Line advertising by Bangkok massage parlours

[macaroni21]

Unlike the boy agencies in Japan, almost all of whom maintain up-to-date websites complete with boys' stats, availability (by the hour, too!) and the precise service they will deliver, the massage parlours in Bangkok seldom have websites, and when they do, the information tends to be very general or dated.

I am reminded of what @vinapu said in the thread "New Silom hotel opens" about businesses needing to have the resource to monitor and update [websites] regularly, though "resource" in my view is a polite way of saying these business owners and managers are too lazy to learn the basics of maintaining a webpage. 

But I understand that maybe it is not as useful to a business that relies on local customers in Thailand - as just about all massage parlours do - if Thais themselves do not have a habit of visiting websites. Unlike in richer nations, laptops are far from universal. Just about all people in 3rd world countries like India, Thailand, Indonesia, would choose to own a smart phone rather than a laptop if money is tight and they cannot afford both.

Yet, I was thinking, even so, why is the information provided on their Line advertising relatively patchy and inconsistent compared to the Japanese sites? 

A few Thai massage businesses actually do quite well in this respect. For example, Kman and Phetboy consistently put out height, weight and condom size information, expected tip, together with "T" or "T&B" annotation to accompany the photo(s). Some parlours also add age. That said, I think it was @reader who experienced a failure of Phetboy to ensure that the booked boy was there on time; and this is the kind of disrepute that no shop can afford however fantastic their social media presence.

On the other hand, places like Jey Spa (I scrolled through a few months of their Line advertising) do not put out any information. They just publicise a facepic. BT House is like that too, except that once in a blue moon, it publishes stats of one boy. One. 

I should mention TK Massage, but I honestly don't know what to say!

Other places are in-between. Either they put out just body stats and nothing else, or they mostly send out only pictures, with the occasional blast containing stats (for a few of the boys, not all).

So here's my question for members of this forum: How much do you need these items of information to be able to make a selection:

- height

- weight

- age

- condom size

- service role

- expected tip

- availability by day?

An additional question: How important is it to see a mostly-unclothed boy in the photo (like the Japanese sites) rather than one with clothes on?

I know one can always message the shop to ask, but wouldn't it be easier to just publish the information the way Phetboy and Kman do? Because having to ask and then reply to enquiries with asked-for details is just extra work for the customer and the manager.

 

 

[Raposa]

Some very quick reflections: the difference between Phetboy and Jey Spa is also a class difference, they appeal to different demographics locally. 

There are many Thais working at Jey spa, they would for cultural and probably socio-economic reasons prefer the extremely thin respectable veneer to be kept up. This means that posting of preferred sexual positions, condom size and anthropometric data would not be considered «proper». Papasan would of course tell you this information privately. If there was a crackdown on the industry by the military, the go go bars would be the first to go while massage places such as Prestige, Jey and klover would survive. Their owners want to appear respectable and don’t want to appear as mere pimps. This has the effect of the SK shops being more upfront and accessible for newcomers, whereas some others may make visitors «super confused» about what they are about. So it is not simply a business decision, but also a cultural and political decision to not be as accessible as possible.

The Saphan Khwai shops don’t really dont try too hard to hide what they are about. They also have a larger number of non-Thais working there. The usual boy working at SK is a straight top, whereas you will find a lot of gay Thais at the more upscale establishments, especially the mandatory soft places where the boys have more a bit more discretion and agency about which customer to offer hard services. 

So yes, while upfront information «Tokyo kids» style is highly useful, repeat customers know how get the type of information they need.

[vinapu]

You both hit the nail although from quite opposite angles.

I would be happy if Thai shops adapted Japanese model of  transparent and efficient advertising were everything is known up front although it may feel a bit sterile. Everything is known up front an all that is left is to do business . I realise that  for reasons Raposa numerated it's a moving goal as far as Thai venues are concerned and I venture they even may know what they are doing. 

Local clientele knows where to look and visitors  need to do some homework which may reduce business's income but also reduces exposure to political and police interference. 

Certain businesses are better if they are underexposed seems to be Thai thinking and it's not necessarily wrong.

look at longevity of Arena - hidden in corner of deserted plaza with sign barely visible with almost no social media presence and still works after all of those years.

