Market price” is no longer an option! What are the “changes” taking place in host clubs in the aftermath of the abolition of the sales racket?

In April, most stores in Kabukicho finally completely abolished the sales racks. In line with this, an increasing number of host clubs are eliminating the “credit card fee,” which used to be an additional 10% at many stores, in a uniform manner. On the other hand, there are some host clubs that have raised the service charge from 35% to 37%.

The host club I go to charges a 40% service fee. “At the restaurant I go to, the service charge is 40%,” said Mr. Kurokawa, “and with the consumption tax added, the actual price is 1.5 times the price of the menu. But I don’t know if it’s expensive or cheap anymore. Even if the service charge is low, the tequila may be expensive, or there may not be a wide variety of champagne. The prices and menus are really becoming more and more varied from restaurant to restaurant. Well, if you go to a host club, you will be satisfied with it, or if you like the person in charge, you just follow the policy of the host club and go there. ……

The police have also issued a directive on host club menu lists, banning the use of the word “Ask” to indicate the price of luxury brandy and other drinks. Efforts toward clear accounting, such as clearly stating the pricing system for champagne towers on the menu, are increasing.

If hiding the price of alcohol is a no-no, then aren’t all high-end sushi restaurants and the like out of the question?　But, well, it will prevent girls from complaining that they didn’t know the price after they ordered. It would be nice if the girls don’t have to complain that they didn’t know the price after ordering.

Since January, when the self-imposed restrictions on selling to customers began to be phased in, various changes have been observed in host clubs. One is the variation in the dates of customer visits.

The number of customers who are working at night decreased at the beginning of the month,” said one customer. They want to come after they earn money in bulk, so they tend to come at the end of the month. That’s why host clubs are much busier at the beginning of the month. We can’t say, “Come on in, even if you’re just trying to make a sale! so it’s hard to make sales indiscreetly.

Also, I’ve started asking the girls about their budgets when they come to the club. To be honest, up until now, if I went a little over my budget, I could have just made a sale, but that’s not the case anymore. So the amount of money I can raise per unit by “just having a few drinks” has decreased. I get fewer sales from girls who have money but leave it at home. There are not many nightclub girls who have credit cards.

In host clubs where it has become difficult to raise the price per customer, the “closing date” at the end of the month is also changing.

Until now, last orders at the end of the month were counted as sales until the drinks were written on a piece of paper handed out at each table. So, I would often ask the girls to put champagne in the drinks, based on my prediction that I might lose to another host in the rankings if I didn’t add another 500,000 yen to the order.

But I couldn’t do that anymore, and sales only went up by the amount of cash the girls brought in. That kind of bargaining between the customer and the host has decreased.

On the original closing day, ace customers would be called in, and if they didn’t make enough, they would be forced to make up the shortfall by either selling or making up the balance. It was rare for a customer with a small budget to come on the closing day.

Yukito says, “But there are times when I don’t want to lose, so I keep 2 million yen in my locker at the store. I keep 2 million yen in a locker at the store so that I can lend it to the girls in case of an emergency. It is a little sad to see the tense atmosphere of the closing day disappear due to the new regulation on selling.

From the April 19, 2024 issue of “FRIDAY