What would entice you to attend a party?

[cataryna]

Hello all of you sexy people,

We own a group in New Orleans and hold on-premise parties. There is another on-premise club in the area that is open several days a week, whereas we only have parties once a month. Competition in the area is small, but we're finding that because the other club is more established people are hesitant about going somewhere new. We believe that our venue is more friendly and less pressure to play, but still hot as hell. We have an indoor heated pool and two hot-tubs, while the other club does not. The other club has more play areas than us. We both have rooms available to rent. We offer a full buffet at our parties, while the other club does not offer one to the scale that ours is. We offer door prizes, free entrances, gift certificates to local restaurants, games and other prizes while the other club does not. While we've had decent turnouts we would love to have more people show up.

We have definitely noticed a decline in attendance at all swinger events in the area since Katrina and are hoping that this is a temporary thing and that people will eventually come back to play. We're afraid that if we don't have more people showing up we may be forced to close shop.

So we're asking for help here...What are some of the things that would attract you to a certain party?

[Tybee Swing]

Hi cataryna,

Good luck with your business! I hope you have much success!

Originally Posted by cataryna

What are some of the things that would attract you to a certain party?

I liked what you described regarding the buffet, games, indoor heated pool and hot tubs, door prizes & gift certificates, etc. Sounds like fun.

I would also be looking for:

Membership-only (this screens out people just coming in to stare, and a lot of the married cheaters). A members-only club would take note of driver's licenses, etc. There is an annual membership fee + a small fee to enter each party. You said that you have "free entrances": what does this mean? I'd rather pay for the sake of security than deal with the free crowd.

Security on staff, bags checked at entrance, no cameras or cell-phones allowed.

Clean towels provided (a nice touch).

Lockers available.

A good dance floor with good music.

Plenty of tables/chairs around (some don't have nearly enough).

At least a couple of bartenders.

Non-smoking, at least in the main areas of the club.

[Swingercast]

Hi cataryna,

Tybee made some great suggestions!

Feel free to send us a Personal Message with the name of your club. We get down to New Orleans once every couple of years and would love to check out your club.

For us,

- The Hot Tub and pool sound great!

- Like Tybee said, the dance floor is a big consideration for us. We love to dance.

- We also like clubs that have swings and/or a Sybian.

- Be open (hours of operation) as late as possible.

Best of luck to you! Hope this was helpful.

John

[cataryna]

Thanks for the response Tybee

To answer your questions

1. Membership only--While we do not ask our members to pay a membership fee, all people who attend must RSVP on either our yahoo group or on Swing Lifestyle and we don't allow walk ins unless we know them. We do allow a few single males, 4 only, all of whom have to have 2 Swing Lifestyle certifications, which we verify through contacting the certs and screening them etc.

2. Free entrances means that we give away free entrances for future parties every once in a while as a door prize, they are non-transferable.

3. The security staff is pretty much us as we're constantly working our way throughout the guests making sure they're okay. I try to stop and talk to at least everyone.

4. Because of the pool there are towels available...and all of the rooms have their own towels.

5. We don't have a dance floor. Our parties are held in the large pool room of the B&B, there's plenty of room to dance if people wish to dance though, a large bar area, plenty of seating areas.

6. We have a very competent bartender.

7. There is no smoking in the rooms, but there is in the large pool room where the party is held.

We are not to the scale of the other club, it's much larger and has more of a nightclub feel to it, whereas ours has more of a house party feel to it considering that the majority of the party takes place in the very large pool house, with rooms set aside for play.

[VegasLee]

As one that has been holding and promoting parties for many years I would suggest working hard on the Promotion area of your parties.

You sound like you have a good thing going and I have been to NO many times and know the other place you are talking about.

I spoke with friends in NO that have been around the Lifestyle for way to many years and they have never heard of your parties.

You need to get the word out more. Get a real Internet site and even a yahoo group to go with it. NO people are very active in Yahoo but to get the out of town people you need a real site. Many tourists want to see something that makes you look legit.

Also, you do not appear to be listed in the Club Listings here. That is a start, there is a lot of swingers on this web site.

You might always want to join NASCA. http://www.nasca.com They don't really do much for you but there is a lot of traffic on their web site by people looking for clubs all over the country. That has been a good outlet for us over the years.

Good luck to you!

[cataryna]

Thanks for the response John and VegasLee.

John, our hours are longer than the other club, we begin at 8pm and go pretty much until the last person leaves. We don't really have a "closing" time. Usually most everyone is gone by 4p.m.