Mamasan there once told me that boys don't wish their photos to be posted anywhere their family and friends may see, even by accident.

When we look with cold eye we notice that most of Thai sinful establishments are somewhat to completely hidden. We know what is going on but for casual Silom stroller, first time in Bangkok ,  Patpong looks like just another night market and  Patpong 2 like shorcut better not to go to. Soi Cowboy and Nana plaza are not exactly on main drags either, neither is Jomtien complex and even Boyztown

[Keithambrose]

3 hours ago, vinapu said:

You both hit the nail although from quite opposite angles.

I would be happy if Thai shops adapted Japanese model of  transparent and efficient advertising were everything is known up front although it may feel a bit sterile. Everything is known up front an all that is left is to do business . I realise that  for reasons Raposa numerated it's a moving goal as far as Thai venues are concerned and I venture they even may know what they are doing. 

Local clientele knows where to look and visitors  need to do some homework which may reduce business's income but also reduces exposure to political and police interference. 

Certain businesses are better if they are underexposed seems to be Thai thinking and it's not necessarily wrong.

look at longevity of Arena - hidden in corner of deserted plaza with sign barely visible with almost no social media presence and still works after all of those years.

Mamasan there once told me that boys don't wish their photos to be posted anywhere their family and friends may see, even by accident.

When we look with cold eye we notice that most of Thai sinful establishments are somewhat to completely hidden. We know what is going on but for casual Silom stroller, first time in Bangkok ,  Patpong looks like just another night market and  Patpong 2 like shorcut better not to go to. Soi Cowboy and Nana plaza are not exactly on main drags either, neither is Jomtien complex and even Boyztown

Perhaps it's their way of paying lip service to the so called ban on prostitution.  Carry on, but not 'in your face' so to speak. The illegality issue is another reason why open, detailed, advertising  would not be sensible. 

[macaroni21]

I agree with all of you; in fact I had come to the same conclusion as to the business dynamics long ago. This was why my question was really a different one, from the angle of the customer's preference. It was prompted by a passing mention from a friend who said that one particular Japanese site wouldn't work for him because he absolutely had to see faces before making a selection, and that site blurred out faces. He didn't much care about the stats; he just had to have faces.

So, my question was from a customer's perspective: do you all ask for stats and service capability if these are not published? Or are faces and beautiful bodies enough for you to make a selection, not caring about the stats (or quite happy to take your chances)?

[bkkmfj2648]

8 hours ago, vinapu said:

with almost no social media presence and still works after all of those years.

Mamasan there once told me that boys don't wish their photos to be posted anywhere their family and friends may see, even by accident.

This aspect is VERY true.

Many guys who work in the business that caters to our farang needs, often told me that they were selected by their Thai family - as the chosen one - to leave the rice farm and to be sent down to Pattaya to work in the "entertainment business", where the expectations were:

1. send lots of money back to the poor family that needs to til the rice fields,
2. don't tell us exactly what you do to make that money - as we need to respect the "image" of the family,
3. don't publicize the naughty parts of your life on social media for all to see,
4. if possible, bring back to the family a farang with you who is willing to relocate and live here.

 

[vinapu]

12 minutes ago, macaroni21 said:

 

So, my question was from a customer's perspective: do you all ask for stats and service capability if these are not published? Or are faces and beautiful bodies enough for you to make a selection, not caring about the stats (or quite happy to take your chances)?

I'm one of those who are happy to take chances and see how it will go. And in most cases it goes very well if not better

[bkkmfj2648]

9 minutes ago, macaroni21 said:

do you all ask for stats and service capability if these are not published?

As I order in my massages to be in my condo - I am very interested in the "service capability" - as I want it made clear that I am looking for S or SS fun with an emphasis on edging and I want to exclude H fun.  However, if I am ordering in a 4 hands massage and the 2 masseurs want to have H fun between them then I am ok to watch them do that as long as my S and SS edging fun is honored.

12 minutes ago, macaroni21 said:

Or are faces and beautiful bodies enough for you to make a selection, not caring about the stats (or quite happy to take your chances)?

