Freelance Massage Tip Advice

[funwmen]

Hi all!  A quick thanks to everyone that posts their advice, it has been very helpful!  Heading to Chiang Mai in December for my 3rd trip to Thailand and would like your advice on expected tips for freelance massage guys from Romeo that come to your hotel.  Seems the average quote I am receiving is 800 baht for 2 hour B2B, however I am not sure what they are expecting for a tip.  In the shops in both CM and BKK 1000 was the expected minimum.  I have searched the forums and have not found much, your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!  Also if there are any members that will be in Chiang Mai December 21-31 that would like to meet up for drinks hit me up!

[ChristianPFC]

A freelance masseur has no costs for shop; I wouldn't pay any more than he quotes. 800 THB for 2 hour body-to-body appears a bit low (comparing to Bangkok and Pattaya; I haven't spent much time in CM in the last years).

I have a simple structure: I only go to places without minimum tip. On average it costs 400 THB for one hour oil massage. During massage I see if I get horny. If not, I leave it at massage and tip 300. If yes, I do some indecent touching and if the masseur is amenable, we will have a wank and I tip total 800. I find that reasonable and fair. I had one in Bangkok who originally asked for 2000, but in the end agreed. I have several in Pattaya who want to have business with me again under these conditions.

[funwmen]

Thanks Christian ... good to hear from the master!  I really appreciate your blog and came in handy last December in Bangkok!  From what I have been reading on here and from what I gather from the apps things are very slow so I think the prices are coming down especially in Chiang Mai.  Looking forward to returning to Northern Thailand as it is cooler and more laid back, but totally enjoyed BKK thanks to your blog :-).

[vinapu]

my tip structure is also simple but not exactly Christian like.

If something sinister was involved I tip 1000 for 1 hr session, 1500 for 1.5 hr / my preferable / , 2000 for 2 hr session / rarely done / 

If there's minimum tip  I will tip whatever it is but as far as I know  only Senso, MYHero and VCK will have higher minimum than stated here.

If I like guy or session or both I may add  100-500 but this solely depends on my mood at end of engagement.

[ChristianPFC]

10 hours ago, funwmen said:

Thanks Christian ... good to hear from the master! 

That title goes to divinemadman. See his blog on gay massage.

I do 5 - 10 massages per year in Bangkok and Pattaya. In Thailand, it's not my main gay business, and for me overall rarely worth the time and money.

But in Myanmar the situation is different, on my last 8d7n trip I had three massages (three different places and boys), and all worth a repeat!

 

[Guest]

If any freelancer turns up at my hotel and gives a good performance, I may pay slightly more than quoted.   So if your 800 baht masseur was fairly good, he would get 1000.   If he gives the quoted 2 hour massage and is in any way competent, I would find it difficult not to hand over 1000 baht. 

If he gives a poor to average performance, he gets exactly what he quoted and not a baht more.   With the really unsatisfactory ones, I might remind them what they need to do to get their tip part way through proceedings.

 

As for tips in "professional" massage places, ie the kind of place that does foot massages downstairs and may have mixed male/female staff, my tipping regime is less generous than Christian's.   The most you get in these place is a hand job and the masseur possibly stripping off.   Where they mention a figure for a tip, it is often around the 5~600 baht level.   So that's what I pay.  Bear in mind, you have already paid for the massage itself and the "extra" service you receive is a lot less than when taking a short time off (no anal, no oral, no kissing).

My tipping range for a rare no-extras massage is 0~300 baht.   A poor massage gets zero tip (not common, but it happens).  An satisfactory one, perhaps 150~200 baht.   Exceptional, 300 baht.   

 

[funwmen]

11 hours ago, ChristianPFC said:

That title goes to divinemadman. See his blog on gay massage.

I do 5 - 10 massages per year in Bangkok and Pattaya. In Thailand, it's not my main gay business, and for me overall rarely worth the time and money.

But in Myanmar the situation is different, on my last 8d7n trip I had three massages (three different places and boys), and all worth a repeat!

