Ego based inflation?

[Guest youngblood]

I have found that most geographic regions have a "market price range" for escorting services, i.e. $150-250 for NYC. Within such price range, certain escorts may be worth the higher price, and others not--but the reasonable needs and expectations of the client plays a big factor here. At any price, cleanliness, safety and good manners should be the minimum standard.

 

Should an escort decide to raise his rates to new or existing clients solely based on the number of favorable reviews of him on a website, such a price increase is 1) definately taking advantage of his clients; 2) counter productive to the intent and purpose of the website; 3) probably indicative of an inflated ego and/or an attitude problem.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am a total capitalist and believer in free enterprise, and have often found personally and professionally that you do "get what you pay for." However, I have hired the allegedly "upscale" escorts to see if the "upscale" price enhances the experience in any way--and have determined that their higher price was just a marketing scam!

[Guest REGINA]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-27-00 AT 03:59PM (CST)[p]Somewhere in this forum is a discussion of what is costs of maintain a career as an escort (rent, advertising, transportation, gym membership--laugh if you will, but the better the shape the higher the price--and, of course, laundry--imagine all those sheets and towels and bedspreads and, well, you get the idea). I think it was Rod Hagen (leandream1) who brought all this up when asking about CPAs.

 

Depending upon the geographic location, all these things are a lot more expensive (i.e. back in the midwest where I'm from I could have all my laundry washed, dried and folded for under $10.00; in New York they won't even look at your shorts for less than that!).

 

There are some escorts who adjust their fees according to who you are (personality vs non-personality) and I appreciate that (i.e. John Travolta...FOR EXAMPLE, THAT'S ALL...can afford a lot more than I can).

 

Yes, there will always be the escort who charges FAR MORE than he is worth, but there are always those who are worth it. Sex-for-hire is like pizza and porn: you really get what you pay for...within reason. (i.e. if I paid $300.00 to Billy Herrington and got five minutes of him making a protein shake and scratching his ass, I can guarantee you I would strap him to my sink and make him wash dishes for the next fifty-five minutes! Porn star or not, that's a lot to pay for nothing...at these rates you could get Ben Affleck for an hour!)

 

How's the weather where you are?

[Guest youngblood]

The weather is beautiful here, my darling Regina. In my opinion, escorts who adjust their rates according to what they think a client is able to pay are really screwed up. The rate and the services provided should be the same whether the client has saved up his money for a year to pay the escort or whether the client earns the fee charged by the escort in one-half hour.

 

An escort once quoted me a certain price, and then after arriving at my apartment and obviously "sizing me up" financially, told me that I had heard the price incorrectly and tried to add on an additional $100. He was really hot and he knew it, but nevertheless I threw him out. Sometimes, my brain does prevail over the needs of other organs!

 

So how's the weather by you, collegiate cutie?

[Guest REGINA]

WHAT WAS I THINKING!

 

There is never a good reason for an escort, upon seeing a client, to jack up their prices. I must have been all a-flutter from reading an e-mail from Chris Canton. Anyway...no, one price for all, and that's that. Thanks for making me see straight, youngblood.

 

Weather here is damp and cool and grey and overcast. Tough to get motivated in this weather but great for sex, I think. In fact, I cannot think of bad sex weather!

[CT Dick]

So, Regina, if I have a boy in and do the laudry, should I get a discount?

[Guest travaz]

Well Corn Flakes is Corn Flakes no matter what the box looks like! I would stop seeing a certian escort if his prices went up a great deal. There are always new people in the business and that is what it is a business!

[Guest leandream1]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-28-00 AT 04:53PM (CST)[p]An escort should never raise rates on a regular client. If you start seeing an escort at $150, but he starts asking new clients for $225, you should still pay $150 because you are not a new client. If he asks for more, he's pushing it. An exception may be made for long lapses b/w appointments; are your really a regular client if it's been 8 months since you last hired the escort? Nope.

 

Phone converstions, AOL IMs, emails, etc.., do not make someone a regular. If an escort communicates with someone about rates, activities etc...and then six months later the client is finally able to make an appointment, the escort is fully within the boundaries of propriety to ask the "newer rate" if he has one. (As an aside, consider the potential ramifications of chatting on line, or emailing, about rates and activities. you are leaving a paper trail for cops, wives or boyfriends to find)

 

Changed rates based on the oppulance of the clients home, or the persons general position in life-John Travolta-is ludicrous.