My primary emphasis is on service capability and immediately after that I like to see the faces, beautiful bodies and cock.  If the cock is deformed or has been enhanced by inserting "mooks" -- small "pearls" under the skin - then that is a BIG turnoff for me and can even cause me to lose my erection.  So, it is paramount for me to know in advance the status of their cock.

[vaughn]

I've always been impressed with the Japanese agency model, the convenience and accessibility is great. I also like that they have index sites like https://tokyo-gay.com/index.html#23 and i know there are some craiglist-like freelancer sites for the M4W crowd, but i'm sure they exist for M4M as well.

I'd pay to access a service like that in Thailand, professional photos, basic stats/body type, availability and the ability to book online easily without back and forth over Line.

Stats-wise, i think everything listed is useful, but a recent photo and position/orientation is the main deciding factor for me. The japanese style profiles going into hobbies and likes/dislikes as well as reviews is nice to have, but not essential.

It's not a technically difficult thing to setup and maintain a app or website like that, i think the problem is the legal aspect in Thailand, finding a payment processor that will do business with you there for that use case and possibly the reluctance of guys to publicly advertise.

[PeterRS]

10 hours ago, Raposa said:

So yes, while upfront information «Tokyo kids» style is highly useful, repeat customers know how get the type of information they need.

I suppose I can't really talk as I was a repeat monthly customer with one masseur at Albury for about 6 years. But what about the new visitors, the tourists making their first, second or third visit and wanting to explore outside the main Silom Suriwong gay ghetto? 

I think there are two other very basic reasons which have been discussed before. One exmpale can be found in the hot springs. There the Japanese have absolutely no qualms about walking around totally naked. Thais generally cover their genitals with either a small cloth or their hands. Seeing a Thai walking around totally naked is a rare exception.

Secondly, though, cities like Tokyo are so mega that the chance of any family member or family friend actually seeing a son on a gay spa site is zero. Even if very accidentally they happened upon a site and in a very un-Japanese-like fashion decided to open it, they would again in a very Japanese fashion not actually "see" it. The ordinary Japanese are masters at seeing but not seeing! You can witness this all the time on the subway and JR commuter trains. At rush hour young office ladies will frequently notice perhaps middle aged men reading the latest porn manga books. The men usually make no attempt to hide what they are reading. Unlike their western counterparts, the young ladies will not be shocked or even try to get closer to see all the nude drawings. They have seen but they do not see. It is part of a culture that westerners find all but impossible to comprehend.

[macaroni21]

Oddly enough, I once spotted a commuter on the NY subway watching porn on his cellphone. It was pretty late at night and the carriage wasn't packed, but other passengers weren't that far away.I was seated next to him, for example!

That said, yes, I agree with @PeterRS such a scene would be remarkable in NY, but not remarkable at all in Japan.

[reader]

15 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

put my personal preferences in bold face.

So here's my question for members of this forum: How much do you need these items of information to be able to make a selection:

- height

- weight

- age

- condom size

- service role

- expected tips

- availability by day?

An additional question: How important is it to see a mostly-unclothed boy in the photo (like the Japanese sites) rather than one with clothes on?

-topless

Many of the large shops use photoshop pics that are easy to spot. So I don’t expect guy to look exactly like photo. 

Condom size is not a consideration for me.

 

 

 

 

[Raposa]

Height and weight are two important pieces of information for me. What seems to be missing in your list is sexual orientation. This is important information for me as I often find straights to be a bit mechanical, though I know forum members who prefer straights. 
Some parlours do publish this information in a subtle way on their Line feed, see the images below and guess which one is straight and which one is gay:

I would like to add that Thais get the kind of detailed information through the work of the massage reviewers who publish very in-depth information on individual masseurs in private Line groups. The mainland Chinese also have active review groups so those who do their research will be informed before they go. So for them the need for Japanese style agency model is less.

This forum does not really review individual masseurs (the private part of this forum where you can do so never really took off), so the kind of detailed information must be sought out in our networks.

[bkkmfj2648]

9 minutes ago, Raposa said:

This forum does not really review individual masseurs (the private part of this forum where you can do so never really took off), so the kind of detailed information must be sought out in our networks.

BINGO - you hit the nail on the head.

The void for this type of information is being filled by Thai administered LINE groups and the Chinese active review groups.

There does not seem to exist an equivalent masseur review system for us non Thai/Chinese ?

[spoon]

8 minutes ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

BINGO - you hit the nail on the head.

The void for this type of information is being filled by Thai administered LINE groups and the Chinese active review groups.

There does not seem to exist an equivalent masseur review system for us non Thai/Chinese ?

Again, i believe this is due to cultural difference. Western culture respects privacy and such reviews with masseur's picture and name, good and bad, is frowned upon in this forum. 

On the other hand, in asian culture, it is accepted by culture to name the good and the bad masseurs, their appearance and style, services, do and dont, very similar to a review of a hotel, or restaurant, all of which provided services. Some will prefer to do it only in a closed group/chat though but there are plenty that do it in their ds social media accounts such as X.

[reader]

38 minutes ago, spoon said:

Again, i believe this is due to cultural difference. Western culture respects privacy and such reviews with masseur's picture and name, good and bad, is frowned upon in this forum. 

On the other hand, in asian culture, it is accepted by culture to name the good and the bad masseurs, their appearance and style, services, do and dont, very similar to a review of a hotel, or restaurant, all of which provided services. Some will prefer to do it only in a closed group/chat though but there are plenty that do it in their ds social media accounts such as X.

Agree about the difference. And in the quid pro world we inhabit, those who do opt to post identities and intimate details of others should expect to read the same about themselves 

[bkkmfj2648]

2 hours ago, spoon said:

Western culture respects privacy and such reviews with masseur's picture and name, good and bad, is frowned upon in this forum. 

When I lived in Budapest for 8 years, there was a chronic problem of "bad" masseurs and money boys (MB).

The local Budapest community dealt with this problem by creating 1 dedicated "fake" PlanetRomeo account where the profile nick was something like "be aware of" and all of us "users" of these services, we would enter comments into this 1 dedicated PlanetRomeo account to identify who were the bad apples to avoid, or were dangerous, or non performers, etc.

In those years, there was NO support from the local police for this type of harassment - so we as a community organized ourselves to "self-police" ourselves to protect our community.  

Also, those masseurs and MBs who were good were also commented on in a positive way as well as expected pricing based on various sets of services.

So, privacy in the West is important - BUT, the need for safety in this community over-rode the norms usually associated with the right to privacy.

This is probably a moot point for this Asia forum, as it seems that there is not this danger nor concern in our forum (the Asian side of gayguides.com - however, the South American side sometimes has some alarming stories from a safety point of view).

 

[spoon]

1 hour ago, reader said:

Agree about the difference. And in the quid pro world we inhabit, those who do opt to post identities and intimate details of others should expect to read the same about themselves 

Correct. In one of the group chat im in, we also have local masseurs as members and they do from time to time warned other masseurs about bad customers. 

[spoon]

27 minutes ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

When I lived in Budapest for 8 years, there was a chronic problem of "bad" masseurs and money boys (MB).

The local Budapest community dealt with this problem by creating 1 dedicated "fake" PlanetRomeo account where the profile nick was something like "be aware of" and all of us "users" of these services, we would enter comments into this 1 dedicated PlanetRomeo account to identify who were the bad apples to avoid, or were dangerous, or non performers, etc.

In those years, there was NO support from the local police for this type of harassment - so we as a community organized ourselves to "self-police" ourselves to protect our community.  

Also, those masseurs and MBs who were good were also commented on in a positive way as well as expected pricing based on various sets of services.

So, privacy in the West is important - BUT, the need for safety in this community over-rode the norms usually associated with the right to privacy.

This is probably a moot point for this Asia forum, as it seems that there is not this danger nor concern in our forum (the Asian side of gayguides.com - however, the South American side sometimes has some alarming stories from a safety point of view).

 

There is also a pro and cons to this reviews of masseurs. People could misused it to either spread bad rumors because the masseurs didnt want to do what the client wants eventhough it is not a normal requests, for example, some weird fetish thats beyond his boundary. I.e, using the chat as a threat. Other masseurs can also use it to gives fake bad reviews of popular masseurs. 

Also, when a particular masseurs keep getting good reviews, its becoming very hard to book his service, and if the masseurs didnt limit his customers per day, usually, his service quality also tend to drop. 