VegasLee

The reason they haven't heard about it is because it was under another name before being run by another couple. Southern Escapades, itself, is a new name and started being used in January. I'm surprised that your friends have never heard of The Dive Inn though. I thought everyone in the lifestyle in New Orleans knew about The Dive Inn is the only clothing optional licensed B & B in New Orleans and is where our parties are held. We do have a website and a yahoo group. If you click on my profile both here and on Swing Lifestyle you'll find the link for it. As for the club listing here, I've only been a member here for a few days and submitted the club listing when I signed up. I'm guessing they have not listed it yet. We are listed on multiple sites and linked on many yahoo groups. I have looked at the NACSA site and actually it helped me when I was just beginning to swing. We are looking into becoming listed there as well.

I guess the main thing is I just don't understand why we're not having a bigger response. I see and hear all the discord and disappointment with the other clubs in our area, so I don't get why people wouldn't want to try someplace new.

[good times]

My first suggestion would go along with Lee's regarding the web site. I would suggest paying Godaddy their $4.95 a month to get rid of their free hosting banner, it would give you a much more professional feel than it does now as a free site.

I don't know if it would work for you to not be, but we don't attend clubs that require an RSVP. Like a lot of people, we have very busy lives, we usually decide to go to a club less than an hour or so before we get there, so RSVP isn't an option. If the competing club requires RSVP also it might not be as much of a problem, but if they don't that might be a large reason for the low attendance.

The biggest thing if we are considering a club though, is do they have good music and a dance floor. One of our local clubs has a hot tub, actual beds to play on, private play areas, and is much more up-scale than the other two clubs in town. The other two clubs have neither hot tubs nor beds and only have public play rooms, but they do have a dance floor which the first one does not. The clubs with a dance floor are by far our preferred clubs and judging by the size of their parties, most others feel the same way. While the first club has an area where you can dance if you want to, it just isn't the same as a real dance floor and nobody ever dances there. The problem is that after you spend a few minutes in the hot tub you are pretty much done, their is just nothing else to do except wait around for your turn at the pool table. Even though a lot of folks don't like to dance it has one big advantage over any other activity your club may offer, it encourages interaction between guests. Some might argue that you go to the club for sex, not dancing. That argument falls apart though when you consider that very few couples go to a club and hook up with someone for sex every time they go, in fact, in my experience most couples don't even hook up successfully half the time. So unless you give those people something to do besides standing around being a wallflower, they might come a few times but eventually will opt for the other club that has dancing no matter how nice your club is or how good the food.

Good luck.

[VegasLee]

Sorry, i had not checked your profile. I just asked around with some friends if they knew of a place like you had described without giving them a name and they said no. Had not heard of it. Most of them are not into the "nudist" thing. Most places that is much different. Nudists do not tend to like swingers much. We helped fun a nudist place along with the swingers parties at a different location and the nudists ripped us up on their message boards because we are swingers. :surrender

NASCA is a good way to go. It is cheap to join then they will list you.

We found years ago, we never talk about "other" clubs, good or bad. You will find that someone will be unhappy with any club no matter how great it is and some will love some places that you would not let you do go to. Just the way it is. We never compare. Always sell on your own merits no matter what.

We manage one of the largest, oldest and busiest swing parties in the county yet you will find negative posts on the net about the place. Not many but you will find them. Just the way it is. Not all places are for everyone. There is even another place in town that we suggest to some people once we talk to them and can feel that our party is NOT for them. The other place has called us and Thanked us for sending so many people to them. It was people we knew would not be happy with us so why not guide them the right direction. You will not want everyone at your party.

You sound like you have a good thing going. I believe you just need to keep getting the word our there. It takes many, many years before a place does well and you get a lot of people for each party. If you see you are not getting a lot of the locals returning then you will need to look at what you doing because then you have a problem if you can not retain them.

You are also going to find that every four to five years you will have a 50% to 75% turn over in your crowd of regulars. People move, drop out of the lifestyle, divorce, etc. That is not something you can control but it does happen. Half of our crowd is regulars and half is tourists and we have seen that turn over many times in 25 years.

Good luck to you.

[SnakeBabe]

For us it would be entertainment. Something unique that other clubs don’t have.
That is why I go to Scores over any other strip club in Las Vegas, they have stage acts such as contortionist, acrobats etc…
The last couple times I went to a swingers club was because one place offered a stand up comedian and the second place had a magician.
It gave us a chance to sit with other couples, chat and laugh. What a great Ice Breaker. I know this is not for everyone but it sure was fun.
Hugs and Hissessss,
Maria

[Tybee Swing]

Originally Posted by cataryna

2. Free entrances means that we give away free entrances for future parties every once in a while as a door prize, they are non-transferable.

That sounds like a cool prize.

Originally Posted by cataryna

3. The security staff is pretty much us as we're constantly working our way throughout the guests making sure they're okay. I try to stop and talk to at least everyone.

That sounds like very good hostessing, but not really like security. There is nobody who minds the door the whole time? Checking ID's, ages, checking to make sure the only people coming in are those who are supposed to be there? If somebody gets out of hand, is there somebody who can ask them to leave, and enforce it?