 

While I am on the subject, adjusted rates for different activities ($100 to suck me off, $220 to fuck me...) is cheap behavior and most blantant prostitution.

 

and yes Regina, it was me who made the posting regarding the expenses of escorting. Once typed out they boggled my mind as well. And that's not an easy thing to do. I mean I ACED two semesters of Organic Chemistry!! -Hagen

[Guest youngblood]

I was very pleased to discover that in addition to finding you incredibly attractive Rod, we have similar opinions on topics like these! Beauty and brains--I will definately look you up when I am in your neck of the woods.

[Guest torjon]

Thanks, Leandream, for making so much sense and for helping me personally.(I'm one of the guys who loves to hear an escorts point of view.) I'm a regular...once a

month at least...with my guy in Toronto, and he was just getting started when we connected last

Summer. He's become THE hot escort here in a short

time, and I know his rates are higher than they were when I started, but he has never said a word.

(Much too classy for that!) Still, I've been

wondering what I should do, and you've put my mind at ease with your comments. Tks.

[Guest bunglepok]

Once again, some customers are never happy unless they're complaining. Now someone complains that popular escorts shouldn't raise their rates. Give me a break!

 

If an escort gets favorable reviews on this site, why would increasing his rate be "taking advantage of his clients"? An escort who earns a good reputation deserves a rate increase.

 

If a successful escort raises his rate, why is that "indicative of an inflated ego and/or an attitude problem"? Successful entrepreneurs routinely reward themselves with pay raises. To equate a rate increase with psychological problems is preposterous.

 

But then, this site shows that some clients are profoundly condescending and cynical toward escorts. Apparently some people simply love to vilify escorts.

 

Should an escort raise his rate for a regular client? I don't know. There is no law about it and Miss Manners is mum about it. Certainly businesses in other industries periodically raise prices for regular clients. Why is it wrong if an escort does it?

 

There is nothing inherently sleazy about raising rates BEFORE actually meeting. More importantly, no escort or client has a monopoly in identifying the best etiquette or practices.

[Guest bunglepok]

Once again, some customers are never happy unless they're complaining. Now someone complains that popular escorts shouldn't raise their rates. Give me a break!

 

If an escort gets favorable reviews on this site, why would increasing his rate be "taking advantage of his clients"? An escort who earns a good reputation deserves a rate increase.

 

If a successful escort raises his rate, why is that "indicative of an inflated ego and/or an attitude problem"? Successful entrepreneurs routinely reward themselves with pay raises. To equate a rate increase with psychological problems is preposterous.

 

But then, this site shows that some clients are profoundly condescending and cynical toward escorts. Apparently some people simply love to vilify escorts.

 

Should an escort raise his rate for a regular client? I don't know. There is no law about it and Miss Manners is mum about it. Certainly businesses in other industries periodically raise prices for regular clients. Why is it wrong if an escort does it?

 

There is nothing inherently sleazy about raising rates BEFORE actually meeting. More importantly, no escort or client has a monopoly in identifying the best etiquette or practices.

[Guest leandream1]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-29-00 AT 04:10PM (CST)[p]Accidental double submission. See actual response below. sorry ------>

[Guest leandream1]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-29-00 AT 04:09PM (CST)[p]accidental multiple submisssions, see response below---->

[Guest leandream1]

The decision to change rates on 'regulars' is less a matter of manners, and more related to calculated risks. I have been a member of both the Intercontinental Hotel's and Fairmont Hotel's (in fact I am staying at a Fairmont hotel in Banff this coming weekend) "frequent-stay-programs) for quite sometime. When they increase their rates, do they consult with me, or cut me a break outside of the special promotions included in their premier program? Of course not. They have done the research and know that the few unhappy customers will most likely keep coming back; I certainly do. And if a few switch hotels, "so what", the company knows that they will make up the difference with the higher-rate distributed among the regulars that hang on, and the new ones that probably are unaware of the rate hike. And that is an example of a calculated risk.

 

Bunglepok, of course any escort who wishes to raise rates on regular clients is free to do so; as you noted there are no rules, or "law(s)" here. That escort would simply need to evaluate the risk of lost revenue associated with the possible perception, pehaps misperception, of an unwaranted rate-hike. He must also decide if he's totally comfortable with possibly hurting the feelings of a few regular clients. Of course many regular clients will take the rate hike in stride and/or will accept the escort's expalanation that now that he's one of the best-reviewed, he's cashing in.

