List correct city when traveling

[dcguy20]

I had scheduled a massage appointment with a traveling provider whom I've seen a few times already this year in DC. He usually stays at a hotel right in DC which is very convenient to where I live.

A few hours before said appointment, I confirmed with him and asked where he was staying. He was staying at a hotel in Virginia and wasn't close to a metro station. I priced Uber, and it was over $30 each way. Metro to bus would have taken me well over an hour to get to him. I canceled my appointment and sent him his fee since I was the one who canceled (he didn't ask for it).

Lesson learned. Before I commit to an appointment, I need to find out exactly where someone is. But I also fault him for not listing the city he was actually in, though he was the one who reached out to me.

I have no problem traveling if the person is close to metro (I don't have a car).

[Thelatin]

If you had seen him a few times I would think a compromise could have been reached.  60 bucks doesn’t go far in any city, let alone DC. 

[BuffaloKyle]

I actually have had this issue here in Buffalo a few times. Guys will post they will be visiting Buffalo but then tell me they are staying in Niagara Falls which is a 45 min drive from my house. I never will fully commit to an appt until I know exactly where they are staying as some of the downtown hotels can be a pain as well with parking.

[marylander1940]

1 hour ago, dcguy20 said:

I had scheduled a massage appointment with a traveling provider whom I've seen a few times already this year in DC. He usually stays at a hotel right in DC which is very convenient to where I live.

A few hours before said appointment, I confirmed with him and asked where he was staying. He was staying at a hotel in Virginia and wasn't close to a metro station. I priced Uber, and it was over $30 each way. Metro to bus would have taken me well over an hour to get to him. I canceled my appointment and sent him his fee since I was the one who canceled (he didn't ask for it).

Lesson learned. Before I commit to an appointment, I need to find out exactly where someone is. But I also fault him for not listing the city he was actually in, though he was the one who reached out to me.

I have no problem traveling if the person is close to metro (I don't have a car).

A provider will never be able to please all potential clients when it comes to location, parking, etc. but staying out in VA far from the Metro will guarantee him a bad trip because fewer clients will go to see him. 

1 hour ago, Thelatin said:

If you had seen him a few times I would think a compromise could have been reached.  60 bucks doesn’t go far in any city, let alone DC. 

Yes, but it wasn't only the money but an inconvenient commute in a city where most folks don't have a car

This isn't NYC where folks won't go from East to West to see an escort because they just don't go there but staying so far from the Metro is certainly a bad choice for hosting. 

 

[Simon Suraci]

Large cities like DC are expensive. Don’t see your favorite provider passing through regularly? That may be partly why.

You can’t please everyone. Clients hate downtowns even though they’re geographically central to most cities, and therefore the most convenient (by distance) to the greatest number of people. I stay away. On paper it makes sense but the reality is clients don’t like downtown locations. Unless you’re in NYC.

Go too far out away from a downtown area in any single direction and you’re not convenient enough to half or more of a given city. That leaves a narrow band of areas close to, but not in core central business districts. Go a few blocks in one direction or another within a somewhat central area outside of a downtown and clients clutch their pearls in response to the neighborhood. We can’t win no matter where we stay. The options are:

1) stay somewhere expensive i.e. “convenient”, “safe”, “nice”, “plentiful free parking”….and take on a low profit position. Basically work for less net $ than you normally make. Great for clients. Makes little business sense for providers.

2) stay somewhere expensive like in the option above, but charge a premium for it to make the profit commensurate with the overhead, and risk clients not booking you at all because of the price tag.

3) keep prices the same but stay in a location somewhat less convenient to some of the clients in your travel city metro area. A lot of us take this option. Some clients are totally fine with it. Some are put off. Can’t please everyone, so we write off those we can’t please.

The tradeoff to option 3 is scaring away a few high maintenance clients who want all the convenience of #1 but don’t want to pay the cost of #2, and are too cheap to spend money on their own transportation for #3. I write these clients off. This is a business. We need to make money for trips to expensive cities to make sense.

Firstly, ask your provider which neighborhood he is staying in before setting an appointment. Not his address. The neighborhood is sufficient for planning purposes. If the exact neighborhood or number of miles (or blocks) is a dealbreaker for you, better to know up front. Some clients are way too sensitive about these things. Others are more realistic.

You, the client, have two options: A) take responsibility for getting to/from an easily drivable distance, perhaps under 5 or even 10 miles, whether that be a ride share or other means, or B) request an outcall to your location and be willing to pay a reasonable premium for the trouble you yourself place on your own time and money getting to him, except it’s the other way around for him to shoulder that cost getting to you. 

Anyone that can’t handle the above has no business hiring a traveling provider. $25-30 is what it costs to get anywhere using a rideshare in an expensive city! Get over it, find alternate means of transportation, or don’t hire.

[Becket]

One possible solution to this issue is to stay in or near the "gayborhood" of that city. 

[dbar123]

Since you had seen the provider previously at the same spot your provider should have given you the heads-up that he was now in a different place. You were way too generous in paying him for that

[TT3690]

Yeah it annoys me when guys won't tell me where they're staying. I live in downtown DC and don't really want to travel all the way out to Alexandria or Tyson's Corner or whatever.

[+ ApexNomad]

Every provider has their own business model and challenges; clearly, not all operate the same way. I hired a NYC provider who charged $500 for a two-hour minimum and only did outcalls for first appointments. I even had to pay his Uber to my hotel, despite both being in Midtown. It’s amusing how some providers expect clients to cover their travel costs when they’re literally in walking distance, yet they can be just as high maintenance as clients.