a huge billboard blaring “Stay the f*ck away!”. Recent unacceptable events took the super-expensive performance club from “Gouging, Redefined” to “Danger Zone”.
The weekend of May 4th, 2024 was brutal for Las Vegas sports and music fans. L’Etape Las Vegas by Tour de France was canceled one day before the competition “due to unsafe course conditions caused by high winds.” Participants, who traveled here from thirty states and eight countries were told they would NOT receive refunds.
LOVERS AND FRIENDS, an enormous outdoor festival featuring Janet Jackson, Usher, Alicia Keys, Backstreet Boys, Gwen Stefani, and many other superstars was canceled a mere fifteen hours before its start time for the same reason. Once again, thousands had flown in from around the country and overseas. They were left high and dry with nothing but the promise of an eventual refund.
Since Michael Jackson’s little sister suddenly had time on her scheming, opportunistic little hands, she headed to VOLTAIRE. That’s the horrendously mismanaged Venetian entertainment venue I warned you about here. If you haven’t heard of VOLTAIRE, that’s probably because it’s intended exclusively for the very wealthy. All others are treated as peasants. Check out these scathing guest reviews:
Opened last November during the peak of Formula 1 madness, VOLTAIRE is the ultra-snobby resident location for Kylie Minogue, Christina Aguilera, and upcoming Jason Derulo. It also hosts Belle de Nuit, a bizarre collection of random variety acts and a deejay…a warm-up presentation being passed off as a ticketed production.
How did VOLTAIRE accommodate Jackson and her entourage for a performance listed as “sold out” weeks prior? Most likely by canceling the tickets of die-hard fans who…here we go again….had flown in from around the country and overseas.
“It’s my seat now, baby.”
The above photos of Janet were taken by a friend who attended Kylie Minogue‘s farewell weekend on May 3rd (as did I). He snapped them from the far rear, a standing-room-only section of Voltaire. My buddy was forced far to the back despite splurging via Ticketmaster for a prime location on the main floor. Management unexpectedly changed his VIP experience into peering around Jackson’s head to see the show. Why? That’s what this article is all about.
VOLTAIRE has been an absolute cluster-f*ck from Day One. The “New Entertainment Experience” requires each seated patron to spend hundreds of additional dollars in mandatory liquor charges, along with multiple fees and taxes. But selling those seats to the public was beyond VOLTAIRE‘s ability. Incompetence became immediately obvious when the venue was unable to handle its first round of ticket sales:
“Voltaire’s website was not prepared for the influx of fans desperately seeking to purchase tickets and became ground zero for a chaotic debacle. For a staggering five hours, fans faced a digital nightmare as the website failed to function properly, leaving them unable to secure their coveted tickets. For some, the website posted wait time estimates of over 2104 hours before they could attempt to purchase tickets.”
Many who endured the grueling process and successfully acquired seats later received this message:
A quick shift to Ticketmaster created an entirely new set of problems. Hundreds of people learn that their tickets are “canceled” or “invalid” without being contacted in advance. They arrive at VOLTAIRE, expecting a world-class evening, but are denied access after paying thousands of dollars. Then they’re instructed to leave, sometimes under threat of removal by security.
Customer service and poor treatment are common issues at VOLTAIRE. Tables are packed together, uncomfortably close. It often takes up to two hours for patrons to be checked in, and the staff is inattentive and sometimes rude. Prices for everything are outrageously high. In the general admission area, the cost to stand in the back has doubled from $200 last November. Yes, it costs $400 plus taxes and fees to be corraled like peasants in the back of the room.
The tables pictured above were not originally part of the floor map. Money-grubbing VOLTAIRE added them later, squeezing GA patrons back even further. More thousand-dollar seating for the wealthy, but tighter spaces for those standing shoulder-to-shoulder. In other words, greed with the added benefit of extreme crowding, safety concerns, frustration, and a greater likelihood of fights breaking out.
A quick visit to Yelp! and TripAdvisor demonstrates that the problem with canceled tickets is played out over and over. Patrons describe abusive, disrespectful behavior from management and staff, uncertain if they’ll get refunds after spending exorbitant amounts for tickets, travel, and lodging. Manager “Brandon” has been singled out in many online complaints.