Personally, i always takes the reviews of particular masseurs as personal experiences and your miles may vary (ymmv). Ive a case where ive had great time with a particular masseur and become his regular while from time to time ive seen bad review about him being mechanical, not friendly etc. and ive also had bad experiences with some masseurs that people kept giving good reviews. 

On the other hand, i am for sharing objectives stats about a masseur, such as physical traits, actual looks vs photo, what he will do and wont do, role, orientation, and especially rates. 

[macaroni21]

56 minutes ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

This is probably a moot point for this Asia forum, as it seems that there is not this danger nor concern in our forum (the Asian side of gayguides.com - however, the South American side sometimes has some alarming stories from a safety point of view).

I have noticed this too, and pinned right at the top of the Colombia forum (if I got that right) is a thread about Medellin murders 😳

Another thing I have noticed is that in the Dominican Republic forum, the only criterion applied is dick size. Our friends there don't seem to care about height, weight, age, service capability, etc... All those details we're talking about here in this thread about Line advertising. They just want enormous dicks not caring who these pieces of meat are attached to. 🤣

 

 

[jason1975]

I follow recommendations of fellow forum members. I was introduced to a guy at massage shop at Soi 6 and he has become my regular.

[reader]

4 hours ago, spoon said:

 On the other hand, i am for sharing objectives stats about a masseur, such as physical traits, actual looks vs photo, what he will do and wont do, role, orientation, and especially rates. 

Don’t disagree but I believe that type of detail should be confined to PM’s. Most members are willing to share information on a confidential basis,

[spoon]

1 hour ago, reader said:

Don’t disagree but I believe that type of detail should be confined to PM’s. Most members are willing to share information on a confidential basis,

In this forum, yes, this is what most of us do. But in diff group chat im in where most members are malaysian and singaporeans, these kinds of objective details helps me choose who id be interested to hire and it is shared openly in the group chat of approximately 2k members.

To set the context though, we dont have the luxury of going to a center and choose our masseurs in person and photoshopped/inaccurate photos used by the massage places here are so common. We also have probably less than 3 places to choose from, and the rest are freelancers. Also, most if not all working guys here use nickname, not their real name. 

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, jason1975 said:

I follow recommendations of fellow forum members. I was introduced to a guy at massage shop at Soi 6 and he has become my regular.

I do too but like with all recommendations, we still  can expect outcome may differ either way.

Not long ago one of trusted members recommended me a guy he saw several times on his recent trip and was thrilled with him. 

Knowing another member frequents the same shop I happily passed that recommendation to him and he duly met the guy in question at earliest opportunity.

His impression was, to put it charitably , just notch above OK. It looks that what worked perfectly for the first member, was not close to other one's specifications expected.

Another case involves even more trusted member sharing affinity for the same types. I followed his recommendation and glad I did because built and  performance was exactly what I hoped for based on such recommendation. Glitch was in the pricing - I was quoted 1/4 more than my friend paid. Money well spent but will be repeat ? May be or may be not.

When I shared my luck with yet another trusted member about meeting the guy, he congratulated me because his own encounter with him  was less than satisfying - we know reason. What was important to him and was not delivered was thing I did not care about. 

so for reasons above  I still place gut feeling above recommendations even from most rehearsed and trusted sources.

Boringly for 89th time I must say again  that one of my best boys ever, long gone M from Senso I was warned against engaging not by one but two trusted members and still my gut feeling served me better.

[floridarob]

7 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

Another thing I have noticed is that in the Dominican Republic forum

Consider how many active members post there and how many members overall have stepped foot on the island to give a review vs Thailand ?

 

 

9 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

South American side sometimes has some alarming stories from a safety point of view

A small price to pay for the AMAZING sex that can be had there.....😉

I know tons of people that have been going for decades with zero incidents and.... Brazil doesn't have a flying club, trans battles in the streets, competing Chinese customers or gayinpattaya to contend with 😝

My problems in SP were self inflicted by being in the wrong place in the 2-4am while drinking, never a problem in Rio in 26 yrs..... I've had more time and wasted money "stolen" by mb's in Thailand that can't or don't perform what we agreed on, lol