I love the study of economics as it relates to sex work.
Many scholars view prostitutes as the ultimate Veblen Good - the perceived satisfaction increases as the price increases.
If someone sees a $400 an hour prostitute in a market in which the typical price is $200 an hour, not only will he go in expected her to be superior, but he may in fact find her superior without really analyzing whether she was more physically appealing or made him cum better than the lower-priced provider. Consequently, almost all higher-priced prostitutes get great reviews.
Many reviewers start this activity by saving up and seeing a very expensive provider. They have difficulty ever getting accustomed to taking a "step-down" to the lower priced alternative.
But we all know that there can be a very big difference in quality between girls at different price levels. The $50-$100 Montreal street hooker really does not offer the same product as the $180 - $220 agency or independent provider, but there really is scant difference between the $400 - $500 HDH and the $180-$220 provider in Montreal. I base this on years of experience and having seen HDH at Montreal's old HDH Allyssa's agency and comparing them to the girls I see now. And I base it on pics and reviews on Merb of these LDL ladies. If the LDL is young, cute, intelligent and does all the aspects of sex, what more could a HDH offer?
Most HDH girls are very good marketers who understand the concept of Veblen Goods, and the psychology of johns who have hang-ups like insisting that she only fuck one guy a day. Cars are no different. Plenty of middle class cars are just as good as luxury cars, even though a very wide differential exists between the lowest price car and the middle class car. But the luxury car owner will feel much better about his luxury car than the middle class car owner feels about his car. Just marketing and advertisement.
I think that's over-generalizing things a bit... or perhaps I'm the exception to the rule... I don't have any expectations that a provider is going to be superior because she is more expensive than the norm (even for double the price per your example) for her local market. In fact, not having much experience hobbying overall, I don't have a strong frame of reference nor a basis to have such expectation, especially in a given market. So finding her superior is relative to my experiences overall, not based on a comparison to the local market. Even when asked, I'm not one to compare experiences as each one has been unique. But for the sake of this thread, I will make an exception and try my best.
On a trip to Budapest, I was scouting new models and ended up seeing two providers during that particular visit, one being twice the price of the other. In retrospect, there was no distinction between HDH and LDL, but pricing relative to even Montreal would put both at LDL. I found and chose them based off their modeling "potential," though like Montreal, their faces were largely hidden, and I didn't have a resource like MERB to get a reasonable approximation to to their looks on a scale of 1-10. To my luck and surprise, without exaggeration both were 10's facially and physically (for reference, I have shot and worked with some absolutely stunningly beautiful women including NFL cheerleaders, Playboy and Penthouse models, ex-Vivid/Hustler/Brazzers/Private contract girls, etc.) -- one was Playmate of the Year caliber, the other was Pet of the Year caliber without doubt. In a nutshell, the more expensive one was I-can't-believe-my-dick-is-inside-something-so-perfect exciting, but the action was a bit tepid... the other was a I-must-have-died-and-gone-to-heaven-or-I-will-give-my-left-testicle-if-don't-have-to-wake-up-from-this-dream hot GFE... So while the second experience was more magical and more indelible in my memory, there is no way I would give up the first experience because the visual excitement (as a photographer, I'm a very visual person obviously) of the first encounter was about as perfect as it gets.
Similarly, I shot a scene with Cherry Potter in Montreal a few years back... we had great chemistry, and I easily forgot that I was working. Earlier that day, I had shot another well-known Canadian pornstar who has always been one of my all time favorites ever, especially after meeting her, but due to certain circumstances, it was a solo shoot only. We also had great chemistry which made her "the one who got away" even more than usual. She had me so worked up that even though Cherry was so deliciously satisfying, I "needed" a local SP to try and get her off my mind (IIRC her name was Christina from Devilish, I think). She was a very pretty GND, with a great figure, and a very GFE. Obviously, the going scene rate vs. local SP rate is markedly different, much more than double at the time. And while Cherry was hired AS a pornstar which is actually different from PSE, if she were a private instead, I would have happily paid that rate, because as wonderful as Christina was, she couldn't hold a candle to Cherry.
So I don't really understand your reference to "stepping down"... I understand what you are saying, but it doesn't apply to me as I don't typically base my decisions on price. And while I respect your years of experience from which you base your comparative analysis, my experience is much more varied and international than most. I appreciate your opinions as it offers me a local perspective with which I am rather naïve.
Marketing or not, I respectfully disagree with your car analogy (unless you are renting :lol
. You are renting a SP, or rather you are paying for an experience... unless you are lucky, you are likely not keeping her. You own (or keep for a term in the case of a lease) the car... Besides, I'm not a car guy... I'm more of a bike guy... and while my Japanese bikes are just as good (and in some respects better) as the exotics, I won't part with my Ducati's ... it has nothing to do with price or perceived luxury/exclusiveness. It has more to do with the character of the bike and the quality of the ride... YMMV, no pun intended :lol: