Pattaya’s Current Prices
YouTube is awash with hundreds of Pattaya videos by dozens of different vloggers, each with their own style. Some walk about at their leisure just filming as they walk and not narrating while others narrate what they see and comment on what is happening in real-time. Others secretly film Beach Road at night and still others interview people and have discussions about Pattaya in general. The last time I was in Pattaya was in 2017 and I am due to return soon. Now whilst a lot has changed recently and I have not witnessed it first hand, present day I have been numerous times and understand the mechanics of how the place operates . {See my previous Stickman submission ” Pattaya’s Future – April 2020 }
One recent vlogger really stood out. I don’t know if I can mention names on here so I won’t but you can easily locate it on YouTube. He went around Pattaya’s bars and gogos late afternoon with a hidden camera at waist height and questioned staff and mamasans about current beer prices, bottles and draught – barfines, lady drinks and short and long time. He got a lot of information and only a few where coy about answering. He then adds the info to the screen once he has edited it all. If you have not been to Pattaya in a long time and don’t keep up with current affairs there the prices will shock the 2-week-millionaires.
A quick example: lady drinks can be around 170 baht – £4.10 for a watered down soda drink? Even Dick Turpin wore a mask. On my last trip there in 2017 at the Windmill A Gogo one night the mamasan tried offering me one of the best looking dancers. The barfine was 1,000 baht and it was 4,000 baht long time for the girl. This was the highest I had ever came across back then in any gogo and politely refused. Today, it seems this is the norm or higher.
With all the other YouTubers, there has been lot of talk and discussions on social media lately about the prices in Pattaya and also about the lack of quality and quantity of bar / gogo girl and the thoughts surrounding why that may be. Yes we know a lot of girls returned home during and after Covid lockdowns and never returned. With the use of dating apps and platforms, a good-looking girl knows she can earn just as much or more in a few dates in her own time than report to a bar 6 nights a week.
Other vloggers have stated that due to the lack of girls and the demand to recruit and retain them, the bar owners now have had to pay larger monthly wages just to keep them > resulting in higher barfines, higher lady drinks and short-time and long-time rates have doubled or even tripled in some establishments. He went on to say that is was known that because they are on higher salaries and the cut from barfines and lady drinks are higher, they have no interest in short- or long-time and are happy to sit back and coast on their new salaries! Whilst it is hard to determine what percentage of ladies, this shows that the place is really changing. The Thais are setting the mark for the long-term future on making money. The hardcore mongers that went once or twice a year in the past may have to stick to Beach Road freelancers or places like Bamboo Bar or the nightclubs and really negotiate.
That statement about the girls just wanting to coast on the new salaries just shows that some of the girls have no interest in being there in the first place – and when you think deeply about what they are doing on a daily basis, who’s to blame them?!
There is a lot of hype that Pattaya is getting busier and picking up again. Little pockets of activity around Soi LK Metro and surrounding sois on most vlogs just make it appear so at first glance. At best this place can only return to what is was in 2019 / start of 2020. Flight prices are sky-high also, so add that to the already terrible exchange rate and other things happening over the last 2½ years and you can understand why a lot of guys have not bothered making the trip.
The Thais are very good at adapting quickly and they know the place will be quiet for some time to come. A really good looking bargirl / gogo girl that was confident of getting barfined every day now realises she may get 2 a week. Maybe just down to bad luck of a few guys walking in to the next doors bars rather than theirs so why not triple the recent prices to smooth this out a little. Will this strategy work? Will this backfire on them next year? Time will tell.
As I said, I have not been in Pattaya since 2017 and I am returning in January, 2023. One thing is certain: I will be taking a lot more baht to see out the 2-week holiday – I will do an honest update on this place on my return – To be continued…
The White Shark, England
Stick’s thoughts:
Fair comments and thoughts but there is one comment I strongly disagree with. The girls are in demand and the better-looking girls are being snapped up fast. Good-looking girls getting barfined twice a week? Maybe you meant twice a night because I think that is more the reality – or at least it will be over coming weeks as visitor numbers shoot up. Hot girls will always be in demand!
The author of this article cannot be contacted.
