There's been discussion about this on various threads so I thought a dedicated thread might be fun.  This could also be a general board topic but I'm not familiar with the economics in other cities so I kept it here in the DMV.  

I feel like prices have gone up during covid.  3 an hour seemed like it was the average for a long time before the pandemic.  Once in a while you'd see 400, and very rarely 500 and up.  Now I see 600 a lot.  Is this a pandemic phenomenon or was it just time for a reset?  

Supply and demand:
I can imagine providers wanting to be more careful and either reducing their hours or taking a break from the industry.  And let's face it - mongers are gunna mong.  So maybe supply contracted and demand remained flat?  Price-in covid risk and that would be the easy answer for upward pressure on rates.

But...

On the other hand, I get a feeling (at least from reading this board) that in this town there are a lot of mongers my age and therefore in a higher risk category covid-wise.  Presumably some number of slightly younger (say aged 35-50 year old?) hobbyists would also decide the risk isn't worth it and would take a break.  Add in unemployment in other sectors of the industry (dancers, etc) and in other industries (bartenders, waiters colledge grads) and and I can imagine a supply-side increase.  Which makes me think prices would at the very least stay flat.  

So what is your analysis?  And what are your predictions for the supply/demand curve this summer (or whenever everyone is vaccinated) and how that will impact forward pricing?  Will demand (and therefor prices) skyrocket?  Or will providers increase travel, get back in the industry, etc, and generate a supply glut?  If so, will that produce downward pressure on pricing?  I think the latter.  

Granted, hard data (pun intended) on any of this is scarce so there's a lot of speculation here - but hey, it's a snowy Super Bowl Sunday and the game doesn't start for hours.

I also notice the overall increase in prices. many I know have gone from $300 to $400, and from $400 to $500. I think demand is down because of caution, but supply hasn't changed much. So providers, assuming that demand is inelastic, increase their price to maintain their total revenue.

higher prices, lower level of service, more entitled GPS, more EROS bullshit, more ACS and LCS, more yuck.

My advice? Find some agencies you like and become a frequent flyer.

First my general expectation would be that both supply and demand contracted and the increase reflects either, or both, supply contracted more than demand or that supply was already on a more inelastic section of the curve.

 
However, I've seen a few  claims that household cash balances have actually increased over the COVID period, and possible that this has been more pronounced for the lower income segments. If so perhaps what we've seen is still a relatively larger shift in supply compared to demand but driven by public policy (or some weird perceived wealth effect due to the reported increase in cash balances). On the supply side, with greater cash balances there is both limited incentives for entry (which some have suggested has occurred) and increase incentives for demand. Couple the demand stimulus with a year of living with the virus and some degree of improved risk assessment one would expect demand to move back towards the prior levels.

 
This would be consistent with what others have suggest but just a somewhat different mechanism.

The everyday demands of life such as:
1. Work.

2. Keep skills up to date.

3. Side businesses that were  set up on the side.

4. Some hobbyists have been able to take advantage and work 2 jobs at home.  

Will take up a lot of hobbyists free time. This will cause demand to go demand provider services  imho.

Lots of women the were probably in the restaurant business have appeared lately.  I suspect that will go down as some figure out that fucking a stranger that they are not attracted to is hard. The 600 an hour escort with nothing but hot pictures and when they do get a review is non GFE will go away.

