What Do Customers Want in a Bar?? What Don't They Like?

[Nervous_Dog]

Requestable music, girls who are taught what Farangs what, however crzy that may seem, good air! (Thank HH, good point)

 

I've stopped goig to a bar in Cowboy, in fact rarely go there at all, because the owner is biased towards friedns who sponge off him, and screws those who pay!

 

Kinkly outfits and THEME nights (60's / 70's / Punk / etc) and a short time room upstairs as well as nudity and a blow job corner

 

DOG- not asking for much!

[Robaht]

A little more rotation, especially in the bigger bars like R4, R1, R2 where they have 2-sided bars. Sometimes the place is packed and you can't necessarily sit where you want, and the girls park at one pole, only rotating around the dance floor very, very slowly. Sure, you can sit and wait and drink, or move around yourself (if there are seats), but when the eclipse parks in front of you for 5 songs, well...I tend to finish my drink and move to a new bar. Of course, it isn't always a problem in the smaller bars but how many times is it that the cutie ends up on the other end of the bar, eh?

[ChristianTroy]

Before I read the answers I post what's important for me and the bar I open on April 1st on Walking Street.

 

I think to believe that the requirements in Pattaya are different than in BKK where it is more basic, while in Pattaya some certain things became important.

 

1.) Good Music

for all ages, no Thai Techno, Pattaya has many older customers, they don't like that. The better the music the better they feel and the more they will drink

 

2.) Girls,

you can have the best looking bar, the best music but if the girls aren't good looking you don't get the customers to come back.

 

3.) Atmosphere and Cozyness

It is important to create a cozy atmosphere, I am trying to do that with lounge quality seats, colours, appropriate lighting, the music, friendlyness of the service girls and very important fully integrated ceiling ACs which guarantee the same temperature at any corner of the bar. We only use materials that won't stink when they get wet, the most bars stink.

 

4.) Gimmicks

Club Boesche has this jacuzzi and that is what made the people like it. We gonna have 2 unseen gimmicks which I will post when the bar is open.

 

5.) Shows

The most lady dancers aren't very good dancers, I rather call them pole standers. We gonna have 2 shows followed by 2 songs with lady dancers. That brings variety and the customer will see new show girls evry 2 songs. All lady dancers will be on the stage at once. The stage is 13 meters long, so there is enough space. The place and the stage is designed for shows, everyone will be able to see everything from every corner of the bar!

 

6.) Discounts!

We gonna have frequent drinker cards, based on the frequent traveller point system. For every 100 baht you spend you get 10 points. If you have 100 points you get a free drink of your choice, if you have 250 points you get the silver card which means you pay 10% less on all drinks, with 500 points you get 20% discount on all drinks and one free barfine per month. If you bring a friends and he signs up for the program you will receive 100 bonus points, requirement is that you have been a member already.

 

That is some motivation to bring new people and also to come back. When you are a gold member you will drink your bottle of Heineken for 72baht! This thought was actually brought up by board member Cent who thought it would be nice to give the Expats who fill your bar in low season some little bonus! I think it is a good idea so I took it and coded a system with card readers/card writer. You could even load cash on this card just in case you dont wanna bring too much money with you, at the 2nd stage of this system you will be able to load your card with money via the internet and your credit card. I first wanna see if people like the idea. What we certainly have is prepaid cards you can give others as a gift!

[shygye]

Play the music at moderate volume. You should not have to shout in order to be heard.

[jonjon058]

Shows are always good idea if done well. My friends and I spent way more time in Angel Witch than originally planned because the shows there were really good. Who ever thought of cleaning up the soap suds on stage by using a girl in a French maid's outfit should be commended. That was as good as the show.

 

Add a mama-san who doesn't hesistate to kick out trouble makers and keeps fat idiots off the stage.

[Old Hippie]

Yeah, definitely second the need to keep farangs (male and female) off the stage, hell if I am paying 120 a drink to watch that shit. Shows can be good, but it depends on the show...I do like some of the custumes!

[PhatPhak]

Wow, I saw this question and I thought I would have a quick, easy answer â?? but once I thought about it for a while, it is actually interesting to think about in a broader context and look at the bars I have spent most of my time and money in over the years.

 

So, here is the sample list of bars I have frequented in Thailand, why I frequented them, and then why, in these cases I stopped frequenting them.

 

Highlights:

 

The Pong (actually, I hate the Pong, and only frequented one bar):

Electric Blue:

Went because: Fun, attractive girls

Stopped because: became a tourist trap, no customer service, girls are complete mercs.

 

Nana

Angel Witch:

Went because: Great shows, fun girls, very good customer service

Stopped: Victim of own success â?? canâ??t get a seat unless you get there early, now reserved for out of town guest visits (if only all bars had this problem) â?? sorry Dave.

 

Hollywood 2 (forgot what it is called now) :

Went because: Great shows, fun girls, enjoyed the pre-remodel seating with the old style love seats (a couple of years ago)

Stopped: No longer had great shows and the fun girls left â?? the remodel also destroyed its charm.

 

Cowboy

 

Cowboy 2:

Went because: Great seating and music (at the time), really fun girls, good mamasan and good customer service.

Stopped because: Girls stopped being attractive and fun, never got on with new mamas an.

 

Midnight:

Went because: Cheap drinks, skanky/cheap women, great party atmosphere, great seating, good music.

Stopped because: New owner destroyed the place, as well as two arguments over the bill and customer service issues â?? never went back after the second one.

 

Other favorites that I have stopped frequenting:

 

Black and White â?? used to have fun girls, but not now â?? still has great seating and good music, but the girls sit in groups and rarely mingle.