 

I have nothing against raising rates, I have done so myself, twice. This discussion is just another variation of the enigmatic pricing scale it "SEEMS" some escorts use: ie if the current hourly average of top-quality escorts is $200 in SoCal, how come Ryan Idol (hypothetically) feels he can ask $5000? The simple answer is "because clients pay it". this is so complicated?? -Another message brought to you by Miss Manners, aka Rod Hagen.

[Guest REGINA]

CT DICK-It depends whether you supply the laundry detergent & softener or not. :-)

[Guest REGINA]

SHEESH! I apologized once for my brain fart! Thank you for once again shaming me into enlightenment!

[Guest REGINA]

LAST EDITED ON Feb-29-00 AT 05:22PM (CST)[p]I think Ryan Idol gets $5000.00 because he's Superman. He MUST be, considering he fell five or six stories on his face and still looks like that. :*

 

I wonder if he gave a discount while all wrapped up in those casts and such, or did his rates go up because he's appealing to a select crowd? (Just kidding...)

 

Seriously, is Ryan Idol still alive?

[HooBoy]

Hey Rod,

 

Any chance that a client you really enjoy could earn frequent flyer mile discounts? I know the hotels you mentioned offer them?

 

And don't slap me, I'm not trying to be a smartass. It really makes sense to me. Or should that be cents?

[Guest youngblood]

Maybe what everyone has been saying on this thread has not been clear enough for you. Nobody disputes the fact that escorts can and will charge what they want for their services, understandably factoring in their overhead, etc. However, from a client's point of view, a rate increase solely based on an escort's actual or perceived popularity which results from a website such as this is really screwed up. The purpose of this website is to provide information for escorts and clients, not for self promotion nor as a forum/reason/excuse to raise rates.Your analogy to an entrepreneur rewarding himself is naive and practically nonsensical.

 

What you seem to have conveniently forgetten is that when you were good Bunglepok, your clients have tipped you, as you have stated in your previous posting.

[+ Charlie]

I have been a regular client of the same barber for almost 30 years. I don't expect him to charge me the same amount he did in the early 70s, even though I have less hair to work with with now. I don't work for the same amount of money I did then, either, not only because of inflation but also because I am more expert now than I was then.

Of course, in the sex business things are never quite that logical (and a regular may be someone who has patronized you three times in the last three months).

[Guest RO]

LAST EDITED ON Mar-02-00 AT 01:03AM (CST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Mar-02-00 AT 00:41 AM (CST)

 

I'm glad youngblood mentioned the topic of tipping in this thread. I think tipping is generally the most practical solution to the "inflation" problems being discussed. Tipping brings the basic fundamentals of capitalism back to the table where they belong. Then, the whole price thing is much more fair to BOTH parties.

 

Tipping has previously been a heated topic of discussion on this site. I decided it was a personal decision and involved too many variables to be right or wrong for everyone. Personally, I'm a big tipper. I usually tell an escort, especially one I don't know, that if he takes care of me, I'll take care of him. That way the key elements of trust AND risk are more equal for both of us - I hate that one-sided stuff. I try to negotiate for the standard local rate, but also be prepared to pay up to equal the amount of a high-end rate thru a generous tip IF I'm extra satisfied. In fact, let's face it, we usually know within an hour if things are going well, so I sometimes offer an early gratuity at that point if I'm leaning towards a positive potential and / or attitude. This helps the escort be more confident that I'm serious about my original offer to take care of him. Of course this tipping strategy isn't always successful - just less risky. It certainly isn't practical for everyone or every encounter. My experience has been that the second meeting is the most decisive. They sometimes return with high expectations for $$$ but sacrifice the quality of companionship that was responsible for the original tip. Regardless, the closer-to-equal levels of risk and trust make me more comfortable. If the time we spend together isn't enjoyable, I feel like I haven't lost as much as I would have otherwise. Maybe it's just a mind game with myself ... wouldn't be the first one I've played.

 

Meanwhile, that ego inflation stuff is bullshit. If they can get the higher rates often enough to have the balls to ask for it consistently, they're probably worth it. So, put up or shut up. If they're not worth it ... well, you were lookin' when you found him, right?