Escort Prices in NYC

[ad rian]

On the plus side, I have noticed that one of the hotest new guys on Rentboy, Taylor, is harging $200. On the minus side though he has a very full schedule and requires about 48 hours notice. It will be interesting to know from the escort side whether the increased fee compensates for the loss of business to the likes of Taylor. I have heard from a Campus escort that he is worried that the higher fee will turn some folks away. Apparently, Mike at Camus has told his boys that we clients have an inelastic demand, and that the increased fee is necessary to keep guys from going out on there own. For my part, I am going to try to prove Mike wrong unless, of course, there is a corresponding increase in quality. It would be nice to get an escort's perspective on this.

 

One more thing comes to mind. Does the escort really com out ahead by these price increases. Don't they just lose the tip that they would have got otherwise? If a guy charged $200, I probably would give him $240, but if he charges $250, I might just round it off to $260. At $300, I probably would not tip at all. I have got the impression from past threads that this is a common response. Again, it would be great to hear an escort's perspective on this.

[ad rian]

Has anyone else noted that escort prices in New York are on the rise. Last year, there were more guys on Rentboy for $200, now the average is tending towards $250. Campus has increased its rates from $250 to $300 to match A-list and Chelsea. Can Maximum be far behind? If the bad economy is bringing more guys into the business as has been suggested here often, shouldn't prices be falling instead of rising? Is this a temporary price shift? Should people accept these prices or try to negotiate them down? For me, $200 is ok, and if the guy or the experience turns out to be not as great as I expected so be it? But at $300, I think I would be really pissed if the guy or the experience is not everything I expected. Comments?

 

:-(

[BgMstr4u]

In a market economy there's one and only one way to determine whether "more is less" - if more escorts mean lower prices. Refuse to pay the higher prices, offer what you think is reasonable, and see what happens. If the lads go for less, it means they want the work and the higher prices aren't doing it for them. If they refuse, well, you have done your part to maintain the basic economic honesty of the system.

 

As to the theory that "the bad economy is bringing more guys into the business" and therefore bringing down the prices -- maybe so. But bad times are also ironically often the very environments in which luxury consumption at the top end thrives. I would expect prices to continue to rise, especially by those who are truly fine at what they do, as gentlemen of means take fewer trips abroad and spend more time and money on themselves at home. This environment might well mean more escorts AND higher prices.

[Guest Fin Fang Foom]

I've noticed it too. Many of these ladies have not only inflated prices but inflated perceptions of their sexual value.

 

The best time to get a break in price is right when the rent is due. Most of these girls don't save a cent and are always scrambling around the first of the month.

 

Economically yours,

 

FFF

[foxy]

When you think of all the guys who are looking to get laid every weekend it's enough to drive you back to the bars. Pick somebody up, turn the light off and do it. Save yourself a few hundred bucks. Nobody is worth $300!

[jack]

A timely thread. Mike at Campus explains the price rise to pay his guys enough so they'd stay. However, the $300 does make one contemplative. At $250, I always gave the guys a $50 tip. Now, with the rate increase, that looks like $350. If I participate, say, twice a month, call it $1000. That's after tax. Someone made a prudent observation, that more people were traveling less; hence, using USA escorts more. However, though I will probably maintain my schedule, it would seem the higher fees would limit, reduce, the demographics of people who can afford the tariff. Perhaps, it'll be like Delta raising its rates, then, backing off when the others renigged. Or, perhaps, it back to the Gaiety.

[Guest Kenny021]

The topic of escort prices has been done to death and it is inevitable that there will be pros and cons about whether an escort is worth the outrageous prices. I personally will NOT pay $300 for someone who yesterday was charging $250 and the week before that $200. However there are people who will pay whatever the asking price is and as long as they exist, so will the rising price. If you search, you will see reputable escorts with good notices who ask resonable prices (see Devon in S.F.) and they should be patronized. NYC has had price increases that are ridiculous. The cost of living for escorts isn't any higher than for other people. It comes down to who will agree to pay those prices and Campus will probably keep every one of their customers. I also suspect that the tips will remain the same. Again, this subject has been around for months if not years and some guys will defend the high prices. They haven't convinced me to pay them but hell, as long as somebody pays the exhorbitant fees, the fees will continue to go up and up and up.

