Quote:
Originally Posted by tomcat007
No offense to anyone... But, please enlighten me, why is Delta Spa being considered a tourist trap?
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Going to ask you a few questions before answering. My question/s actually self-answers itself tho and my reply is going to be a long one on this,hehehe... (anyone who didnt like it,kindly click on the ignore button,thank you)
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1. Have you been to Altalanta Men's Spa? How much was the price for 1.5 hour massage inclusive of room? Answer is 250k for normal room or 370k for its VIP room as stated on their PRICE LIST. Clean and clear,right? End of the all sessions, do you pay anything more than from the stated pricelist? Answer is obviously what you already knew,no.
2. Now we come to Octopuss,how much was its pricing for their room including massage + 1 free HJ and use of facilities? Here we go :
(price shown on above brochure were a little outdated and inaccurate as of date)
End of session/s,do you also pay anything more than whats stated on the PRICE listed? Another obviously answer,No. Just like in Altalanta men's spa, right?
3. Now we approach Delta Spa,do they have a PRICELIST to start off with? Simple answer please,Yes or No. Ok,answer is no...they didn't have an actual pricelist BUT I know you are going to say that THEY will tell you verbally the price of xx amount for 1 session and xxx amount for the 3 sessions etc, and at the end of all session/s,did you check your receipt and are you paying the total add up of X amount which was verbally spoken to you? Here's the receipt I found online becos i have lost mine from a long time ago but STILL, it is going to reflect what I am trying to explain to you about this place being a tourist trap later :
(price shown on above receipt were a little outdated as of date)
Or did you actually pay higher than the verbally stated amount by the GROs? Look closer at the 5% service charge right below the bill. Today,the amount can be more than 5% since that receipt is almost 4 years old. You can say that the 5% (or more today),is an insignificant amount but well...my question remains, did you pay the "same amount" as was told verbally told? (since they dont have a price list) Thats not including all the other upselling tho. (note : i don't factor in exchange rate of nearly 4 years ago)
i wrote the above base on my understanding on your theory by not having 1st,a pricelist and later,the customer were ask to pay a higher verbally quoted price upon leaving. Batam's Delta Spa fits all your criteria of a tourist trap,hehehe...not right?
The difference between a tourist trap and a non-tourist trap pricing from my own perspective is, the amount that I am suppose to pay has to be CLEAR,no rubber-band pricing (aka hidden cost). And obviously,that amount on Delta Spa isn't CLEAR. 5% on the bill 3 over years ago is 5k for every 100k spent and the more you spent,the higher the 5% can adds up in rupiah. I also see a similarity in Delta as in Windsor when they start trying to UPSELL. The part where nearly all windsor food court's stalls trying to push all their food menu to their customers.
My same question remains. Am i still paying the said-price? or the said price plus 5% more? (as of date of stated receipt)
In Windsor,there was no price on its menu,but I can bargain down if the price don't feel right or i query them...Delta Spa? I cant. I book a room at 460k from hotel,i pay 460k when I checked out. I don't pay 460k plus tax plus service charge plus any other thing/s. This theory is applied to any other things w/o a price listing and that was verbally agreed upon.
(note : taxi drivers at ferry terminals today learned this theory from Sillyporean,so they also come up with a price list menu nowaday BUT this dont mean most of them who use THAT method are not tourist trap either)
My definition of a tourist Trap :
I have said this before,and i am repeating them again with the same perspective i have before.
Batam Delta Spa is just like another Yun Nan Hair Loss salon or Beijing 101 in Sillypore. They make things look cheap in appearance to draw your attention or allow the customers to feel very well-worth the price in appearance BUT how much will their customers have to ultimately pay IF they are looking for the things they are REALLY AFTER? And lastly,will a NEW customer be render a lousier standard of service if they were to reject all their upselling and/or anything extras the massage girls attempt to sell? Will i get a black faced massage girl in my room? It would be for those who wish to know to try to find out,hehehe...
Alternatively,anyone can also visit Yun Nan or Beijing 101 in Sillypore which is going to have the same effect as in going to Batam's Delta Spa. Joining the FREE China shopping tour group or visit Taiwan's tourist gift shops where they sell deity statues or stone marble ornament, eg, Pi Xiu, Qi Ling etc to unprepared tourists also can get the same feel too.
(sample of what they sell to tourist in taiwan)
similar to the like of Yun Nan,Beijing 101,shops in Taiwan that sells deity ornament to tourist (S$5 item on the street sold to tourist at S$50) and the China shopping tour packages where tourists has to meet a certain shopping quota (or be dump behind by their tour guide) under the same nature of trap meant for tourist. Those are not scams,they are traps,and if no tourist were caught in those traps,the one who lay them will likely 'chu pattern'.
For me to go to Batam Delta spa,i have only one plain simple solution (for myself only) which I often use.
I go for ONLY 2 sessions which will not entitles me for the free hj (which as a matter of fact, isnt really free to start with either) and i will just negotiate with the girl/s directly. Nothing more,nothing less,take it or leave it as my "expectation" is already on NOT having any happy-ending since only 3 sessions gives me a free hj and i chose not to take it up. If the girl plays by the company rules for a non-private-negotiation on the happy-ending,then lets be it...i will just walk out w/o the happy-ending after all my 2 sessions is done up. No hot stones,no vip room,no whatever aroma oil blah blah blah. i still believe if they are open to the option of taking off their clothes with roaming for some extra fee,i dont see why i cannot negotiate privately for a happy-ending. And the girls can forget about trying to upsell me anything, becos i usually will ask them to keep quiet (by nicely showing the sign language "shh...") AFTER they turn me down on my private negotiation on happy-ending and if they were to ever expect any tipping from me due to their good massage service,then they should not keep talking on their upselling for starter.
Ever wonder why Delta Spa price keep increasing in such high frequency (once every less than a year)? And Octopuss Spa seems to follow suit nowaday?(but not in such high frequency) Hehehe... my answer base on my own observation is simple
becos Sillyporeans allows them to hence i say,Batam Delta spa..is a confirmed tourist trap and not for newbies, unless they wish to pay 'school fees'.
I rarely see batam locals in Delta Spa ,so their main source of income were definitely not from locals.
Just a simple observation of my own.
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note : i am mainly talking about Delta Spa in Batam and not any other Delta in other parts of Indonesia)