Tilac â?? reasonable seating, used to have fun and attractive girls, now only a few fun girls left.

Shebas and Suzie Wong â?? sorry, 140 or whatever for a drink when the nipples are covered with pasties is too much money.

Boesche: fun girls, but bad layout, and charging too much for a drink

Catz: used to be the best bar in Pattaya, now the women are ugly and the music is so damned loud it drove me and my mates out (PLEASE fix this, I love this bar!!)

Dollhouse Pattaya: WTF happened to this bar, used to be full of fun stunners and have reasonable drink prices, not anymore. Still good music, reasonable seating. Bangkok Dollhouse has great girls and great music.

 

Bars that I only went to once usually had bill and customer service issues, which resulted in me never going back. I usually give second chances for issues such as the girls (this changes over time) and the music, which may also change. Bad seating would not drive me out of a good bar (Long Gun), but would reduce the time I spend there (usually only 2 or 3 drinks). Bad music would not drive me from a good bar, but would cut down on my time there. Loud music, even if good will drive me from a bar. And, at the risk of being flamed, a high proportion of Japanese customers will also drive me from a bar.

 

So, aside from fun/attractive girls, comfortable seating, good customer service, reasonable prices, and not overly loud music are the common themes.

 

However, I think owners would also care about why customers would/would not buy lady drinks, and why they would want to stay in a bar and spend money for a couple of hours as opposed to hoping around.

 

For me, if the girl has to go on stage for too long, I will not buy her a drink â?? dance rotations are way too long â?? wouldnâ??t it be better for the bar if they were on the floor chatting with customers, getting drinks and getting customers to stay longer? Pushy and/or unattractive girls also do not get lady drinks, why would I want to spend time with them.

 

I stay in a bar when I am sitting with fun/attractive girls, in a comfortable seat, not worried about prices (buying 10 dinks in a bar when they cost 20% more makes a difference), and enjoying good music.

 

[ChristianTroy]

Dollhouse Pattaya: WTF happened to this bar, used to be full of fun stunners and have reasonable drink prices, not anymore. Still good music, reasonable seating.

 

4 of the stunners have been pulled and work at Living Dolls Showcase or Hootys now and many others went home after New Years for 2 weeks! Last Wednesday it was back to normal! Drink prices haven't raised in 10 months as far as I know!

 

 

[Gadfly]

Good detailed answers, particularly the post I am responding to. I hope the lurking bar owners use some of this market information.

 

My own comments largely echo others, but here they are:

 

Interesting how many of us mentioned decent restrooms. I hadnâ??t thought of mentioning this, but the comment â??restrooms downstairsâ? is spot on. This seems to be a problem in some of Soi Cowboy bars.

 

Airy â?? I hate the dank musty smell of some bars. I know this is hard with a bar in the tropics, so maybe the solution is less carpet and a bit more stone on the floor?

 

Good selection of alcoholic drinks. How about a bit more selection â?? decent wine and decent cocktails? I will pay a small premium for something better.

 

Music is subjective. I like Morning Night on NEP, but I wouldnâ??t mind a place that also plays Miles Davis; this part of my ideal bar would where they serve good wine, decent food and cocktails.

 

More creative outfits is a plus. I am surprised bar owners arenâ??t more creative here, particularly in places where showing seems to be forbidden.

 

I have to agree with CT on this fundamental: "you can have the best looking bar, the best music but if the girls aren't good looking you don't get the customers to come back." How many of us walked into a bar only to walk out 30 seconds later because we didnâ??t like what we saw? Or to put it another way, even though I am not a big fan of cigarette smoke, I still find myself going to Rainbow 4 all of the time - purely because of the talent.

 

Again, I also enjoy Club Boesche because has the floor level Jacuzzi, even though I almost fell into the thing the first time I encountered at the tail end of an evening that started too early.

 

 

[SingaporeSteve]

Surprised nobody has mentioned this yet (or maybe I missed it) but for me, the biggest annoyance is paying 130b for a thimble full of cola. I would much rather the lady drink was a real ladydrink and alcoholic. Infact on the rare times I get out and about these days, I just tend to tip the girl who comes and sits with me a 100baht note and forget the drink - they dont want it, I dont want to reward some barowner for fleecing me, so I tend to just buy one beer, find someone I like and pay the barfine and get out of there.

 

Incidentally I am not a cheap skate, odds are we will go to another bar and probably spend couple of thousand on drinks, however I just dont like being ripped off and I see the lady drinks as being an absolute rip off. Sorry if that offends any bar owners but thats the way I and most of my social network tend to feel and they are all big earning expats living in Thailand. The sort of guys that frankly most bars would be crying out for as a customer but are smart enough to know a rip off when they see it.

 

Incidentally, loyalty cards are all well and good but how do you explain to the missus, whats this ABC a gogo gold card doing in your pocket? - I would rather have some system where you just have reasonably priced drinks for everyone - and to me reasonable in a gogo is somewhere between 100-130 baht. Personally I dont ever take draught beer which I know is very popular in Gogo's in Pattaya.

 

Lastly big thing for me - why dont any gogo's serve real spirits. I cant recall ever having drunk a real glass of JW Black. So what happens?, just go to somewhere like Q BAR, Novotel etc and buy a bottle. Same with Gin and Vodka - why is it that nobody can ever tell me the brand they are serving? Sure does not taste like any brand I would recognise.

 

I can tolerate the crap seats, the musty smell, the dirty loo's but these things above really annoy me at least. Probably why I hardly ever go into a gogo bar these days.

 

Cheers

SS