I've been hearing alot about hobbiest doing there companionship with the traveling providers, instead the local providers.

and can't wait to write the review!

Very well said Horny Elf.  I have always been very careful to avoid the usual price-gripe threads, but I have talked about the economics of the marketplace a few times over the years...

I have always said that from a pure price-dynamics standpoint, that Minneapolis was not a town where the 300 price point could be sustained.  Sure, high demand, limited supply, and good economic times might support that price for a while...  a year, 2 years maybe.  But I said then, and I have said again now that the 300 price point is not sustainable here.

I remember 2-3 years ago when the going rate locally suddenly jumped from 200 to 300.  Back then we maybe had 2-3 agency-based travelers a month at most.  No one here in MN had ever even heard of Taylors or WoE, etc...  They were 50+% more expensive than our local rate and simply couldn't afford to sit around an empty room waiting for the phone to ring.  But one by one, most local providers made a run at 300 and the traveler market opened like flood gates because we left no price advantage for a local gal.  Now look at us, we have something like 8 agencies that frequesnt us, and between agencies and traveling indies, we probably have more like 30 or 40 visitors some months.

Just like when a city has no affordable housing, the entire eco-system...  every single person in it, suffers when there is not a stratified price spectrum.

Markets... all markets, thrive when there is a continuum of prices srpead across a wide range of customer affordability.  All markets thrive when there is some meaningful linkage between the quality of goods or services offered.  If customer's don't believe they're getting more quality buying a $10 widget than a $7 widget, then they stop trusting that ANY higher priced vendor brings anything more to the table.  (What Dell has done to HP/Compaq, for instance)

Once that spectrum of pricing becomes compressed, and once customer confidence in the linkage between price and quality is lost, everyone in the market loses.

I have always believed that the right "mainstream" price in the cities is $200.  It leaves the right price gaps above and below the market price to allow the market to "spread out."  If we were at 200:

a.  A lot more Horny Elves could afford to participate more.  A provider may ask "what do I care how many guys are in the hobby, as long as I'm making my numbers"...  Because a larger population of active customers is the only protection against economic downturns, and the only protection against traveler influxes.  In the long run, making $3k from 15x 200 customers is better than from 10x 300 customers.  A market sustains itself through hiccups better when there ar more people in it, often called the "portfolio effect."

b.  A new, untested provider could come in at 150 more comfortably.  It's hard emotionally, and from a marketing perspective, for a newbie to come in at 150...  that's 1/2 the market rate and makes you sound like a complete cheapskate.  If the market rate was 200, then a 150 price point would only be 25% off of the market rate in return for being unknown.

c.  A limited service provider that really didn't want to get into the whole GFE thing could still be at 150 and bring in a ton of business.  There are a lot of gals that aren't as comfortable getting into the whole GFE session but are comfortable with more of the "let's hook up, have a little stress relief, and get you on your way".  Not meant to be a rip at all, but look at that Kristi/Julie that has been around here for years...  At 150, she'd be getting 7s and 8s...  But by charging the "market price" she sets the expectation that her services should be measured on par with the most premium level providers, and the result?  5s and 6s.  She's not a bad provider, just a mis-marketed provider.  At the right price point, she'd be a hot commodity.

d.  The super-upscale provider that really wants to provide the extraordinary level of service, that really want ot go all out... they still have some room for a premium price above 200, say 250 to 300, that still stays below the radar of the travelers.  Everyone thinks they're the premium provider, but really, I can only think of 3 or 4 locally that have that reputation of being able to provide that consistant, hit-the-ball-out-of-the-park level of physical and emotional engagement day after day.

What we have today is a totally compressed market crowded around 300-400, and as long as that's the case, then only those providers willing to offer extraordinary service, including ease of scheduling and communication before the meeting, will prosper.

Sadly, it has taken me many sentences and paragraphs to say what Horny Elf said in 6, well, really just 4 content sentences.