Bar Reports

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Jun

Re: Bar Reports

Post by Jun »

Gaybutton wrote: Tue Nov 08, 2022 5:34 pmI also would have thought the boys themselves would have realized they're not getting taken off very often, if at all, and would be trying to come up with ways to attract their potential customers.
The easiest way to get a customer is to treat the ones they do see well, then ask them for repeat offs.
Which is exactly what I find with some of the lads on the phone apps. Last time I was in Pattaya, I walked into my room, put the bag down and Grindr was immediately bleeping with a message from one of my regulars.

That's what the bars are up against.

So the bar experience needs to be good. If they are charging 350~400 baht, as some Bangkok bars do, the experience needs to be very good.
If they put out overdressed boys, have loud music, I have to keep telling the mamasan to go away and then if I off a boy, he's not as good as the phone app boys, I'm less likely to return to the bar.
I'm not some kind of charity. If the bar experience is good enough and offers some an experience with value proportional to the drinks prices, I am likely to return.
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Re: Bar Reports

Post by bkkguy »

Gaybutton wrote: Tue Nov 08, 2022 5:34 pm Maybe they've forgotten the days when the go-go bars were packed with customers almost nightly, even during low season.
what is the biggest thing that has changed since those golden days? the number of customers!

I don't mean chicken and egg, or Covid and post-Covid, I mean the raw customer base - the gay sexpat and sex tourist target audience is a dying market segment, literally, and the required replacement numbers are not coming up through the age segment progressions

and I don't think the complaints about the bars have changed that significantly over the last 5 years pre-Covid - drink prices, shows, sound levels, attire, ignoring customer suggestions, etc

everything I have read, pre- or post-Covid, about the gay scene (commercial or non-commercial), in so many countries, is that it is declining, it is not the same as it was years ago, for many complex reasons

GB you should be able to tell from your site stats what the decline has been over the past 5 years pre-Covid, and the decline should be obvious to anyone who has been active on the various gay forums or in the scene over that time as well

regardless of what the various venue owners do now to try to attract customers, Bangkok or Pattaya are never again going to support the number of venues there were during the golden days, but there should always be enough options to keep most of us happy if we can be realistic about our expectations!
I can’t even be bothered to be apathetic these days!
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Re: Bar Reports

Post by Gaybutton »

bkkguy wrote: Tue Nov 08, 2022 8:39 pm regardless of what the various venue owners do now to try to attract customers, Bangkok or Pattaya are never again going to support the number of venues there were during the golden days
For me, it's not the number of venues, but the quality of the venues no matter how many or how few there are now or will be in the future.

So far, I'm not impressed. The go-go bars are trying to run things the way they were run when the "Golden Years" existed and were a reality. There is no way that can succeed anymore. Times and circumstances have changed and the bars need to figure out how to cope - and fast. If they lose this year's high season, it won't surprise me if this is the last year we'll be seeing the go-go bars at all.

I hate to be so pessimistic about it, but for me it's hard not to be when I don't see the bars doing a damned thing to make me optimistic.

The handwriting is on the wall, folks. If the go-go bars all fail, it won't be because the customers failed at anything that wasn't their responsibility in the first place. The bar owners will have nobody to blame but themselves.
Jun

Re: Bar Reports

Post by Jun »

1 Discussion forums seem to be less popular now than 10 years ago and that's not just confined to the gay segment.
There used to be very active Travelfish and Lonely Planet travel forums. These were dead long before covid.
If I had some technical question about upgrading a laptop, or hi fi or anything like that, there would be well supported forums, sometimes brand specific and definitely with whole sections dedicated to the model I have. Such forums are fare less popular these days.

So I wouldn't take the decline in forum traffic as any measure at all of the amount of gay customers visiting Thailand.

2 We also can't use the decline in gogo bars as a measure of gay tourist numbers either. Counterbalancing that, we've seen an increase in online dating and an increase in host bar numbers in Jomtien.
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Re: Bar Reports

Post by Rocket »

Gaybutton wrote: Tue Nov 08, 2022 1:47 pm When I see the bars start making a truly serious effort to attract and keep customers, that's when I'll be much more supportive. If they want my business, it's up to them to earn it and deserve it.
But Winner bar has listened to some of the things you want. They dress in skimpy shorts, they play quiet music, the boys are behaved well. They’re attentive and polite. And decent looking twinks.

It was quiet the other night. There were 7 boys, and a new one. Then a potential customer took a few steps in and left. The boy I was with said this customer does it every night. I don’t know where this guy lives or where he goes, but I would think occasionally buying one drink wouldn’t kill him. Or maybe he’s insane. Expecting different results but they are always the same.

At this point, I think it would be unreasonable to expect the owner to get more boys, when the customers are not enough to support what’s there now.

I have no skin in the survival of the bar, but I try to buy drinks and spend time there. I even threw 25 ping pong balls at the boys. They get 10 baht for each one they collect. Even the bartender was trying.
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Re: Bar Reports

Post by Gaybutton »

Rocket wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 6:49 pm
Gaybutton wrote: Tue Nov 08, 2022 1:47 pm If they want my business, it's up to them to earn it and deserve it.
It was quiet the other night.
I agree that Winner is doing a much better job of it than some of the other go-go bars, but it still is not nearly enough. How many customers does the bar attract? When you say skimpy shorts, describe the shorts or, better still, see if you can get permission to post some photos of what the boys are wearing. Or get the bar owner to send some photos and I'll be glad to post them for him.