 

Well totally mess that up, yes it was divinemadman's blog I was referring to.  It was very helpful on the trip to BKK last year!  Thanks for the tip on Myanmar, I will have to search your posts as that is one of the places I am thinking of for a 2020 trip.

[funwmen]

4 hours ago, z909 said:

If any freelancer turns up at my hotel and gives a good performance, I may pay slightly more than quoted.   So if your 800 baht masseur was fairly good, he would get 1000.   If he gives the quoted 2 hour massage and is in any way competent, I would find it difficult not to hand over 1000 baht. 

If he gives a poor to average performance, he gets exactly what he quoted and not a baht more.   With the really unsatisfactory ones, I might remind them what they need to do to get their tip part way through proceedings.

 

As for tips in "professional" massage places, ie the kind of place that does foot massages downstairs and may have mixed male/female staff, my tipping regime is less generous than Christian's.   The most you get in these place is a hand job and the masseur possibly stripping off.   Where they mention a figure for a tip, it is often around the 5~600 baht level.   So that's what I pay.  Bear in mind, you have already paid for the massage itself and the "extra" service you receive is a lot less than when taking a short time off (no anal, no oral, no kissing).

My tipping range for a rare no-extras massage is 0~300 baht.   A poor massage gets zero tip (not common, but it happens).  An satisfactory one, perhaps 150~200 baht.   Exceptional, 300 baht.   

 

Thanks for the advice - This is what I was kinda thinking would be a correct tip but did not want to offend them either especially if they perform well.

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, funwmen said:

Thanks for the advice - This is what I was kinda thinking would be a correct tip but did not want to offend them either especially if they perform well.

if they perform well it's how they should be tipped ,  that signalizes that good behavior is to be rewarded. I never met guy who was offended by excessive ti by the way, most I got was ' it's for me? really?" and of course wide grin and sometimes even a kiss , specially precious when guy professed earlier that his is straight and don't kiss

[Boy69]

Many years ago when I lived in Pattaya I had regular masseur who used to work at Dongtan gay beach ( I love this days when actually there was a real gay beach with many gay westerns) he was married and straight ,a professional masseur with no sex service at all but great personality,honest and spoke very good English and whenever I wanted a good massage he popped up almost immediately and done excellent job it was very convenient and cheap. 

[GWMinUS]

So following up on your Post Boy69. How much did he charge and how much did you tip??

[Boy69]

As far as I remember the ongoing rate on the beach was 200 Bht and I gave him 300-350 Bht but that was about 15 years ago and we were great freinds he always announced "up to you" and never qouted a price in advance. Great man he was.

[Finnseventy]

I feel really bad reading this thread - I have never paid such high tips! In a massage shop in pattaya I usually pay 300 for massage and tip 400 - 500 if it ends happily.

For an in-room massage I typically pay 500 if it ends happily and up to 1000 if he takes me up where we belong.

My bad.

[Guest]

52 minutes ago, Finnseventy said:

I feel really bad reading this thread - I have never paid such high tips! In a massage shop in pattaya I usually pay 300 for massage and tip 400 - 500 if it ends happily.

For an in-room massage I typically pay 500 if it ends happily and up to 1000 if he takes me up where we belong.

My bad.

Your tipping is about the right level.    There is no way a "happy ending" (ie hand relief) tip should be anywhere near the same level as that for "full service" -ie kissing, sucking and anal, as the services are not equivalent.    

Where they mention a figure for hand relief, it is usually in the 5~600 baht range.    This seems perfectly fair, since he's already been paid for the 1 hour massage.   To pay him approximately 1.5 ~2 times the daily minimum wage for less than 10 minutes massaging your cock is quite enough.

If anything, I would keep the hand relief tip at current levels and for the guys who provide full service to a high standard, consider a tad more than 1000 (kissing, sucking, anal).