Originally Posted by cataryna

5. We don't have a dance floor. Our parties are held in the large pool room of the B&B, there's plenty of room to dance if people wish to dance though, a large bar area, plenty of seating areas.

7. There is no smoking in the rooms, but there is in the large pool room where the party is held.

Do they really dance there? I was thinking the same thing that Goodtimes said, that if there's not a dance floor, people usually won't dance even if they want to.

We are non-smokers, and since there is only one room to socialize in and it's the one room where smoking is allowed, that means that non-smokers must be inhaling smoke for hours if they want to be social and meet people. We might give your club a try if we were locals, but we'd go in knowing that we might have to leave early if it's that smoky. But, this is us. Perhaps there are many more smokers than non-smokers at your party and this wouldn't affect your overhead that much.

Originally Posted by cataryna

We are not to the scale of the other club, it's much larger and has more of a nightclub feel to it, whereas ours has more of a house party feel to it considering that the majority of the party takes place in the very large pool house, with rooms set aside for play.

Do people rent their own rooms at that B&B for the night?

[cataryna]

Maria, THanks for the suggestion. I have been thinking about hiring a burlesque dancer to see how i goes over with our group.

Originally Posted by Tybee Swing

That sounds like very good hostessing, but not really like security. There is nobody who minds the door the whole time? Checking ID's, ages, checking to make sure the only people coming in are those who are supposed to be there? If somebody gets out of hand, is there somebody who can ask them to leave, and enforce it?

Yes, there's always someone at the door, whether it be me, Scott or a friend that helps me out. We have found that anyone who is going to show up is usually there by 11 pm and yes there's one of us doing all of those things. We have never had anything happen...but if it were, we're perfectly capable of taking care of anything that could come up.

Originally Posted by Tybee Swing

Do they really dance there? I was thinking the same thing that Goodtimes said, that if there's not a dance floor, people usually won't dance even if they want to.

No they don't...maybe one or two couples at any given time...but most just dance where they're standing.

Originally Posted by Tybee Swing

We are non-smokers, and since there is only one room to socialize in and it's the one room where smoking is allowed, that means that non-smokers must be inhaling smoke for hours if they want to be social and meet people. We might give your club a try if we were locals, but we'd go in knowing that we might have to leave early if it's that smoky. But, this is us. Perhaps there are many more smokers than non-smokers at your party and this wouldn't affect your overhead that much.

I guess it's about 50/50. The pool room is VERY large...envision a room the size of a small banquet hall with a ceiling 2.5 to 3 stories tall. Smoke is not a problem or at least I've heard no complaints about it being a problem.

Originally Posted by Tybee Swing

Do people rent their own rooms at that B&B for the night?

Yes.

[Tybee Swing]

Originally Posted by cataryna

The pool room is VERY large...envision a room the size of a small banquet hall with a ceiling 2.5 to 3 stories tall. Smoke is not a problem or at least I've heard no complaints about it being a problem.

That does sound very big and very well ventilated!

It's nice that people can rent their own B&B room on the premises. Not everybody wants to do group or public activities. Your set-up makes it very nice for more private moments.

[pagan-lovers]

I have been DJing at an area club and have had quite a few people comment they keep coming back for the good music. I chalk it up to variety. Many clubs play primarily one genre. Same as swingers come in all ages, shapes and sizes; the music needs to be a mix of many styles. Something for everyone.

Mr.PL

[blondie77]

"I don't know if it would work for you to not be, but we don't attend clubs that require an RSVP. Like a lot of people, we have very busy lives, we usually decide to go to a club less than an hour or so before we get there, so RSVP isn't an option. If the competing club requires RSVP also it might not be as much of a problem, but if they don't that might be a large reason for the low attendance. " ...goodtimes
.........

I agree. We haven't been to a club because of the distance from our home to any club...but when we travel, and we do a lot, we have talked about attending a club we've heard about, only to find out we needed to RSVP. That isn't usually an option for us as when it's just the two of us, we usually don't know where we'll end up that night, or what we'll feel like doing until a few hours before going out. It's hard for us to plan things, also, so being able to go to a club spur of the moment would be great for us.

Not sure if this would work for you. Does the other club require an RSVP? If they do...what about having one night where RSVPs aren't required...and advertise that walk ins are welcome for this particular date and see if that improves anything. I guess I'm not very knowledgable in this area...but just a few thoughts on what WE would like.

Good luck and I wish you great success in your business!

[LOL_OMG]

Since you are in a great tourist hotspot I agree with a few previous posts, advertisement is the key, nationally as well as locally. When we travel we check Nasca and google a city to see what clubs are there. In fact, we are planning on hitting your town this spring. RSVP is not a problem, but make sure to accommodate out of towners, have some sort of special deal for people that will only be there for a week or less. Personally I think your sitting on a gold mine, work it properly and you should end up with a great place.

Good Luck
Mr. Lol