Dustin Drai is reworking the family nightlife business as guests scrutinize prices, drink more selectively and expect more from bottle service.
Drai’s Management Group
Dustin Drai Says The Bottle Is No Longer The Biggest Flex In Vegas
Las Vegas is full of rooms built to make a bottle feel important. Dustin Drai believes the room has to work harder now.
At Drai’s After Hours, his latest ideas include Champagne arriving beneath a cloud of pink cotton candy with caviar on the side. There is also a $99 open-bar package aimed at guests who want to know the cost of their night before they walk through the door. One photographs well. The other addresses a complaint that has followed Las Vegas nightlife for years.
Both point to the same problem. A premium bottle by itself no longer guarantees that people will feel they got their money’s worth.
Drai became president of Drai’s Management Group in 2023, taking charge of a family business that helped shape nightlife on the Strip. His job now is to keep it relevant while Americans reconsider how often they drink and what they expect when they go out.
Only 54% of American adults said they consumed alcohol in 2025, the lowest percentage in Gallup’s nearly 90 years of tracking. Among adults ages 18 to 34, the number fell to 50%. NIQ found dollar declines across beer, wine and spirits during the same year, even as consumers continued buying premium products for selected occasions. Its 2025 industry review described a market shaped by moderation and greater selectivity.
When I asked Drai what had surprised him most about the way guests are spending, he came back to intention.
“They’re still willing to spend on a night out, but they want to understand exactly what they’re getting for their money,” he says. “Transparency, value and experience matter more than ever.”
A Famous Name And The Work Beneath It
Drai grew up around the family business, though his career began well below the executive level. The Los Angeles native started in entry-level operations and later worked in talent coordination, marketing and venue management. From 2019 through 2023, he served as vice president of marketing and entertainment.
“Working in entry-level roles gave me an appreciation for every department and every person who contributes to the guest experience,” Drai says. “It also taught me that the small details matter. Most guests remember how the experience made them feel long after they forget what they ordered.”
The family history gives him an enviable platform. It also gives customers decades of Drai’s nights against which to judge every new concept. Drai describes the challenge as knowing what deserves protection and where sentimentality becomes a liability.
“The foundation of Drai’s has always been hospitality and creating memorable experiences,” he says. “What changes is how guests want to experience them.”
His background in talent helped produce Drai’s LIVE, which brought full-length performances into a nightclub. The format asked guests to settle into an evening rather than wait for a brief appearance from a headliner. People stayed longer, and the club had to hold their attention between the songs.
“A full room doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve created a successful experience,” he says. “The goal is to create an environment where people want to stay longer, come back and tell their friends about it afterward.”
Bottle Service Has To Explain Itself
Las Vegas attracted 38.5 million visitors in 2025, down 7.5% from the previous year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Direct visitor spending still reached $50.8 billion.
There is plenty of money moving through the city. Winning a share of it has become harder.
Drai’s $99 VIP open-bar wristband is a direct response. With fees, the current package comes to about $113 and includes expedited admission plus well drinks between 1 and 3 a.m. Guests may order one drink at a time. Drai says the staff was briefed on monitoring overservice before the offer launched.
The restrictions are important because clarity disappears quickly when the price advertised online bears little resemblance to the final bill. Here, guests know the window and what they can order.
“Value isn’t necessarily about spending less,” Drai says. “It’s about feeling like the experience delivered what was promised.”
Cotton Candy & Caviar approaches value from the opposite end of the check. The $695 package pairs Champagne and caviar with a pink cotton-candy presentation built for the table and social media.
It is easy to dismiss the package as social-media bait. It is also an accurate reading of how status works in a nightclub now. A bottle can be purchased almost anywhere. The presentation gives people a story to take home.
“The experience has become the bigger story,” Drai says. “The bottle still matters, but guests are looking for something memorable.”
This is where the concept can become vulnerable. Once a presentation feels designed entirely for social media or pictures, the guest begins working for the venue’s marketing department. Drai says the idea has to fit naturally into the room.