 

As a comparison in a much higher labour cost country:

For massage services in the UK, outside of London, the usual tip requested for hand relief is £20.     That is about 750 baht.   [Massage fee £40~50]   

If you want to go to a full service rent boy, he's going to charge  £80~150, with some asking £200 or more.    So 3000 baht upwards.     So the cost of full service is 4x that of adding hand relief to a massage.   This ratio seems more in proportion to the level of service/inconvenience.  

 

Also, imagine if we were young, cute and impoverished, without the opportunities we have had in life.   Providing the massage plus hand relief is probably way more palatable than going into full service.

 

 

 

 

[spoon]

I agree that the cost long time in thailand is really very cheap even compared with neighboring country, malaysia. Due to exchange rate, short time and massage plus service here is cheaper but with much less choices of course. Long time, kinda hard to find, can go upward 3-4 times more than short time rate here, but that is without drinks, off fee, tips to mamasan etc and still higher here than in thailand. I only did a couple of long time here, one quoted me rm800 (5.8k baht) and cost to get a boy long time in bangkok 3-4k tip + 2 drinks (me + boy) + off fee + mamasan tip + taxi money (some guy) can go to 4.3k - 5.9k. Even cheaper in pattaya when some guys will go LT for 2k and drinks prices are much lower too. And for repeat guys who i habe their contact, it is even much cheaper since i only need to pay the LT tip plus off fee.

[Boy69]

I never understood the sex massage model it's not really full sex service neither professional massage and in the end you have to pay total of 1.5k  to 3k for about 1 to 1.5 hour service .If I need massage I go to professional massage places and pay 250 to 400 bht an hour and if I want sex I take a boy from the apps coming to my room for ST and pay 1k to 1.5k bht.

 

[spoon]

If u ever go to porn website and type gay massage, you would understand its appeal. Or not. Depends on how open you are accepting others have fetishes and getting massage sensual or not is one of them. Yes boys hired from apps or bar might do it, but those in massage places are doing it for a living. 

[Boy69]

1 hour ago, spoon said:

If u ever go to porn website and type gay massage, you would understand its appeal. Or not. Depends on how open you are accepting others have fetishes and getting massage sensual or not is one of them. Yes boys hired from apps or bar might do it, but those in massage places are doing it for a living. 

You completely misinterpreted my words this is not what I meant at all.

[spoon]

39 minutes ago, Boy69 said:

You completely misinterpreted my words this is not what I meant at all.

Then i dont understand what u meant when u say you dont understand the massage sex  business model. Because that is what my explanation was why people still opt for massage+sex. Its basically a foreplay. Maybe if you can explain what u mean again?

[DivineMadman]

13 hours ago, Boy69 said:

 it's not really full sex service

.....maybe you're not going to the right places?  

Certainly lots of places with any and all the kinds sex you want, at least in BKK.

[Boy69]

It's very simple when I want massage I go to professional massage places and if I want sex I take a boy from a bar or from the apps , I don't like the massage sex model in most cases the masseur is not professional and for extra service you have to negotiate with him in the end it's very expensive . it's only my personal preference I know there are others that like it and good for them.

[DivineMadman]

39 minutes ago, Boy69 said:

and for extra service you have to negotiate with him in the end it's very expensive 

I'm all on board for people doing whatever they want and like, but to clarify there are lots of "full service" shops where the price is all inclusive so you don't need to negotiate.  (I tend to avoid the places where you have to negotiate.). Usually these are the nicer places with the best selection of guys -- Prince, VCK, Senso, Nine, Urban Male, MG, etc., etc.

Overall the costs end up being roughly the same as taking someone from a gogo bar (or even bit less) .  1,500 tips are pretty standard (although there are a lot at 1,200) and a one hour massage might be 900 (or less), so you can get away with 2,400+/-.  At a gogo bar the off fee might be 300-500 depending on where, plus you have to pay the drink/cover charge, plus possibly a drink for the guy, and then there's the 2,000 common s/t here in BKK, so it all ends costing roughly the same.  

Of course getting a guy from an app is likely to be cheaper because there are none of the "house" charges.