OK, I'm going to step into this one very carefully, because I do respect MP2 and Lynn, and I do not want to be a jerk like a few of you here.
I am a strong advocate of two things in this industry:
a) Supply and demand dictates this industry, and not all customers are the same, and not all girls need the same demand.
b) MP's need set prices, and I do not negotiate them. I choose not to go if I don't like it.
Now I do take "offence", and I highlight "offence" as it not meant to be a strong comment, to MPA's suggesting this will forever be there value, and it should never go down.
I am not talking about discounts... I am talking about spa wide decreases, which has been suggested to be humiliating in a way. That a decrease in the price of this service should not happen because what you offer is somewhat different. Personally, despite being well paid, I didn't get a raise for next year, or much of a bonus,,, I didn't take it as a major insult... just a sign of the times.
We are living in a world of great uncertainty.... in a world where the wealthier gentleman are getting less or no bonuses... in a world where there are no pay raises for next year... or even pay cuts... or even worse people with once great jobs or average jobs becoming unemployed. And that is only salaried workers. Owners and commission based jobs are also likely to take hits.
Now to be clear I am not saying that an MPA should be giving discounts to client that ask for it at all.
And I'm also not suggesting that MP's must lower there prices.... if the demand from customers stays relatively stable, then in no way should they lower the market. Too bad for the customers who have fell on hard times and can't afford the luxury. MPA's should not be responsible to help the unfortunate. I think this is all fairly obvious.
But I think you are being a little misguided in not realizing that a massive demand change could well be coming... and if its coming its going to come hard. This industry has no period as a basis for comparison... there has not been a recession like this in any of the time that Lynn or MP2 have worked. This is an addictive industry... once you start cutting back a bit, it becomes very easy to cut back alot. Newcomers will have a very hard time competing. Business will go down. It is likely with price stability, may come mileage pressure caused by other girls at the spas, in order to retain clients.
Its a pretty dire picture, but its possible that no changes will need to be made. I guess the first thing that will need to be assessed is how elastic this market is... while I may not be fairly discriminatory between $80 and $100 there certainly are some guys on this board that appear to be. What is better - 5 clients at $80 or 3 guys at $100... or is the market even that elastic. And this elasticity will be affected by the increasing supply of SP's that will come in during recessinary time, causing downward prices in those services.
Spas, along with there MPA's, are going to need to be creative in how to get business up. MPA's need to at least go into the next period with an open mind that creative changes or a price decrease may be necessary, and not feel that is insulting
As someone who is somewhat intrigued "AND SADLY SO" by this business, it will be interesting to see how spas react to this. Some very tough decisions
- Maybe they do nothing, as they deem the market as very unelastic. Maybe they conclude Price decreases will not result in an offsetting demand increase, which may be the case.
- Will the MPA's go along with a price decrease. This could be an issue as the deviation in how busy individual girls accross a spa is likely to go up. Will spas denote "A" girls or "B" girls with set prices, and where each girl has her choice to go into the category she wants too. Maybe new girls go on the lower price scale. Would this be too political? Maybe, but it will give each girl a choice at creating demand for themselves, and the girls with established regulars who feels confident in her abilitities to stay at her old price.
- Perhaps extra time is the way to go. Add an extra 10 minutes accross the board. Your likely going to be less busy anyway.
- Maybe 10 minutes of more casual time before the session at no charge, where you can have a drink and chat with the spa.
- Or perhaps the cost of the service goes down $10-$20 accross the board.
- Or maybe they do nothing, and don't even discuss the alternatives, because no one wants to think of themselves as being worth "less".
That was too many words, lol.