I have been doing this for over 20 years. My observations:
In the late 90s to the early 00s, prices were $200-300. Providers were typically students needing help with tuition, single moms trying to make ends meet, or women struggling with various issues.  
From the mid 00s to mid teens, priced edged to $450.  Anything higher was a pornstar leveraging the fantasy of being with a celebrity. Again most of the higher ends were still fairly grounded and using the profession as a means to living decently. They at least gave the impression that they were into having a fun time and thin friendships could be developed between regulars.   To me this was the golden age of hobbying. This also a great time for agencies and they had stables full of fillies at good value but then the government cracked down on them and now there are only a few agencies with low stock
Since circa 2018, there has been a new breed of millennial, Twitter junky types who want to use the profession to live a bling bling lifestyle, traveling all over the globe, financing boob jobs and high end condo living, typically into high end everything. This is pure capitalism, charging what the market will bear. They do not pretend to be into the experience and view us as human ATMs. They start at the $500 level and abruptly keep hiking their rates into the $800-1000 range. The service isn’t any better than what you used to get from a $400 provider. Let’s be real, in the end a nut is a nut and it is the other parts of the encounter that justify higher prices. And I understand what they are doing. It is you hobbyists who perhaps have too much disposable income and perhaps younger guys who think the more money something costs the better it is, in other words poor value judgment that is permeating society, it is you who are clueless and spoiling the real economics of the hobby. Does that extra $300 produce a higher experience?  I don’t see that. Many of them airbrush and photoshop their photos and when you meet them in person you encounter 20 more pounds and perhaps bad skin or acne
I have met $500 providers and had a good experience and one month later they have changed their rate to $800-1000. Because I am generous with extra gifts like perfume or sleepwear and I try my best to make the provider have a good experience, they do reach out to me later to check my availability, but I don’t go for price gouging, and I decline. One told me that she deserved an annual increase — let’s see by my math that’s a 60% increase, wouldn’t we all like a raise like that.  
I am not cheap, I have always gravitated to the higher end and I treat very generously, but the return does not justify the additional outlay, I have other things in life that I can spend those dollars on.  
The money that we spend on this luxury is called discretionary income. That means you use your discretion, so I urge you to use your discretion with sound judgment and don’t fool yourself that these designer jeans prices justify a Levi’s experience. If this is an addiction, your addiction is no better sated by a $800 provider. Use the big head and show your smaller head who is boss

Wow! That was an accurate history of the hobby world! Having experienced it as well for the past twenty years, it's spot on.

I think that there will be a desire for longer and fewer dates on both sides to lower exposures to covid or the next virus even after vaccinations. Total rates may well be higher because ladies' expenses aren't going down. However, rates per hour may be lower because of long-date discounts (relative to the hourly rate). I also think that services may become deeper; either more GFE or more PSE depending on the tastes on both sides.  

If providers or mongers are into long dates and GFE it could be great. It would be more like a convergence between the SB and escort worlds (not that there aren't some on either side who already play in both pools). If you are into getting your (or his) rocks off quickly and saying goodbye, it would not be as good.

Well said, FreedomFighter. I couldn’t agree more.

Excellent analysis of the hobby.  I can’t honestly say prices will ever go down. I have indulged in the higher range providers in the past, but there is hardly any value out there at the moment.  

I've been doing this a long time and while I am a firm believer that providers can should be able to charge whatever they want, I know what I can afford and many of these ladies are no longer affordable to me.

My first hobby experience was as a buck private in Korea in the late 80s and I haven't stopped.  Freedomfighter, your analysis is spot on!

Here is my forecast for the post-vaccine hobby economy.  When everyone, more or less, is convinced that things are safe, more or less, and that the chance of transmission in a close encounter is low, there will be an initial spike in prices because of pent-up demand, and this metaphor has never been more accurate.  Customers, flush with cash accumulated during the various lockdowns, will flood the market and prices will spike.  However, many of the business that would employee likely entrants on the supply side - restaurants, bars, gyms, yoga studios, etc. - will have closed.  Jobs that would have attracted young women before the pandemic will be hard to come by.  At least some of these women will decide that, in exchange for the quick cash and high hourly returns, they can handle the risk.  Supply will jump and prices will fall long term.  If they don't, customers will get more for their money in the form of fitter, better looking girls who otherwise would be waitressing at high end restaurants or tending bar.  That's the outlook through 2022.

I hope you're right about the last part. A fresh infusion is always welcome.