I see the photos he's posted on his Facebook page. What I'm seeing is just ordinary underwear, not thongs or g-strings. That is not going to attract me.

I'll agree that it is a beginning, but it's going to take far more than shorts and 7 or 8 boys to succeed.

I hope Winner does succeed and I hope other go-go bars also put in a real effort. Believe me, I would love to see Pattaya become at least close to the way it was years ago. I still believe high season will tell the story of what we can expect.

Nevertheless, I am not here to financially support the bars. I'll be happy to spend my time and my money in the bars once they are doing what it takes to attract me. If the bar owners don't have enough money to invest in an effort to seriously turn things around, I'm sorry for that, but that's their problem. I am a customer, not a business partner. I understand if they need money, but the place to look for it is not inside my wallet.

Again, the onus is on the bar owners, not the customers.
Jun

Re: Bar Reports

Post by Jun »

The photos on the Winner Boys Facebook page are a reasonable representation of what I've seen when visiting the bar in recent years.
Mostly normal underwear, but sometimes a Jockstrap or something approaching the cut of a G-string.

Whilst I would prefer it if they encouraged ALL the boys to wear skimpy underwear, or even less than that, Winner Boys is by some margin the gogo bar most likely to get my custom on the next visit.

The bars I'm almost certain not to visit include Tawan, Dream Boys BKK, Hot Male, Moonlight, Jupiter, Nice Boys, Boyz Boyz Boyz and A-Bomb. Wrong type of boy, plus, in some cases, additional offences like loud music etc.
New Twilight Bangkok doesn't stand a chance if they have fully clothed "boy next door types". Why the hell would I pay 350 baht to watch boys wearing more than they do outside on the street ?


Nature Boy, Super A, X-Boys Pattaya and Dream Boys Pattaya have a slim chance of my custom, but the boy selection needs to better than I expect it to be. Over the years, Dream Boys Pattya has sometimes had some nice looking lads.

If Fresh Boys have their boys in underwear, I may well visit. If they still have the shorts, they can forget it.

So the remaining gogo bars with a good chance of my custom are Toy Boys and Winner Boys. I suspect the drinks in Toy Boys are 2~3 times the price of Winner Boys, so Toy Boys need to be doing a very good job to get me in more than 1 or 2 times.

Winner Boys is by far & away the pick of this crop, given my tastes in boys. Like Gaybutton, I would prefer more skimpy underwear, but this is as good as it gets these days.
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Re: Bar Reports

Post by Gaybutton »

Jun wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 8:07 pm this is as good as it gets these days.
Perhaps so, but for me that isn't good enough.

While I'm at it, would someone be kind enough to explain to me why "drink for boy" should cost any more than my own drink? Don't tell me it is to make sure the boy gets tipped for sitting with me. We all know to tip the boy for sitting with you. I'll be the one to determine how much to tip him, thank you, and if anyone thinks the additional amount for "drink for boy" actually all goes to the boy (if any of it does) there's a bridge in Brooklyn I've got for sale.

When I think of a Pattaya go-go bar, I'm thinking about the way it used to be - plenty of boys, wearing what I like, behaving the way I like, and reasonable prices. Some may say I am making a mistake by comparing the way things are today to the way things used to be and as a result I am demanding too much, too soon.

That may be true, but that's what it will take to get me into the bars again. If and when any of the bars provide it, that's when I'll be there.
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Re: Bar Reports

Post by bkkguy »

Gaybutton wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 8:20 pm When I think of a Pattaya go-go bar, I'm thinking about the way it used to be - plenty of boys, wearing what I like, behaving the way I like, and reasonable prices.
so numbers, attire, behaviour, prices to your specifications - I am not quite game enough to ask"who died and made you king" but ...
Gaybutton wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 8:20 pm If and when any of the bars provide it, that's when I'll be there.
OK - if half a dozen bars, or even one, opened in Pattaya tomorrow offering everything you are asking for exactly how much would you spend every night or every week or every month at those bars, and apart from you and a few other posters here, how many others are going to spend how much in the next 6-12 months and is this going to be anywhere near enough to support the bars and boys?

so yes it may well be that you are "demanding too much, too soon" or is the reality not really the issue? we already know that if you personally do not like the bars you are not going to go ...
I can’t even be bothered to be apathetic these days!
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Re: Bar Reports

Post by Gaybutton »

bkkguy wrote: Thu Nov 10, 2022 8:12 pm OK - if half a dozen bars, or even one, opened in Pattaya tomorrow offering everything you are asking for exactly how much would you spend every night or every week or every month at those bars
If I thought it was yours, or anybody else's, business about how much I spend on anything, I would tell you to visit the same bar at the same time I go and satisfy your curiosity by seeing for yourself.

bkkguy wrote: Thu Nov 10, 2022 8:12 pm I am not quite game enough to ask"who died and made you king" but ...
"Bravely spoken."
- Hugh Griffith (Sheik Ilderim), 'Ben Hur'
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