[Guest alanm]

The fact that the subject has been discussed before is no reason not to discuss it again. The prices for good escorts in NY is too high, but then the cost of living in NY is very expensive. I notice that top escorts in other parts of the country tend to charge lower fees: Riccardo in SF ($200), Jason Rylee in Boston ($200) and Gabe in St. Louis ($150). I am not rich so I use this site to research an escort

before hiring him. I really can not afford a $300 or $400 mistake. As a result, I am usually very satisfied (last three hires: Jonathan in Philadelphia, Kristian from Houston and Gabe from St. Louis). I have never contributed to HooBoy, but this thread has got me thinking. Where would I be without this site? I need to send HooBoy a contribution. By the way, some escorts are worth the high fees, but

not very many. When I see people posting to the effect that they will never pay over $150 (let's say), my response would be skip a few of

the $150 escorts and hire Matt, Rick or Talvin et. al. I have never hired any of the three escorts, but their reviews indicate they are worth every penny of the fee. :9

[Guest JustANametoPlay]

Folks lets not forget this is a business. An escort will charge what the market will bear.

 

I am guessing that the agecies are charging more since they get a cut of the fee, so to give the escort more they have to charge the fee.

 

As for tipping, other than for agency guys I just don't get it.

[Guest JON1265]

>As for tipping, other than for agency guys I just don't get

>it.

 

I totally agree....I never tip independents - but then again I rarely hire independents because Philly just does not have any (or very few). We are fortuante to have some great escorts working for Premier and at 150 bucks a pop - it's a bargain compared to NYC.

 

The highest I have ever paid was $225 - and that was in NYC. I would not pay 300 bucks for anyone unless it was a porn personality that I was dying to meet.

 

As for the 500 dollar escorts...unless their "cum" is made of liquid gold - forget it.

[ad rian]

>Folks lets not forget this is a business. An escort will

>charge what the market will bear.

>

I think everybody understands that it is a business, but I would suggest that there are few businesses where one finds price inflation of 20% in a market suposedly characterized by excess supply (and diminishing returns to scale)unless unless one assumes that demand is inelastic. If there were some reason to believe that quality had improved, then I could accept markets clearing at higher prices, but if anything I see decreasing quality on both Rentboy and Campus.

 

I guess I launched this thread in the hopes that price transparency would lead more folks to have a "buyers strike" against these high prices to force them down. For my part, I have asked my Campus regulars for direct contacts and directly negotiated rates (perhaps including volume rebates), and told them that without it I would not use them again. Personally, I think only a few escorts can succeed in charging these rates. I have noticed the end of the month phenomenon referred to above by someone else, as well as price discrimination by escorts.

 

I think that everyone should try to bargain down a rate over $200 and to ignore agency rates over $250 (or negotiate reasonable rates directly with the escort.) It is a case where with a little discipline I think we will all be better off, including the escorts.

[+ Charlie]

I never use agencies in NYC, but the top quality independents whom I have used there recently are still in the $200-250 range, and I pray that they stay there so that I don't have to give up sex altogether.

[+ Axiom2001]

...emphatically agree with the preceding respondent.

Or lets all boycott and see if our horniness can stand it.

[+ Axiom2001]

We discussed prices at length about two or three months ago. Some of the same ideas cited them are still being given and reiterated now.

The previous thread drew lots and lots of hits for this serious question.

 

From the onset, I have always thought $150 and upwards was a little much for a fuck or a blow job...etc., but I have been shelling out the dough and those tips. I guess I'll learn better in the end (no pun here, fellows).

[+ Axiom2001]

>I never use agencies in NYC, but the top quality

>independents whom I have used there recently are still in

>the $200-250 range, and I pray that they stay there so that

>I don't have to give up sex altogether.

 

 

I 100% agree with you. I have seen so many escorts during the year, and I have begun counting all of the 150--200--250--'s that I have forked out for "FUN" and release, and I have said-- I hope that I am NOT becoming addicted, for I would have to add an escort column to my budget. My best friend tells me to think of it if I were dating a woman and the amount of $$$$$$ I would be expending. His thought has merit, but I still question it. Sorry to put all of this on your message, but I wanted it to fit here and not elsewhere on this thread.

[foxy]

I suppose that an escort who charges high fees but sees less clients is ahead of the game in charging less but seeing more clients. Less wear and tear on the merchandise. Still with higher prices the expectations of the client has to rise. If "you get what you pay for" is true then I would think the pressure to perform is greater. I would think being an escort, a successful one at any rate, has a certain amount of stess to it. Honestly, I don't think I could do it even if I looked the part, which I never will. There will always be stars, like actors who command $20 million per picture, but most actors struggle to pay the rent. I excpect that's true of escorts as well. If you price yourself out of the market you'll be staring at a phone that never rings. I don't think there's in inexhaustable supply of rich clients, but maybe I'm wrong. I'd be interested in hearing what the escorts have to say, but that may be self-defeating.