“If it’s done purely for attention without adding to the guest experience, people recognize that pretty quickly,” he says.
When I asked which nightlife trend the industry is overestimating, Drai did not name a drink. He pointed to trend chasing itself.
“Sometimes the industry gets caught up chasing trends for the sake of being trendy,” he says. “Guests ultimately care more about having a great experience than whether they’re drinking whatever happens to be the newest thing on social media that month.”
Tequila Still Owns The Room
Premium and ultra-premium tequila remain among the strongest performers at Drai’s. Champagne continues to sell because its meaning requires no explanation. It announces a celebration the moment it arrives.
Drai sees tequila filling a more relaxed role. It feels social and approachable, especially for younger guests. He expects its dominance to soften as drinkers begin exploring other categories.
“The next few years will be about diversification rather than one category dominating everything,” he says.
Celebrity-backed spirits can accelerate that first order. Drai has watched recognition bring curious customers to a brand, though the famous name has limited influence on what happens afterward.
“The celebrity might get someone to try it the first time,” he says. “Taste, consistency and the overall experience are what keep people ordering it.”
Premium rum is the category he believes operators are overlooking. Many customers still connect rum with frozen drinks or a vacation resort. Drai sees an opening for aged expressions that offer some of the complexity drinkers already appreciate in whiskey.
“There are some incredible aged rums on the market,” he says. “As consumers become more educated about what they’re drinking, I think that category has a lot of room to grow.”
In our interview his rapid-fire answers reveal a slightly different palate. His off-the-clock drink is an Old Fashioned. Gin is the spirit he thinks deserves more attention. The most overrated nightlife order, in his opinion, is tequila with soda and lime.
A Nightclub For People Who Are Drinking Less
The decline in alcohol consumption creates a larger problem for clubs built around bottle service. A growing number of guests still want the music and social energy without organizing the entire night around drinking.
Drai says nonalcoholic beverages have become a more serious part of the conversation inside his venues. Guests may abstain completely or alternate between alcoholic and alcohol-free drinks during the night.
His standard for a premium nonalcoholic cocktail is straightforward. It should receive the same care as the rest of the beverage program.
“Guests shouldn’t feel like they’re getting a lesser experience just because they’re not drinking alcohol,” he says.
Drai rejects the idea that younger adults have lost interest in going out. He sees them approaching alcohol with more restraint and paying closer attention to when they drink.
“They still want to go out, socialize and have fun,” he says. “They’re often looking for more balance than previous generations.”
A nightclub can serve those customers, although the experience has to offer enough beyond the glass. Music becomes more important. So does the way alcohol-free guests are treated by servers and the people around their table.
“People come to nightlife for entertainment, music, social connection and energy,” Drai says. “Great venues create experiences that are bigger than what’s in someone’s glass.”
That theory is sound.. The harder test comes at the point of sale. An alcohol-free cocktail cannot feel like an afterthought beside a $695 Champagne presentation. It needs its own reason to be ordered.
Back To The Basement
Drai’s After Hours now sits beneath one of the Strip’s newest hotels and inside one of its oldest surviving nightlife rooms.
The Vanderpump Hotel officially opened in June 2026 with 188 guest rooms and a 40,000-square-foot casino. Drai’s remains in its original basement home, according to Caesars Entertainment. The club operates Thursday through Sunday, opening at 1 a.m.
After years when Las Vegas nightlife seemed determined to build ever larger rooms, Drai is leaning into the basement’s sense of discovery. Guests can move between sections playing different styles of music. The lighting stays low. The night changes character as the hours pass.
“The magic of After Hours has always been that it feels like you’ve discovered something not everyone knows about,” he says. “The service still feels personal, the energy evolves throughout the night and everything works together to create an atmosphere that feels different from anywhere else on the Strip.”
At After Hours, the answer begins in a basement at 1 a.m. The bottle is still there. It simply has more work to do.