Barfines On the Rise???

[Guest]

I agree, I like Pattaya better coz of the 200 baht bar fines. I also liked that you can do a girl for 500 to 600 baht short time. In addition, I like the be able to breath the air - unlike bkk.

[chilli13]

I've got similar experience with the prices which is a bit too much for me normally, but that's about to change anyday soon :-/

[Guest]

As far as the prices go, this will be debated ad nauseum here, but IMO, the going rate for dancers in NEP is 1,500 ST and 2,000 ST. You may get asked for more, but most will settle on these amounts. Yes, there are times you can get by for less, but especially this time of the year (tourist season), I think the prices above ring true most of the time.

 

In the 'pong I was often quoted the same ST rate, but usually a higher figure, often 3,000 B, for LT. In Soi Cowboy I think you can still easily get the 1,000 ST/1,500 LT rates in some, but not all of the bars.

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This is consistent with my experience and I believe it represents a fair summary of the going rates, with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions is some of the stunners from AngelWitch - some of them demand and seem to get a premium, and many of these same girls are very relunctant to do LTs.

 

I know a few posters here (not you) expressed outrage at the prices charged by the Crown Group. I don't see this as a moral issue; it is simply economics. If a bar jacks up bar fines above the market rates, it creates opportunities for other bars that charge market rates. The one problem with Thailand, however, is that many of the customers are short time visitors who often are not familiar with market prices. In other words, the market suffers from asymmetrical information.

 

The best remedy for that problem is boards like this where information on current prices is posted. As more information becomes available to consumers (which is basically what we are) through the internet, it becomes harder for bars to gouge and BGs to "cheat" customers (e.g., charge a newbie 3,000 Baht for a ST or do a runner) because the internet has substantially reduced the transaction costs of obtaining information about market prices here. The internet is a wonderful thing.

 

P.S. What happened at Fanatasia?

[jacko]

Exactly correct - I normally only spend 3 or 4 nights in BKK before moving on and what I read here makes me plan out where I will visit - and put away the memories of previous years if they have received negative reports.

I will have my early evening preplanned in my mind as I get out of the shower. I am looking for the places that have had good recommendations . Late evening, well who knows!

Keep on reporting all ::

 

[Uncle Joe]

""I expect to see more choice on the stage when I arrive and a better selection when I decide I have had enough beer and need company, always after 11pm -normally nearer 2am ""

 

That low-season hi-season stuff is mostly hype and scare, except that some popular hotels might be more difficult to book. Many hotels are semi-empty as usual, and the gogo's frequentation is the same than in the "low-season": the usual suspects are packed and the usual ones are empty.

 

I move around for meals (including hotel coffe-shops) and I cruised the gogo's (pretty much went into most of them at NEP and SCB). Some hotels are desperate for business. The Somerset comes to mind; went there for breakfast one morning and after I asked directions to the coffee shop in the lobby, a manager in a suit escorted me all the way up the stairs to show me. While I was looking at the menu outside the empty coffee shop, 3 servers came over to invite me inside.) I went by this hotel several times every day and I never saw a customer going in or out of that lobby (not the case at the Manhattan though, they seemed a bit busier but their coffee shop tended to be empty too).

The only place that I found truly packed apart from a couple of the gogo's like Rainbow was BG7 at 21h00 on a weekday. Standing room only: meat-market nightmare and I hated the setup on sight: went out immediately. I like the place when it's relatively quiet. Strictly personal taste, not an indictment of the joint as a pick-up haven..

 

I had been in BKK last time in the Aug-early Sept period, supposedly low season. Clearly a case where your mileage may vary. Except of course on the plane fare, where indeed high season means something; but once there I would not worry too much about price differences.

 

Uncle Joe