Cumulative Yelp! reviews for VOLTAIRE as of 5/13/24
Cumulative TripAdvisor reviews for VOLTAIRE as of 5/13/24
The friend I mentioned above was one of the many whose tickets were “canceled” on May 3rd. After standing in line for several hours, he was refused access to his table. He texted me from the lobby, describing the situation:
“I received terrible news. They canceled my table and I’m now in GA. My friend is devastated, as am I. They had a glitch on their website and oversold many tables. I paid $1,000.00. I would say at least 35 parties are affected. It’s not pretty in the lobby.”
Screenshots via Yelp!
“It outrages me because my table was booked several weeks in advance and I received no notice/email of cancellation.” That’s how my friend ended up standing behind a rope in the back of the theater, unable to see a thing.
Pay for this…
…get this if you’re lucky…
So how can an unacceptable situation get even worse? By being told that you won’t get a refund. The reason for the denial? “Terms and conditions.” Here’s what was sent out:
What “terms and conditions” would justify keeping a patron’s money? A look at both Ticketmaster’s and UrVenue’s Terms and Conditions doesn’t provide a clear answer, at least to this layperson. I guess this falls under a “Management reserves the right to refuse admission” clause or “Ticket purchase does not guarantee a particular location.” The fact that VOLTAIRE tried to shoehorn affected groups into already-packed areas supports this theory.
During the May 3rd debacle, I witnessed a VOLTAIRE host attempting to squeeze a line of disgruntled patrons between seated guests and a rope separating them from the mob I was a part of. They were instructed to stand like statues directly in front of us, with about two feet of space to move, blocking the view of patrons who had stood for hours to secure their spots.
As you can see from the above photos, there was barely enough space for these displaced ticketholders to stand, let alone move. They raised objections and refused to remain. Those being blocked loudly objected, too. The line was led away as the lights came down, leaving everyone in the area pissed off as the headliner began.
I have no idea if those people were placed elsewhere, but their refusal to stand in a tiny spot most likely led to a denial of their refund. By that point, the heat inside the theater was unbearable, and those relocated/forced into general admission caused the entire mob to surge forward. Push led to shove, shoving led to dirty looks, and five songs into the main act, I headed for the exit, $400.00 wasted. How’s that for a “refined entertainment experience”?
Screenshot from voltairelv.com
If you’re wondering why lawsuits haven’t been filed yet, hold that thought. What happened on May 3rd was just a teaser for the next evening’s fiasco. According to numerous social media posts, hundreds of ticketholders were denied entry, this time on a much larger scale. Their angry reaction led to guests being marched up stairwells into an abandoned and reportedly unsafe balcony left over from the venue’s Opaline Theater days.
Wyatt Beddow, who traveled from the east coast to see the May 4th show, uploaded this video:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6k95PIOHwZ/?igsh=d3o5MjJvN2FmdTBh
Beddow stated that, despite paying thousands of dollars for tables, “We’re shoved up in a balcony that’s unsafe for people, we were told. We’re up here where you can’t see anything, and there’s wires everywhere. There’s no lighting and no emergency exits…and nobody has acknowledged that they double-sold all our tables. So we’re just up here in the dark.”
A search of Instagram found plenty of evidence from other affected parties to back up Beddow’s claims:
VEGAS 411 reached out to Wyatt Beddow, who has agreed to be interviewed. Before that happens, he has this to say about VOLTAIRE:
“I am waiting for the venue to tell me what they’re offering to resolve this problem. Then I can let you know their response. Someone needs to know that this is happening and that hundreds of people spent thousands of dollars to travel all over the world for this.”
Let’s hope that Beddow receives a more acceptable response than my friend. VEGAS 411 has reached out to Venetian‘s entertainment department, the public relations firm that originally represented VOLTAIRE, and the venue directly. So far, none of the three has responded.
With all the wonderful and gratifying things to do in Las Vegas, there’s no reason to subject yourself to luxury-trash VOLTAIRE. This writer has spent his last dollar there and most likely will never return. I suggest you do the same.
If you’ve had a negative experience at Venetian’s VOLTAIRE, VEGAS 411 wants to hear from you. Send an email to samnovak@vegas411.com.