[ad rian]

>We discussed prices at length about two or three months ago.

>Some of the same ideas cited them are still being given and

>reiterated now.

>The previous thread drew lots and lots of hits for this

>serious question.

>

Sorry, I guess I missed that discussion. I have seen tipping discussed before, but not the apparent price rise in NYC. I found the responses here interesting. I am kind of curious why no escorts have jumped in. Did they participate last time? If so, what did they say?

[Guest albinorat]

Prices in NYC are really ridiculous. But that doesn't mean some men can't and won't pay them. The poster who remarked that in hard times luxury items sometimes do well was probably right. Of course for escorts who aren't perceived as luxury items times may get hard (I wonder about shelf life even for the popular ones now in their late 30's).

 

Another issue is the cost of living in NYC. It is surely no less for an escort than for anyone. For those who don't live in the city the cost of everything there is outrageous.

 

Not only is a dark, roach infested, tiny studio in Manhattan apt to cost you $1,500 at a minimum in rent but you will have competition and the landlord will want to see a credit report, a sheaf of recomendations, a reference from your last landlord/lady and proof of ongoing income. The latter is tough for any free lance person, and tougher still for a young free lance who may not have much in savings and investments to offset lacking a steady job. Escorts generally are free lance, and even those who aren't may be able to afford the nicer apartments only by escorting. I"ve seen barely OK 'one bedrooms' for $2,500 a month. The landlord's doubts may be quieted only by paying him 'extra security' (which is illegal but done all the time). That means that you throw in an extra four to six months which MAY NOT be applied to the current lease, you will also have to pay a broker 12% to 20% on top of that and first and last month's rent.)

 

When I moved to NYC in 1974 (I semi grew up in the city but lived outside), no landlord ever scrutinzed a client for an average apartment. If you got turned down you simply went on to the next place and so on. But now, just living there as a single adult with moderate obligations (college loans and/or credit cards and/or paying for your own medical insurance) requires a minimum gross of $60,000 to $70,000 a year. And that's assuming you already have an apartment with a rent stabilized lease where the landlord must renew with you and is limited in how much s/he can increase the rent with every renewal. If you have a free market apartment the sky's the limit on what the landlord can pull, nor do you have much of leg to stand on if s/he just wants to get rid of you.

 

Under the circumstances escorts are under pressure to earn and it would be worse for full time escorts, and worse still for a full service full time escort who wanted to offer 'in calls' (that implies an OK, reasonably well situated place with a lot of privacy and probably means really living alone though I realize a lot of NYC escorts have roommates and negotiate with the roomie when he'll be absent for an in call).

 

So 'escort' prices will stay high no doubt. Those who cannot pull enough clients will have no incentive to lower their prices but will probably have to find real jobs (there is always a lot of temp work in NYC) to suppliment escort income or will move out of the city.

 

One question is will bar and street hustling return with the recently elected pot smoking, probably gay Mayor? Already there is a visible rise in obvious 'quality of life' crimes -- windshield wiper men, the agressive homeless and so on. Bar and street hustling is much more directly competitive than 'Net/zine escorting and prices tend to be lower. Also safe bar and careful street hustling is apt to be more appealing to the part time, impusive hustler than to the full time escort for whom it's a business. So far no news but possibly...?

 

Al

[Guest Kenny021]

"So 'escort' prices will stay high no doubt. Those who cannot pull enough clients will have no incentive to lower their prices but will probably have to find real jobs".

No! I'm shocked!. Am I to understand that Rick Monroe will be flipping hamburgers at McDonalds?;-)

[Rick Munroe]

>Am I to understand that Rick Monroe will

>be flipping hamburgers at McDonalds?;-)

 

Care for some "special sauce"? }>

[Guest RushNY]

Who's "buns" ya gonna use then Rick when you give your special sauce a squirt.:o

[Guest Bitchboy]

My hiring days have dwindled to a precious few, and this price crap has been part of the reason (the other being the boyfriend who comes in and out of my life - "in" right now, but who knows for how long).

 

I would suggest hanging in there and waiting for the price to dip, as I'm sure it will. Of course there are those who can afford and choose to pay $300, but there aren't that many to keep all the newcomers afloat. Escorting seems to be sort of glamorous right now, witness the spate of newbies eager to ply their trade. When the losers are weeded out, reality will return and sensible prices will again be the rule of the land.

[Rick Munroe]

>Who's "buns" ya gonna use then Rick when you give your

>special sauce a squirt.:o

 

Hmmm...I think you should loan me that Latin bf of yours...you know, the one who likes to curse in Spanish while he gets his ass pounded.